CHARLOTTE, NC – The annual ACC Kickoff commenced Wednesday at The Westin, and with the Coastal Division leading things off, it meant that North Carolina Coach Larry Fedora was on hand for the variety of media obligations coaches have at this event.

Among them is a 10-minute, made-for-TV press conference before a throng of regional and national media before he spent 45 minutes in a breakout room with the local media that typically covers the Tar Heels.

Here is a transcript of what Fedora had to say in the press conference session. We are running a video from most of his breakout session in another space here on THI.

Here’s the presser transcript:

Q. Obviously one of the stats that we look at is returning starters, returning career starts. Those are not great numbers for North Carolina. Of course you believe as a coach there are many other factors other than returning starts and starters. What are some of the factors that determine whether a season is a good one?

LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, I'm looking more at the culture of our team, the chemistry of our football team. We had a lot of young guys get reps last year, so they got experience, whether they were starters or not. They're back. So I would say probably the majority of our team played, even though they shouldn't have played last year. So we're going to take that and we're going to build off of it, so I don't think that we're going to have as many people out there on the field this year that are going to be wide eyed in their first game that have never stepped on a college football field. Whether or not we've got a lot of returning starters, we've got some experience.

Q. With the season approaching, what traits are you looking for in your starting quarterback, and what do they need to win the job?

LARRY FEDORA: Well, we're looking for separation. That's the No. 1 thing, somebody that takes over the team, and then the team becomes theirs. They've got to be able to do it not only on the field but off the field. We obviously -- they've got to be able to run the plays, run the offense, take command of the offense, have a presence out there that all the guys relate to. They have to be an influencer. They've got to be able to influence the guys around them. They've got to be able to raise the level of the players around them. They do that, then they've got to do the same things off the field. And when somebody separates themselves from the others, then we'll make a call.

Q. The addition of Robert Gillespie, what he's done with working with guys like Alvin Camarra at Tennessee, what he brings to the table and what he brings to the running back room for you.

LARRY FEDORA: Well, Robert is kind of a no-nonsense kind of a guy. He's a lot like I am. He brings a lot of energy. He's very passionate about coaching the running backs. He really is. He has a very high expectation level for those guys, and he plans on holding them to it, and he did a great job for us in the spring. It's been really nice to have him in that room.

Q. Last year you had three starting quarterbacks, this year you've got two candidates. Would you prefer to have one emerge or do you look at a season where you may have another situation where more than one guy starts?

LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, I think ideally you'd like to have one guy separate himself, but if it doesn't happen, then we'll work on it from there. But I think ideally you'd like to have a returning guy that's probably been starting for three years in your program coming back, but that's just not the case, doesn't happen like that every year.

Q. You heard Anthony talk a little bit about the new kickoff rules and how that's not going to change how aggressive he is attacking the ball on kickoffs. What do you tell him differently with this new rule and what are you expecting from him in that regard this season?

LARRY FEDORA: Well, there's so much that goes into it. It's not just get back there and run when you catch the ball. He's got to know where his alignment is, when the ball is in the air, how much he's drifted. He's got to be aware of all those things because there are points on the field where we told him he can bring it out, points on the field where he can't. He's got to be right on that. He's got to know what the wind is doing, he's got to know what the kicker is doing, what the approach is. He's got to be able to catch the ball moving forward and not be stagnant when he catches it so he can be running a flying 40 when he hits it, and then we give him one cut and he's got to go full speed. First of all, just being able to know that 11 guys are running down the field at you full speed and you're going to run at them full speed, that takes something, it takes a little bit of grit right there. I don't want to take away Anthony's aggressiveness. If I didn't have a guy like Anthony, we would probably be fair catching a lot, and I would imagine there would be a lot of teams that do that. I think that the new rule there's going to be more squib kicks, more bouncing kicks. I think there will be a wider variety of type of kicks that you see in college football now. You know, so the jury is out still a little bit on how we're going to approach it, but it is nice to know that we've got a guy that when he does get it in his hands, he can go the distance.

Q. In more seasons than not, it seems you've had to work through who will be your starting quarterback. In what ways has your evaluation process developed as a coach with the number of times you've done this?

LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, I'd say since I became a coordinator back in about '98 or '99 and started coaching quarterback, I've pretty much done it the same way the whole way through, and you can either look at it -- there's two ways to look at it. You can look at it, you know, you haven't announced a quarterback so that's a bad thing, or you can look at it as, hey, you've got some good competition there and you want those guys to compete all the way through, and it's a good thing. So we always try to turn it into a positive. Just because one guy hasn't separated himself from the process right now doesn't mean that we're not going to be good at that position. I've been doing it for a long time. I've used this same strategy all the way through since I've been doing it. It's been good to me, and I will continue to do it until there's a reason not to.

Q. The last four or five seasons you've had the luxury of having most of your offensive line returning. This year only one starter back. What's the rebuilding, the makeup of your offensive line coming along like? LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, you would love to have all those guys back, but it's just not the way it is this year. But I will say every one of those guys except possibly one that's going to play this year, they've all played. They've all got experience. They weren't necessarily the starter last year, but they all played. And so it does -- I feel a little bit more comfortable knowing that these guys have been out there. They've been in the heat of the battle, so they're not going to be shocked. They know what it takes. Because we lost a couple guys to injuries last year, some other guys were forced into action and they got a lot of playing time. We may not have the starter, but we do have some experience there. And you know, that position, those five guys, until they gel together as a unit, I mean, you're not going to be as effective. The sooner they gel, the more effective you're going to be.

Q. Aaron mentioned starting strong and falling apart late in games. What have you done to kind of negate the strong start followed by a kind of rough third quarter?

LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, so I think those nine games, we were ahead in the second half, and I think in seven of them we were ahead in the fourth quarter, and we ran out. We ran out of personnel. We ran out of energy because of that, all those things. And so it's more about a mindset, you know, that when you get into those situations in the game, you've got to finish. The drills don't change. You're finishing everything that you do in the off-season. It's a point of emphasis when you're talking about it to your team. But it's just a mindset. When you get into that situation, you've got to put your foot on somebody's neck and you've got to stomp down and you've got to finish them off.

Q. Curious if there's been any notable position changes during the off-season.

LARRY FEDORA: Let me think now. You kind of caught me here. I don't -- there's not anybody that comes to mind. I apologize, but I don't have that -- if there is, I'm not hiding it from you, I just can't think of it. Q. How do the two primary players in the quarterback competition kind of compare to previous quarterbacks that have experienced success during your tenure at UNC?

LARRY FEDORA: That's good. So if I'm trying to compare those guys, I have a quarterback at Southern Miss, Austin Davis, who's playing for Seattle now, and he's going into his seventh year. I think Nathan is very comparable to him, his demeanor, his leadership ability, the way he throws the ball, all those things. I had a guy at Oklahoma State by the name of Zach Robinson who Chaz is a lot like. And as Chaz grows and matures in the offense, he's going to be a lot like him. Zach also went on and played in the league and had a lot of success.

Q. The first game of the season you have to travel across the country --

LARRY FEDORA: Five and a half hours.

Q. -- to play against California. How do you prepare your team?

LARRY FEDORA: Well, I mean, it's another game. It's our first game. This is the only game we have on our schedule right now. That's the most important thing we do. The logistics of it is not something -- we'll talk about some of the things that we do going into that game as far as travel-wise. Most of our guys will have traveled. But five and a half hours that way, five and a half hours going back. From my understanding and all the research I've done, going to the West Coast is not as tough on you as coming east, so I'm really a little bit more concerned about the travel part of it and what it's going to do to their bodies the next week than I am the week we go out.

Q. Obviously the changes in the kickoff rules is kind of a part of the -- I guess the concussion research. How has football changed for you, to teach it, the drills you do and protocol you use as it relates to those injuries since you've been in coaching?

LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, well, when I started playing the game, it was all about the head. You were going to stick your head into everything. And as we've learned and we understand the dangers of what's going on in the game of football, you've taken -- you slowly have taken the head out of the game. And so all the drills that you teach, all the tackling, all the things you do, you do it with the head out of the game, to keep the head away from the impacts. Also, back when I played, you were three practices a day during fall camp. I mean, so all of those changes -- you had one cup of water at practice. We've learned and evolved so much about hydration and you don't need to take salt tablets and all those different things that you did in the past. I'm going to tell you, the game right now, the game is safer than it's ever been in the history of the game. It is. I mean, it really is. Are there still injuries? Yeah. It's a violent sport. You've got big, fast, strong guys running into each other. Something is going to give. But there are risks involved in the game, and everybody that plays the game understands those risks. It's not like they're going into it not knowing that something could happen. And so they have to -- personally have to weigh those risks versus the rewards. But I believe, there's no doubt in my mind, the changes that we're making year to year for the health and safety of our players, the game is safer than it's ever been in the history of the game.

Q. One of the places where a player could get hurt is when a quarterback runs the ball, and yet eight of the nine top rushing teams in the ACC have quarterbacks who run the ball really well. Your quarterbacks through the years have run the ball really well. What are your rules, thoughts about when the quarterback should run the ball and when not?

LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, I think years ago when everybody was in the pro-style offense, quarterbacks got hurt. They got hurt because they got sacked. They weren't used to getting hit, all these things. And now as you've recruited more -- I'm not going to say everybody, but us, we recruit more of a dual threat athlete, a guy that can run the football. That means that guy has run the football in high school, and he's taken hits, he's delivered blows. He's not afraid of the contact. Does that mean he won't get hurt? No. I mean, that's the nature of the beast. That's part of the game. But recruiting a -- and I would say a lot -- you've got a lot of better athletes out there than there were 10 years ago, 20 years ago that are playing the position. So I think for us, it's take advantage of what that guy can do. If that guy can run, then take advantage of it. If he can throw, take advantage of the throwing. If he can do both, take advantage of both. Now you've got 12 on 11.

Q. With Coach Brewer departing for Philadelphia and a relatively younger receiving corps, what's your expectation this year for your receivers?

LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, first of all, Gunner Brewer leaving, he was part of my family. We had been together for a long, long time. We were together at Oklahoma State before we were together here. I hated losing him, but at the same time was as excited for the opportunity for him. It was a dream of his, and it kind of came up out of the blue, and so I was excited for him. Hate losing him, but I'm happy for him. I was very fortunate to be able to bring Luke Paschall in. Luke had GA'd under Gunner in our offense, and so it was an easy transition for him. He was able to come in, talk the same kind of language. He knew the offense, so the transition for the players was really smooth. Now, Luke's teaching methods are not the same as Gunner's, so there are changes. He's a little bit different. But the guys have adjusted well, and I think that room, getting the guys back healthy that we had and plus the freshmen that we've added to this group, I think this group has a chance to be really special.

Q. You spoke about having a dual-threat quarterback, but what you can say about the evolution of your backfield from last season to this season? I know you were looking for some guys to kind of show themselves out last year. What are you seeing going into the fall?

LARRY FEDORA: Well, Michael Carter came in as a true freshman and really did some great things for us in that role at running back. Jordon Brown did some really good things, so they split the time back there. I anticipate that we brought in a young man by the name of Antonio Williams that I think is definitely going to help our football team. There at running back, I think we're going to be really solid. Whether we're going to be a one-back running back or running back by committee, that's still to be seen. Whoever has got the hot hand is going to be the guy that's playing. They know it's about production. That's the way it is on our football team. Same thing at quarterback, same thing at wide receiver, same thing at any position.

Q. You mentioned traveling across the country to go to Cal this year. What are your thoughts on home and home against neutral site openers in general?

LARRY FEDORA: I like home and home series. They're hard to find. I mean, probably in scheduling is one of the toughest things that our administration has to do, to be able to find the people that are willing to do it. But I do like the neutral site games, also. I think it brings a lot of excitement because a lot of times it's maybe a regional rival or another well-known team. So I think that's good for your fans, also. You know, I think as long as people want to watch you play, it doesn't matter who you play. I think it's probably a good thing.