Fall Camp Report 2: Howell, Fox, Vohasek, Gemmel & More

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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina is two days into fall camp and the Tar Heels are comfortable with the progress they’ve made with installs, learning about themselves and prepping for their season-opening opponent Syracuse and the rest of the recently revamped schedule.

The players only wore helmets Thursday and Friday, but they will be in shells (helmets and shoulder pads) Saturday and Sunday before having Monday off for the start of fall classes.

Four Tar Heels – Sam Howell, Tomon Fox, Ray Vohasek and Jeremiah Gemmel - were made available to the media via zoom following Friday’s practice. Here are videos of their interviews plus some notes and quotes:

UNC senior outside linebacker Tomon Fox was the first Tar Heel to speak with the media Friday, and among the things he discussed is the vibe of the team now that they know what their schedule is and that games are only a month away.

“Just a lot of excitement out here, especially the first day,” Fox said. “Ever since we got the news what the schedule is going to be, who we’re playing, when we’re playing them. All the guys are just ready to work and make it to the season.”

True freshmen Desmond Evans and Kaimon Rucker are working with the hybrid LB/DE group Fox leads, which also includes Tyrone Hopper and Chris Collins. What are Fox’s early impressions of the newcomers?

“They both are willing to work, they ask questions all the time in meetings and they try to link up with us older guys to clarify some things. And when we’re out here on the field, they’re the first ones to try and jump up in line to get their drill work in. So I know they’re ready to play, they’re eager to play, they just have a few things they need to work on, but they’ll get there.”

More specifically about Evans, the former borderline 5-star prospect from Sanford, NC, Fox offered …

“Desmond, the big thing with his is his height and his weight,” Fox said. “I think watching him, I think about with Chris Collins what they can bring on the edge with that speed and that length to get to the quarterback – that’s what we need. But also, he’s a smart kid, he’s soaking things up day-by-day learning what to do, and I think he’s gonna be a big factor this year.”

Junior defensive tackle Ray Vohasek played three spots along the defensive line last season but said Friday he’s mainly working at nose tackle right now. In addition to speaking about that. Vohasek fielded several questions about overcoming a terrible shoulder injury that kept him from doing any upper body weight lifting for more than two years dating back to high school in Illinois.

As a result, his body has changed tremendously as he went through junior college and now UNC for the last year.

“I wasn’t able to lift upper body until this offseason, so it’s really changed a lot,” Vohasek said. “I put on some weight and I feel good overall.”

Vohasek’s game has changed a lot, too, since he arrived at UNC.

“Just my technique, to be honest with you,” he said. “Before I got here, I played middle linebacker, I played outside linebacker, I played d-line, I played d-end, so just having a position to play and being able to learn the technique has been huge for me.

“And also, being in the weight room with (strength and conditioning) Coach (Brian) Hess has been huge.”

UNC’s coaches have said a few times over the last several months that Vohasek’s game really took off late last season, perhaps spanning the last three of four games. Why did he elevate his play so much and what did he learn during that process?

“It was just putting everything together,” he replied. “(Defensive line) Coach (Tim) Cross teaching me technique all year, preaching it, I have to go back and (do) drills over and over, just keep working. And that whole season I was in the weight room with Hess just working and working.

“And as the season went along, I picked it up more and more and I came on as the season went.”

A junior linebacker, returning starter and UNC’s second leading tackler a year ago, Gemmel had the longest player interview Friday, as he hit on what he’s seen from the defensive line in front of him, the secondary around him, Chazz Surratt’s improvements, his own points of emphasis and the added depth provided by Khadry Jackson and Eugene Asante, which will allow Gemmel and Surratt more rest during games.

Gemmel said he and Surratt watched a ton of film last season but they were too often in there at different times, but this year they watch a lot more film together and have spent a lot of time focusing on the teams they struggled with and learning from those mistakes while also lining them up with teams on this year’s slate that have similar schemes.

The area given the most attention was how he and Surratt defended some short passes. Gemmel says they did fine against the run, but covering the short stuff was a problem at times.

“We just went back and looked at all the under-crossing routes, the short, little x-under routes that beat us – they’ll throw it for two yards but they’ll run for 20 yards. And that’s what we’re trying to look at, just make sure we’re on top of (the) short and skinny routes so we don’t get hit for explosive plays.”

As for that depth, the confident Georgian said they could go three deep if absolutely necessary, though it’s clear he has full faith in Jackson and Asante.

“We have some really smart guys in the room,” Gemmel said. “Khady’s taken many steps up, but really Eugene, from (last) year to now has really, really improved. And Khady has been getting better and better each year and Eugene took so many steps up. The coaches are really confident that we could send Eugene and Khadry out there any play to take plays off of me and Chazz.

“And even the freshmen coming in with Cedric Gray and Ethan West, those guys are really, really, really high-character guys and they’re always in the film room, always trying to get better, always trying to meet with us. So, I think we’ll be able to go three-deep if we really wanted to this year.”

Howell had one of the best seasons for a freshman quarterback ever in major college football, so what things has he worked on to improve from last fall?

“There’s a lot of ways I’m trying to get better. I could talk all day (about) ways I’m trying to get better this year. The main thing is being consistent. I missed a couple of throws last year, I made some mental mistakes, so just trying to be consistent. When I’m making the right decision and when I’m making the right throws, I think I’m a really good player, so just trying to be that player every single play.”

Howell says he’s trying to be “perfect” with every rep, so what does being perfect actually mean to him? How does he describe it?

“Perfect is all the way around, all 11 guys on the field not having any mental mistakes and executing the play,” Howell replied. “If everyone does their job, if everyone knows what they’re doing and the play is executed, that’s the perfect play to me.

“Really, just no mental mistakes and perfect execution.”

Mack Brown said following Thursday’s practice that he wants the offense to strive for the standard Colt McCoy had when he was Brown’s quarterback at Texas. There were practices when the ball never hit the field.

Two days in, has the ball hit the field, has the offense met that standard?

“We chart everything, and I think this time last year in practice I was like, maybe 50-something percent in practice,” Howell responded. “I think yesterday we were like 87 percent – don’t quote me on that – I think that’s what we were. So, I feel really good where we are with our receivers right now.

“We’ve still got a couple of incompletes, but we also have a really good defense we’re going against. The main thing with our receivers is they’re competing with the DBs and our DBs have done a lot better, especially in the offseason with some new guys stepping in. It’s been fun to watch those guys compete with the DBs, and our receivers are going to be better than they were last year, which is kind of scary.”