North Carolina football coach Larry Fedora took part in the ACC’s annual post-spring practice teleconference Wednesday, and here is what the Tar Heels’ head man had to say:
Opening statement:
LARRY FEDORA: We've had a very productive spring, got a lot of reps with a lot of guys as we always try to do in spring, try to develop as much depth as possible, knowing that we're going to need a lot of that depth next season. So excited about where we are with this team right now and understand that we've got still a long way to go.
Q. What did you learn from your quarterbacks during spring ball?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, one, that we're basically starting over. We've got a bunch of young guys that don't have much experience. We've got some talented guys, so I'm excited about the talent level that we've got there. I'm excited about what they're going to bring to the table. We've just got a lot of work to do with them. We've got to try to tailor the offense to each one of them and what they can do once we decide on who it is, and then make sure we minimize mistakes.
Q. On the defensive side of the ball, how did the defense evolve during spring ball with a new coordinator at work?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I mean, it was really nothing new for them because J.P. has been with us for the last two years. There was not much transition for them even with the new coaches on staff because they had worked with J.P. and in the system before, so it was a really smooth transition. I thought those guys progressed really quite well throughout spring, and excited about where they are.
Q. Obviously the talk on Mitch Trubisky, your former quarterback, there's been a lot of where he's going to end up, what he can do. What can you say about what an NFL team gets with getting Mitch that goes beyond just the conversation of 13 starts?
LARRY FEDORA: You know, they get a very, very competitive, level-headed young man who can make every throw there is. He's got the will to win. He has all the intangibles. He's the more accurate quarterback I've been around in my 30 years of coaching. He's just a winner is what he is, and he has a very unique -- how to say it, just a unique temperament. I mean, he's just very even-keeled about everything, but he's got -- he has the respect of all of his teammates because of his work ethic and his will to win. I think they're getting a guy that can be successful for a long time in that league, a guy that can -- because of his work ethic and his study habits and his will to be great, I think they're going to get a great quarterback.
Q. We've spoken on it before, Mitch's story, and how patient he had to be going through the process of every spring and every fall waiting for an opportunity. Just what can you say about his story has kind of shown you about overcoming adversity and being patient like he was?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, I think in the world we live in, everybody expects -- the expectations are so high on a young man coming into college or even going on into the NFL. People want instant success right away, and I don't know that that's realistic or fair at the same time because Mitch doing the things that he did coming from high school to college and the trials and tribulations that he's dealt with both internally and externally have made him into the man he is today. And whether he had 13 starts or whether he had 26 starts, whatever it is, I mean, he is who he is, and I'm proud of who he's become and the quarterback he's developed into, and I'm not sure that I would have done things any differently with it because it's made him who he is. He's just a very gifted and very talented young man.
Q. Another Trubisky question for you: Looks like he's going to be a top pick in tomorrow's draft. How does that affect you on the recruiting trail and how do you foresee it affecting you if he has success in the NFL in the next couple years?
LARRY FEDORA: You bet. All of our plays are the greatest ambassadors of our program, and to have a group of young men this year that are probably going to get drafted, Mitch probably being the highest, is good for our program. It legitimizes the program and the things that we're doing, where players out there that you can see that you can come to the University of North Carolina, you can reach all your dreams and goals, that you will be developed into being the best player that you can possibly be. I'm excited about that.
I'm really excited for each and every one of these guys to -- because they're reaching their dreams. They're pursuing dreams that they've been pursuing since they've been very young, and that reality is starting to happen for them.
Q. Obviously there are years you return a quarterback and there's years you have to break in a new quarterback. How much does the coach's job, the offensive staff's job change based on those two different scenarios?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I think that's what good coaching is all about. I mean, you're going to -- you're constantly tweaking and molding the offense around the talent that you have. So one, you have to discover that talent, know what the strengths and weaknesses are, and then you've got to adjust the offense, and so sometimes the hardest things are taking things out of the offense that have been good in the past that may not be good right now.
They may be good in the future, but right now, I mean, even it may have been your favorite 3rd and medium pass, and we were very successful with it, but we may not be successful going forward with it. I think that's the tough thing that coaches have to make that adjustment in their minds that you have to do what your guys can do. You've got to put them in the best position to win.
Q. And you obviously see the candidates in practice earlier before it's their time usually. How close do you find your idea of what a quarterback will be translates to what he actually is for you when he's getting all the reps, or do you find when somebody becomes the guy that you kind of rethink maybe what he can and can't do?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I think that's -- I think it's a combination of the two. I think you have to -- as they're practicing and you're evaluating each and everything and you're watching to see the mistakes they make in practice and then how do they handle those mistakes and do they learn from those mistakes, do they -- do they keep making the same mistakes over and over, all those type of things you're evaluating all the time, and then you've got to put it all together. Ultimately what's going to matter is what they do in games, you know, and that's what it's all going to come down to, and so hopefully you can prepare them to put them in the best position.
Q. Obviously a lot of focus on the quarterback situation, but you lost a ton of guys at wide receiver that were very talented, Buck Howard, Matt Collins and Switzer, obviously, and then you lost your best two running backs in Hood and Logan. Can you talk about the replacements in those two positions and what you saw in the spring from the younger guys that will be running back and wide receiver?
LARRY FEDORA: You bet. You're right, we lost, I think I read somewhere that we lost 90 percent of our offensive production, and that hadn't been done in something like 12 years since they've been keeping that stat. We did lose a lot, so we've got -- but spring was really good for us, so we had guys like Austin Proehl, who's played a lot for us. We had guys like Thomas Jackson, Rontavius Groves, a new kid that redshirted the year before who stepped up and really did some nice things. Jordan Cunningham.
So we've got other receivers that are there and ready to become the next guy. They just were playing behind some really good players and didn't have the opportunity that those other players had because they hadn't established themselves yet. That's common. I think during spring, we saw flashes of that from quite a few guys out there. Another young man that played a bunch for us at that position was Thomas Jackson, who is another former walk-on that made plays for us all last year that will play a bigger role.
I'm excited about those guys. It's just people don't know who they are yet. At the running back position, you've got Jordon Brown, who's the only returning player that we have there, who unfortunately didn't get all the way through spring with us, but I'm excited about what's going to happen with him next year. And then we got a taste to see what the young guy did with Michael Carter, who came in from Navarre, Florida, who really had a really good spring, so excited about him, and then Stanton Truitt, the transfer from Auburn, did some really good things with us.
We'll be okay at those positions, they're just going to be young. Some of them are going to be inexperienced, and we'll have to, again, try to mold what they can do into the offense.
