CHAPEL HILL – Travis Shaw has displayed sings his game has jumped a few levels from last season, and that’s not conjecture.

The junior defensive tackle for North Carolina and former 5-star hadn’t approached playing to a level suited mostly for the highest-rated prospects in each class until the last two games. And he still has plenty of improving to come, UNC Defensive Line Coach Ted Monachino said Tuesday at the Kenan Football Center.

Shaw averaged 12 snaps per game through his first two seasons with the Tar Heels, but he’s played 40 in the first two contests of this season. He’s moved his 1.2 tackles-per-game to 2.0 this season, but more important is how he’s affecting games.

Shaw is occupying blockers, filling space, and doing the intangibles that allow teammates to make stops that show up on the stat sheet.

His PFF grade of 49.2 as a freshman improved to 52.0 as a sophomore, but it’s up to 59.4 this season, but that might be a bit misleading given how his overall game has been much more complete than ever before.

And it’s the product, in many respects of Shaw losing 41 points, which exemplifies how he’s matured over the last eight months, Monachino said.

Along with a few other members of the media, we had a chance to speak with Monachino about Shaw, and here is everything he said:

NOTE: Full transcript of everything Monachino said about Shaw below the video.

On how Ole Miss transfer Josh Harris has helped Shaw and how they work together:

MONACHINO: “The thing with Josh, it’s great to have a grown man in the room. He’s married, he ahs two young children, and he’s very, very mature. Because he’s got his life in a place that it’s pretty level most of the time, he doesn’t have peaks and valleys that a lot of young people do. So, his example that he sets in keeping the priorities in the right order has been huge for all of them, and Travis has always seen that, but the clock is ticking on all of our guys.

“So, Travis knows that if he’s going to do it, what better time than right now to do it. It’s great to see the maturity in all of our room ramp up, but it’s especially great to see those guys that have real talent, like Travis Shaw, be able to the things he’s learning in the meeting room and the things that he’s learning just by observing a guy like Josh; how he operates, how he goes about his business every day, how he handles thing that are not the main thing and he still is able to keep the main thing the main thing.

“I think those are all things that have impacted Trav in the way that he approaches his daily operation, his daily life.”

On how Shaw is different not just physically but as a person with the weight loss:

MONACHINO: “He looks great when he walks into the room, doesn’t he? It’s so different than what it’s been. I think he’s truly focused on being the player everybody expects him to be. The weight loss is something I think going through some things and being a little bit up-and-down from an injury standpoint kept him from doing some of those things.

“But (Director of Nutrition) Amber (Rinestine-Ressa) up there in the cafeteria has done an amazing job keeping her thumb right on of him and made sure that his goals have become her goals. And when that happens and everybody’s pulling the rope in the same direction, you’ve got a chance. And everybody’s pulling the Travis Shaw rope in the same direction.

“I know that he is a kid that has really high expectations of himself, and when he sees those other veteran players that are every day the business of football is a top priority to them, it just makes sense that it would be to Trav as well. And I couldn’t be happier with where he is right now mentally. I know he’s still not where he wants to be physically, but he sure is happy he’s not he used to be.”

On how drastic it is that Shaw made the body change losing 41 pounds since the winter:

MONACHINO: “I think it’s drastic in the respect that he can go longer, he can play better for longer stretches. Travis was a flash guy, right? He’d go out there and have one or two snaps and then we’d have to get him off the field. It’s not that way anymore. He’s playing more and more snaps each week, which is what we hope to continue. He looks drastically different on the hoof than he did before, but I still think he’s the same kid and he still wants to be great. And that part, he’s committed to that. He knows that, ‘I can’t be what I want to be unless I’m in good enough shape to play more than five snaps in a row.’”

On if 329 is the goal weight or there is more to lose, and if Shaw has said he sees and has articulated the clear benefit from being slimmer:

MONACHINO: “I think what happens is people focus on a body weight number, and as I spoke with him in March, it wasn’t about what you weigh, it was about how you play, and I think Travis bought into that. He knew that he couldn’t play the way he needed to play, he couldn’t practice the way he needed to practice and improve and train the way he needed to train until he got some of that excess weight off.

“He is totally committed to being as good as he can be, and that’s a major shift. He’s always been talented. He’s always been really, really smart, and now he’s applying that intelligence across a lot of different areas of his life and it’s helping him.

“He had a great game Saturday (against Charlotte), aa great game. He was productive was disruptive, he played a number of snaps that we’re starting to break through some barriers with him. And the more we break through, the more we’ll see what he can be.”