North Carolina wide receivers coach Lonnie Galloway met with the media via Zoom on Wednesday afternoon to field questions about his talented unit looking ahead to this coming season.
Above is the video and here are some bullet points of what Galloway had to say:
Note: Due to technical difficulties, the first two questions of the presser did not record, but we will post the transcript soon.
*Regarding Carolina’s terrific trio of Dazz Newsome, Dyami Brown and Beau Corrales, Galloway said the one thing that jumped out at him a year ago about them was their work ethic.
*As for the dropped passes a year ago, and the curious reality that the players often made extremely challenging catches but dropped the less challenging ones, Galloway said it’s all concentration. He expects improvement there this season.
“Attention to detail, seeing the ball in, seeing yourself, I tell them ‘Quick tuck it.’ We do a drill that we call ‘Words are blanks’ with the football, seeing themselves put it away. And then the extra stuff after practice whether or not that’s jugs, tennis balls, those type of things. And, after a while if you drop them, you’ll see them run off the field because somebody else is coming in.”
*With respect to recruiting, Galloway says having two 1,000-yard receivers a year ago and the preseason attention Newsome, in particular, and Brown are getting helps his pitch to prospects. Ha also noted having a guy like Sam Howell throwing the ball is a big help, too.
*Furthermore, Galloway said Mack Brown’s understanding of the importance of recruiting and how to properly do it in building a program also helps on the trail. Toss in UNC’s facilities and academic reputation, which is noted as similar to a public Ivy, are things they sell a lot, too. The 40-year decision pitch is a very real part of their process.
*Newsome and Brown have received plenty of preseason accolades and expectations are high, but Galloway has told them what they’ve done in the past doesn’t matter now. “That’s all in the past, now we’ve got to re-write it. After the season we’ll see what happens. They’re both hungry and willing to compete and they all want that opportunity to go to the next level, but it’s what they do from now on, not what they did in the past.”
*Antoine Green arrived at UNC two years ago as one of the more ballyhooed players in that class, but a bad knee injury suffered in an overtime loss at Syracuse ended his freshman season and affected him last fall, too. The physical stuff has been fine for a while, but Galloway says Green has had to work through the mental part of coming back from such a bad injury.
But, Galloway recently saw Green and said, “He came by the other day and looked great,” plus Green has moved past the mental hurdle of coming back from the injury.
*Galloway was asked about the rotation at receiver in addition to the main trio of Newsome, Brown and Corrales and he mentioned, in order: Antoine Green, Toe Groves, Emery Simmons (talked about him earlier in the presser), Josh Downs, Stephen Gosnell, Tylee Craft and said some positive things about redshirt freshman Justin Olson, a preferred walk-on from Charlotte who signed a month after Mack Brown was hired. “He didn’t get much work last year up on our end, but he looked good.”
Galloway wants to play 6-7 guys at least in the rotation and was clear the starters aren’t going to be on the field as much. “Dyami ain’t playing 85 snaps a game.”
He singled out Groves because nobody’s really talking about him: “You now, four-and-17 (versus Miami) and Sam threw the ball to Toe, so Toe is definitely a kid that will be in the rotation.”
He gushed some about Downs saying he’s “an electric football player.” Also, “His quickness. Very intelligent player. He was a good player here before, because he enrolled early… Very strong, changes direction, work habits, very confident, can run, catch the ball very well. I’m excited to see him get out there.”
Galloway also said, smiling, people will hear from Gosnell: “With Gosnell, you look at him, (people are like), ‘Who is that, coach?’ ‘Y’all just wait and see.’”
