Note: Friday's player interviews are below the report.

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina’s 13th practice of fall camp took place Friday, and THI was on hand for post-practice interviews at the Tar Heels’ practice facility.

On Thursday, defensive coordinator Jay Bateman spoke at length about the Tar Heels’ lack of depth on that side of the ball, saying he has about 12-15 players he’s comfortable playing with right now.

The goal is to find 15-22 more, but even meeting halfway there will take a lot of pressure off of the starters to perform while playing too many snaps on game days. Junior linebacker/defensive end Tomon Fox said Friday he and his teammates made it a priority during the off-season to make sure there isn’t much of a drop off between the starters and reserves during the season.

“Coming out of spring, we knew we might have some depth issues,” Fox said. “So, in the summertime, we made it our priority to get the twos and threes on the same level as the ones, that way everyone could come in and out and you wouldn’t notice a difference.”

One player that will be tasked with adding depth to the Tar Heels’ defensive line is Fox’s younger brother, Tomari Fox, a true freshman who drew some praise Thursday from Bateman. Fox said his younger brother has picked up the pace and is coming along quickly.

“It was a little slow at first just because he had to learn the defense, but once he got it, he’s out here dogging these boys,” Tomon said. “He’s making it look like he’s been here even though he just got here so I’m really impressed with him.”

*Bateman spoke very highly of senior linebacker Dominique Ross, saying he “really enjoys” coaching the Jacksonville, FL, native and is looking forward to seeing him play this year.

Ross has been clear since the coaching transition that it was a fresh start for him, something that has fueled significant growth and confidence in his game. He gladly gives credit to the staff, notably Bateman.

“It’s very special to play for somebody like that,” Ross said. “Somebody who feels like the expectations for you are through the roof, it just makes you go that much harder. I’m just here to do anything I can to help the team win.”

Lack of depth at the linebacker position has been a major topic among the media and fans since spring practice. Still, Ross said the group doesn’t worry about what’s being said about them and instead are focusing on getting better every practice.

“Every day we just keep grinding and keep doing what we know we can do,” Ross said. “We just keep working, that’s all we can do. We can’t really worry about what we don’t have, we just worry about what we do have and we just keep building on it every day.”

*Senior defensive lineman Aaron Crawford found it difficult to shake off the injury bug in 2018, playing a total of just seven snaps for Carolina last season. Despite a the difficultyear, Crawford is back and ready to go in 2019 and has often been praised by his teammates and coaches.

Crawford discussed how difficult last season was for him and what it was like to miss a majority of the year due to recurring knee problems.

“It was definitely tough,” he said. “Obviously, it was a bad spot for me, it was a bad spot in my career. It’s like every single time you try to put your best foot forward and help out, you get a setback. It was hard to overcome that. Even in 2017 I was out there still a little banged up here and there but I was out there and I was helping and that’s all I can ask for...

“It’s hard when the ball gets taken away from you but it’s even harder when you know you can’t help the people you work with every single day try to achieve what we want to.”

*It goes without saying, but the wide receiver position will be relied on heavily in new offensive coordinator Phil Longo’s air raid offense.

In Longo’s system, having a deep group of wide receivers who can all contribute is crucial, especially when you consider the pace he wants his offense to play. Junior wide receiver Beau Corrales discussed the amount of depth he feels the group has and is very confident in his teammates as they prepare for the new season.

“We’re deep as heck,” Corrales said Friday. “This is probably the deepest I feel like the receiver core has been since I’ve been here. So, it’s exciting to be around and the competition is great, it pushes everybody to go to their best level and dig deep and perform at their highest level.”

The Georgetown, TX, native also spoke about freshman wide receiver Khafre Brown, who’s the younger brother of sophomore wide receiver Dyami Brown, and what it’s like to have them both apart of the group.

“I’d say they’re fairly similar, we always joke about it,” he said. “I don’t know, Khafre might have a little bit more wheels on him than Dyami, it’s close. But you can tell Khafre kind of models his game a little bit after his older brother and so it’s fun being able to watch them out there.”