CHAPEL HILL – Monday means North Carolina’s coordinators meet with the media and field questions about their units.

This week, Phil Longo and Jay Bateman got plenty of questions stemming from the 44-34 loss at Notre Dame over the weekend. Longo’s was more on the positive side considering his offense put forth one of its best performances of the season, but Bateman’s was more about things that have gone wrong, highlighted by the unit’s poor performance versus the Fighting Irish.

Here are videos of their entire press conferences along with some notes and pulled quotes from what they had to say:

*Saturday night, North Carolina showcased an offense that looked similar to the last two years with how it was able to move the ball, and score points. UNC Coach Mack Brown attributed that success to the improvements they are seeing at center in terms of getting guys healthy. Longo dove further into the center position, and how having guys healthy leads to an improved product on the field.

“It’s tough when there’s a guy in any position that’s not at a hundred percent, it’s difficult,” Longo said. “If you don’t have a valid backup, it’s a problem. At center it gets exacerbated a little bit because he’s the first one to touch the football, he’s making all the calls for the guys up front.

“It’s tough, if you don’t have a center that can execute, to get everything going, and that was probably the biggest reason we struggled up front against Virginia Tech. It stems from the environment, hurting our ability to communicate, and then we’re playing with a center that’s not a hundred percent, you’ve got to find a way to get it done anyway.

“I think we’re getting healthier. Brian Anderson has gotten healthier as the year has gone on. We planned on having him from day one healthy, and that didn’t happen. And then Q, who has done a great job filling his shoes, he has been playing hurt.

“We’ve kind of rotated through those two guys, and I think now we’re getting to a point as we get into the home stretch of this season, where the two of them are as healthy as they have been all year. They both played a bunch, so now they both have a good number of reps under their belt, they’re pretty much as close to a hundred percent as we’ve had them, and I hope that bodes well for us for the remaining four games that we have.”

*UNC was able to get the outside receivers more involved on Saturday with Antoine Green catching a touchdown, along with Justin Olson and J.J. Jones adding a few catches. Longo talked about the keys that allowed for that production to show up in South Bend.

“I’d like to say it’s something overly strategic and schematic on the part of the staff, and take credit for it, but the truth is those guys are getting better,” Longo said. “They’re doing a better job now, they feel a lot better, they got more reps under their belt, been there done that kind of thing for them.

“It’s not the same as some of these young guys at running back, and at receiver particularly, experiencing different situations for the first time, that’s the biggest key. The second is we have done some things schematically to help them. Overall, we are trying to target them a little bit more, and Sam from a throw standpoint is trying to target them, and we are from a play calling standpoint are trying to target them more.

“Antoine Green’s lack of production this year has come from not getting him enough targets, so we’re gonna try and get him more. With the younger receivers it’s been about just developing them, and doing some things schematically to get them open.

“As I said last week, we benefit offensively when we can distribute the ball to everybody, and that was a huge help to us against Notre Dame on Saturday.”

*Bryson Nesbit had arguably his best game in his young career, catching the ball three times for 50 yards against Notre Dame. Longo talked about Nesbit, and if he will continue to see his role increase in the offense.

“Nesbit had probably his largest role in the game against Notre Dame,” Longo said. “It has consistently increased, both in the number of plays that we have on the list when he’s out there, we’re probably comfortable with calling just about anything in the offense now, whereas that wasn’t true in weeks three, four, five.

“Now we’re to a point where he has it down mentally, and we want to take advantage of the athleticism that he has, and the tools that he has. His role will continue, as long as he’s healthy, to expand and grow.

“I would point out at tight end, we got into the season with Garrett Walston, who’s already a proven commodity, and then we’ve gotten an improved Kamari Morales, and now we have Bryson Nesbit, who I think might be overall our best guy out in open space.

“Those three have become a greater component in the offense, and I think that’ll continue to go in that direction.”

*Emery Simmons started off the season as one of the starting outside receivers, but has seen his play time decreasing all the way to him getting zero snaps against Notre Dame. Longo talked about the reason for the reduced role for Simmons.

“The reason Emery didn’t play was that we started with Justin Olson,” Longo said. “We just had this conversation the other day, it really had nothing to do with anything Emery did or didn’t do, he had a good week of practice like he always does. He’s probably one of our most consistent guys from a dependability standpoint.

“Justin Olson was running good routes, and getting open, and producing, and we were in a tight game. The mentality at any position is if things are going well with a certain clientele or personnel out there, we’re gonna roll with it for a little bit.

“It was just a matter of Justin Olson playing well, and not needing to come out for fatigue, or anything like that, so we rolled with him for a little bit, much like we did with Antoine Green. We probably played fewer receivers which was not what we expected to do.

“Played fewer receivers on Saturday than we normally do, but they were playing well, and they were getting the job done, so we stayed with what was working. It really had nothing to do with any lack of performance by Emery. Justin has had some really nice weeks of practice, he’s done a nice job catching the deep ball, and getting open underneath. We went with him first, and he was playing well, and we stayed with it.”

- Noah Strabowski

*A goal for any coaching staff with a young roster is to develop their youth throughout the season. Bateman believes the development of the defensive line and inside linebacker serves as a bright spot for this young unit.

"Well, the defensive line has improved fundamentally since day one," he said. "We always we felt strongly about Ray (Vohasek), but I think to see, not just Myles Murphy, I think Tomon Fox is playing really well. But then to see Kevin Hester and to see Jahvaree Ritzie really improve. That's why I think, fundamentally, those guys have really improved. I think at inside linebacker, you have to look at how Cedric Gray has come along. I think you feel really good about the progress that positions made too."

*North Carolina's secondary entered the season hyped up as one of the best secondaries in the nation. However, the Tar Heels rank 61st in the country in passing yards allowed per game through eight games. Bateman has noticed the regression of production in the back end of his defense.

"I'm concerned about everything," said Bateman. “We haven't played as well as we're capable of. I think the number one thing that I do think improved the last couple of weeks is communication in the secondary. I still think in the secondary, there are some of the coverage issues, some of the leverage issues that need to be better."

*UNC ranks 94th in the country in rushing defense, allowing 175.6 yards per game. However, against Notre Dame, the Tar Heels run defense played allowed their highest output this season, allowing the Irish to run for 293 yards with a seven-yard per carry average.

"Well, I think the first thing is we had a 93-yard run that we had tackled for minus two, and it is what it is," explained Bateman." We had a chance to tackle him, and we didn't. I thought our run efficiency up to that point was really high. I think Notre Dame does a good job, and that's kind of how they've been built all year.

“They bang at you; they bang at you. I think the running back is a really good player, and then they pop a long one on us. I thought at that point we had really limited the long runs. We had a couple of misfits that were eight or ten-yard runs, but the long run really skewed the data. I think when you look at the overall picture of the run fit in the run game, other than the 93-yard run, it's kind of like 'other than other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?'

“No one cares, but I felt like the overall efficiency of the run defense was decent outside of that."

*Don Chapman logged 72 snaps at corner on Saturday. The San Diego native has spent most of his Tar Heel career playing safety. Also, it appears like Ja'Qurious Conley's move back to nickel isn't temporary, as Bateman has suggested earlier in the season.

"I think Don (Chapman) played the most snaps against Notre Dame, but Kyler McMichael is going to play a lot, so I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock into that,” said Bateman. "I think the corner situation is going to continue to be those three guys, hopefully at some point Storms (Duck) back. I think Dante Balfour is a freshman who's really coming along. I still think that's going to be the majority of the corners.

"We're most playing JQ (Ja'Qurious Conley) at nickel, that's where I think he is best right now. I think he's played better when he's been there, so I think that'll pretty much be going forward."

- Brandon Peay