CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Wide Receivers Coach Lonnie Galloway met with the media this week to discuss his position group.
How deep with he go in that room? Who are likely in the rotation? What about the second-year guys? The true freshmen? All of that and more were discussed by Galloway, who is also UNC’s associate head coach.
Above is video of Galloway’s Q&A session, and below are some notes and quotes from what he had to say:
*Talk about playing eight or nine receivers has been consistent over the last month, but what is the challenge in actually doing that. History shows it’s easier said than done.
“The thing that Coach (Mack) Brown talks about all the time is building trust with them with me. Last year with the Tez (Walker) situation that we had, for the first four games it was J.J. (Jones), Kobe (Paysour), Gavin (Blackwell), and Nate (McCollum). And we had 1,256 yards and 10 touchdowns with those guys.
“So now, Paul Billups is a year older, Chris Culliver is a year older, Christian Hamilton’s a year older, so you throw those in and you bring the freshmen in we got who’ve been here since January, (we) just try to figure out which of those guys that you can plug and play.”
*Paysour didn’t play after the fifth game last season after breaking both feet (one in October and the other December, and then he didn’t participate this past spring. The word was he was at full health at the start of fall camp, but he’s missed some practices and there is some uncertainty about how ready he is right now.
Galloway was asked about Paysour but was vague in his response.
“Kobe practiced today. Injuries and things that happened, those are the things that coach Brown talks about… But Kobe was out here today and that’s what I expect. I expect him to be somebody that we count on very heavily.”
*Staying on Paysour, a reference to Brown saying he expected the junior would be a full-go and no worries about his readiness for the Minnesota game. Galloway was asked if Paysour has gotten enough reps to be ready for the opener,
“Kobe practiced today and that’s what we’re going on.”
*Who are the three or four guys at receiver that Galloway trusts the most right now?
“It’s a work-in-progress because we’re still a (week-plus) away, but J.J., Nate, Kobe, Gavin, (Jordan) Shipp, all of them right now. Everybody’s still in play for the (game). We’ve got (a week-plus) … before we take off.”
*Ideally, Galloway says he’d “like to play six or seven of them. But that comes with situations in the game. We talked about that yesterday in the meeting. From the 20 to the 20, that’s where coach likes for us to sub if we’re going to sub. Coming out or getting in the red zone, he wants the guys in there that we depend on.”
*Jordan Shipp is a supremely talented true freshman who just pops when you see him on the field. He was banged up some in fall camp, but if healthy, it’s hard to imagine he won’t be in the rotation. Is he ready mentally and as far as maturity goes to be in the rotation right out of the gate?
“Yes. The program that he came from (Providence Day in Charlotte) and the way he’s been coached, and his IQ of football, since he’s been here, he’s been one that works extra, knows every position on the field of play.
“We’re just trying to find specifically where we want to use him. But he is mentally ready to be able to play.”
*McCollum had 15 catches in a monster performance against Minnesota last season. We’ve heard a couple of times over the last month that “Minnesota Nate” has been doing his thing throughout camp. So what is Minnesota Nate as opposed the to player that wasn’t at that level last year?
“Minnesota Nate is here. We’ve seen that in camp. Minnesota Nate is here. He had 15 catches… That was a good game for him, and that’s the thing that we’ve talked about him being consistent from spring ball to fall camp.”
