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Fedora On Attitude, OL, Young WRs, Backup QB & More

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina football coach Larry Fedora was in good spirits Thursday following his team’s sixth practice of fall camp.

Fedora spoke with the media about his team’s attitude coming off the announced suspensions Monday, freshmen wide receivers Antoine Green and Dyami Brown, senior Thomas Jackson, his offensive line, the backups quarterbacks and much more.

Here are some notes and quotes about what Fedora had to say:

*Fedora’s takeaways from the first week of camp:

“One is just the attitude of the guys. They’re hungry, they’re flying around in practice. We’re emphasizing the turnover battle every day, we’re emphasizing explosive plays every day and finishing. Because, too many times last year we were ahead at the end and we didn’t finish the game.”

*The installation of the offensive, defensive and special teams menu is about 97 percent complete, Fedora said. Of course, that means the freshmen’s heads are spinning.

“We throw it all at them early. That’s why you’ve got some freshmen they’re heads are smoking right now (and) they’re making some mistakes. But, they’re making them at great effort. I’d much rather and have the effort that we need, we can get the mistakes corrected.”

*Following the first scrimmage, the staff will evaluate the film and there will be some movement on the depth chart and in how they start breaking down reps for players. Some will earn more, some will earn less.

*The offensive line was affected the most by the suspensions in terms of sheer numbers, as four players will miss games, all of whom will not travel to the opener at Cal. Three players – Brian Anderson, Jonah Melton and Jordan Tucker – were candidates to be in some kind of rotation that gets onto the field. So how is the staff dealing with planning to not have them available?

“Any time in the offensive line, I don’t care what you’re doing, we’re always mixing and matching all the time to find the best five, the best combination of five. But, then you also have to be prepared, ‘Okay, if this guy goes down how does that combination change?’ Is it the next tackle that goes in if a tackle went down, or are we better with the next guard going in and sliding this (starting) guard over to tackle?

“So early in fall camp, you’re doing all of those things throughout the camp. We would be doing that anyway, but now we have some clarity on some guys that aren’t going to be there so we can plan around that.”

*On true freshmen WRs Antoine Green and Dyami Brown, Fedora said: “They’re both very, very talented guys and they can stretch the field. They can go vertical. They’re still learning, their heads are smoking, Antoine’s probably more than Dyami because Dyami was with us in the spring. He’s showing some tremendous flashes in practice.”

*Fedora doesn’t know who his backup quarterback going into Cal is at this time. He will treat the battle for the number two spot behind Nathan Elliott the same way he’s treated competitions for the starting job in the past. He did say performances in the upcoming scrimmage will be a huge factor, as will the other scrimmages the Tar Heels will hold. In the video above, he had a lot to say about Manny Miles, Jace Ruder and Cade Fortin.

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