Fox, Downs, Evans & Murphy Talk Themsleves, Their Groups & More

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina held its fourth practice of fall camp Sunday morning, and it was the Tar Heels’ first in shells. Afterward, four players were available for zoom interviews with the media.

Junior defensive tackle Tomari Fox, sophomore wide receiver Josh Downs, sophomore outside linebacker (hybrid) Desmond Evans, and sophomore defensive lineman Myles Murphy fielded questions.

Here are videos of their full interviews along with notes and pulled quotes from what they had to say:

*Tomari Fox did not participate in spring practice, as he sat mending an injury. So how were the last few months for him dealing with that, coming back to where he’s fully engaged with everything now in practice?

“The past couple of months, I’ve had a few nicks and icks upper body-wise, but as far as that goes (I’m) 100 percent now,” Fox said. “I think for the most part, I focused on getting my lower body making sure I can withstand the grind of playing in the trenches.

“As far as the past couple of months, it’s been more flexibility, movement, getting comfortable in football situations again. I’m feeling pretty good about how things are going.”

*The depth up front on defense is perhaps the biggest storyline of fall camp and heading into the season. Ray Vohasek spoke about it Friday and UNC Coach Mack Brown has been asked about it a few times. So, it only makes sense to get Fox’s take on how having more guys that can play will make each player better and more productive on a per-snap basis.

“It’s great honestly,” Fox replied. “It takes a lot of the pressure off you knowing that you can trust somebody to come in behind you after four-to-six long, hard snaps.

“I remember playing Wake Forest, and those last few drives it was pass rush after pass rush, pass rush all the way down the field. And I’m thinking QB hit, I think it was two sacks, QB hit, pressure, tipped pass, pressure. So, knowing you can do that, and somebody is going to come in right behind you and do that same thing, it takes a lot of pressure off you and allows more people to make plays.”

*Fox ended responding to the previous question about having more guys being rotated by heaping praise on two highly touted true freshmen.

“Our young guys are really good,” he said. “Keeshawn Silver, Jahvaree Ritzie, those guys are coming along – two freaks of nature. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the faces of the program in a few years when they’re old heads.”

*Naturally, Fox was asked about the guys along the line in general. Keep in mind, UNC might be able to go 10 deep at some point this season. He first spoke about the depth issues to make the point he wanted about how many capable guys they now have up front.

“The past two years, we’d have a top and whoever else is kind of at the bottom and gray areas still developing,” he said. “I feel like now everybody’s in that post-development stage to the point where, even if you don’t have to take a large percentage of the snaps, you can still take a large chuck of it so you’re taking pressure off some of these other guys… Guys are cross-training. Noses are learning tackle, tackles are learning end, ends are learning tackle.

“Jahlil Taylor, you guys already know about him, freak of nature, beast and all that. He’s stepped up in a big way. He’s a leader and gives us someone to look to. Ball’s 80 yards downfield in practice and he’s chasing it. That’s our mindset on the defensive line.

“Kristian Varner slept on, sleeping giant, making huge strides… Now he’s just as physical as anyone on the field, if not more so because he’s hungry. Kevin Hester’s got a little bit more football knowledge to him now, he’s coming along, he knows the plays, he’s physical, big body.

“Myles Murphy learning end and tackle, cross training, he knows what he’s doing, he’s in the playbooks. Same with Clyde Pinder. All these young guys, man, it’s at a point where we don’t got no more punks everybody’s a big dog now.”

*A limited sample size sometimes doesn’t reveal much, but in this case it surely does. The UNC players asked in the spring and recently what teammate they say will break out this season, everyone of them has said Josh Downs unless asked not to, as some in the media are understandably looking for different names.

At 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, Downs had a major role in UNC’s game versus Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl last January and he came through, catching four passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns. He had seven receptions in his true freshman season overall. So, what expectations does Downs have for himself this season?

“I want to fill the void that Dazz (Newsome) left last year,” Downs said. “Dazz Newsome was a great slot receiver, I learned from him last year. I’m trying to take on that roll (and) do what I can for my team and win as many games as possible and do my job.”

*Going back to the A&M game, Downs acknowledged it was tough last season not getting on the field much, but his performance that night provided an infusion of confidence that carried into his offseason workouts, spring practice, and up to now.

“All season, it was a little mental struggle for me because I was used to being the super star in high school, but I came in here and had to really humble myself, put my pride down and realize that it wasn’t really going to be like that last year,” Downs said. “And I had to take my role of more mental reps and learning from the guy in front of me.

“I kept praying to God every day, I kept asking Him for an opportunity, and when it came against A&M, I took advantage of it. And I really realized I can do this. It (confidence) soared tremendously, and I started looking at the game like, it’s time to take over.”

*Des Evans played 171 snaps as a true freshman last season, getting the majority later in the campaign as he continued to learn and adjust to the college game. He did lag behind some, though. In the spring, teammates spoke about him learning the playbook, and Sunday, he spoke about getting his body into Power 5 college form.

Not a man of many words, he was asked a few questions about this, of which we will string together his responses.

“Just eat the right food, drink my water, fruit,” he said, before being asked to expand on that more specifically if he ate or drank anything different to help build his body. “Basically, it was just working out. I’m a big man, I’ll eat anyway. It was just eating a lot. I had to eat about three meals a day, and at night just get a snack, two snacks during the night and then sleep on it, do the same thing and just work out.”

Evans didn’t say there was anything specific added to his workout regimen, and he praised strength and conditioning coach Brian Hess for part of his body development.

*During Thursday’s practice in which the media was allowed to watch in person, Evans spent some time taking reps with the defensive line. Why was he doing that and what was the value of getting those reps?

“Just staying low,” he said. “I’ve got to be real low to get to the ball, so working with the d-line helps me stay low.”

*Myles Murphy came on strong late last season. As a true freshman, the defensive tackle played 187 snaps, though 102 came over the last five contests including 23 versus Notre Dame, 23 at Miami, and 21 in the Orange Bowl against Texas A&M. So, in three games versus supremely big-time competition, the true freshman still feeling his way was on the field for 64 plays.

At 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds, Murphy is one of the starters up front for the Tar Heels and has been tagged by some of his teammates as the player to watch heading into this season. So what has he focused on so he’s ready to play starters reps and take on such an important role?

“Working on my run blocks, quicker instincts,” Murphy replied. “(I’ve) been studying a lot of players in the NFL seeing what they do and trying to my (game).”

*Amazingly, Murphy squats 200 more pounds right now than he did last season.

“I didn’t know how to squat, my technique was bad,” Murphy said, smiling. “And Coach Hess, he boosted my squat like 200 pounds. I’m squatting like 515, (and) when I came in I was squatting what, 325? So yeah, he boosted that way up.”

Squatting 515 as opposed to 325 makes an enormous difference for a defensive lineman, of which one of his jobs is to get an offensive lineman backing, on his heels and not in control of his balance. That gives the defensive player a huge advantage.

“When you’re going against the offensive line when we’re doing inside run, you an just knock the o-line back and it feels good and you get off and make the play.”