CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina offensive line coach Randy Clements missed the first week of fall camp because he was in the hospital battling a potentially deadly sudden illness in his stomach that spread into his bloodstream.
The doctors found the right combination of meds, and Clements was released from the hospital and cleared to coach August 5, as THI chronicled in a piece posted Monday after speaking with Clements about it after practice.
In addition to speaking about the trying experience, Clements also discussed his unit Monday, and above is the full video of the Q&A session, and below are some notes and quotes about what he had to say:
*Even though Clements was in the hospital for eight days, he was relatively in tune with what was going on at practice.
“The first two days, I was kind of out of it. But once they got the infection under control, I started feeling better and I was watching, sitting in on the meetings on zoom. I definitely stayed engaged as much as I could, anyway.”
*Of course, Clements felt like he was way behind once back on the practice field. It helped that UNC has Kyle Fuller and Corey Gaynor, plus offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey spent a lot of time with the OL.
“It’s a panic feeling a little bit. You just feel like you’re always chasing something because you missed a week there. But we’re making progress. I think we’re in a good spot at this point, we just got to keep progressing up to game day.”
*Because Jakiah Leftwich (Georgia Tech) and Zach Greenberg (Muhlenberg College) transferred in this summer, neither had formally been coached by Clements on the field until the Tar Heels were into their second week of fall camp.
“I wish there was a speedy process for it (catching up with them), but it’s a process, and there’s no shortcuts for it or anything like that. You’ve got to go out, you’ve got to drill it, you’ve got to run it live, and then if it’s broke you’ve got to drill it live until you get it fixed.”
*UNC Coach Mack Brown, OC Chip Lindsey, and some players all say the offensive line is better than it was last season. Clements was asked about that?
“We’re always trying to improve. We’re not trying to stay the same and definitely not trying to go backwards. The thing that we fight right now is inexperience. We don’t have a lot of starts up there, but we do have some talent, we’ve got some size and athletic ability. The guys are smart and they want to play hard.
“You’ve got stuff to work with, it’s just up to us to get them pointed in the right direction and blocking the right guys and playing with the right attitude and take care of the guys that are holding the ball.”
*Clements recruited UNC sophomore starting offensive tackle Howard Sampson to North Texas. Now, both are at Carolina and Sampson is a totally different player than he was in Denton, TX. Clements discussed seeing Sampson then with respect to where he is now.
“Howard, during Covid, might have been a little bit hidden, and then he hadn’t played that much football growing up. I saw a guy that was raw, but he’s athletic, has a super, super frame on him, and he’s got a little meanness and nasty to him.
“When I worked with him at North Texas, I felt like he certainly had the potential, it was just a matter of him growing into that role. He’s doing a good job there.”
*Lindsey said the other day Sampson is an NFL guy down the road. Clements’ thoughts on that?
“There’s not many 6-9, 340 guys that are sophomores that are playing and going to start right now. He’s a rare guy as far at that goes, but calling him an NFL guy, well we think he has that potential, but it’s got to be realized.”
