CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference to discuss what was learned from the win over Duke, certain aspects of his offense, and moving forward with Florida State visiting this weekend.
Above is video of Longo’s presser and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*UNC used three centers over its first 20 offensive snaps against Duke, with sophomore Cayden Baker the second center inserted into the game, which was also the first time he had played the position in a game in college or high school. Baker has been UNC’s backup left tackle, but he moved over to center last week, as the staff is looking for some stability at the position with Brian Anderson banged up since fall camp started and Quiron Johnson also dealing with the physical stuff.
Johnson was the third center to play and essentially took over the spot until mop-up time, playing 45 snaps and grading out at 68.4. Baker played 19 snaps and graded out at 61.2. So, what is the situation at center right now?
“We’re trying to address it by finding somebody that can play some consistent football there,” Longo said. “Q (Johnson) was playing hurt for a little while. He felt good this week (so) we gave him the bulk of the reps; he did a good job. We’re working through Brian and trying to get him back to 100 percent.
“I think we had decided we like the effort and ability that Cayden Baker has. He’s a newer guy to that center front but we’re going to continue developing him at that position along with his spot at offensive tackle.”
Jonathan Adorno was working with the ones for much of the early part of fall camp, but Longo said he is primarily working at guard now and that Johnson, Baker, and Anderson are the players getting practice reps at center.
*Sam Howell started the season as one of the leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy, but he isn’t mentioned any longer after the Tar Heels started the season 2-2 with him throwing four interceptions and losing four fumbles. Howell has only completed three passes thrown 20 or more yards downfield in four ACC games.
However, the junior has still been quite effective completing 62.9 percent of his passes, in spite of struggles up front in pass protection, with 1,494 yards and 14 touchdowns. He has also run for 288 yards, registering a pair of 100-yard games, and scored three rushing touchdowns.
The rub on UNC right now is that Howell has been sacked 22 times, including 13 in the last two games, plus the Tar Heels have inexperienced receivers and running backs aside from Ty Chandler, and this is his first season at UNC. So how might that affect how Longo evaluates his star QB’s performances?
“I think at the end of the day, whether you have a great team around you or a terrible team around you, and I’m not saying we do, and whether or not a play goes really well on a particular down or really poorly on a particular down, at the end of the day the quarterback’s job is the quarterback’s job,” Longo said.
“From a grading-him-out standpoint, he’s either doing something to help the play or he’s not. There is one key component to grading a quarterback that’s different than the other positions, and we call it damage control. You’re going to touch the football on every down, (and) every single down is not going to be positive no matter how good you are.
“So a big part of the quarterback’s job is DM, damage control on plays that, if we’re athletic enough to get out of the box and make a play on the run, great. If we’re athletic enough to scramble and go create some positive yardage, terrific. Sometimes, the best result on a play is putting the ball in the dirt and getting the incomplete. Second-down-and-10 is a heck of a lot better than second-and-17.”
*Perhaps the biggest positive offensive surprise is the recent production of sophomore tight end Kamari Morales, who is second on the team with 15 receptions and three touchdowns. Morales, who is 6-foot-2 and 245 pounds, has scored in each of Carolina’s last three games.
“What Kamari does at his position, on paper he’s not as long as you want a tight end sometimes, that’s what people think. But Kamari is so dang athletic, and he’s developed his body and he’s bigger, and he’s physical,” Longo said. “So we can put him in in a goal line situation now and he can get it done, and that wasn’t necessarily the case when he got here.
“He was lighter and wasn’t nearly as strong. That to (strength and conditioning coach Brian) Hess and company and his work ethic, he’s really physically developed himself so you can get him in there without everybody thinking we’re going to throw to him all the time. So, he’s been able to handle the physical aspect of it, and now the athletic part of it we’re taking advantage of because he can make you miss.
“He’s got some moves, he’s athletic, he can change direction, and he does a good job catching the football, so we’re going to try to drain as much out of him as we can down in that area.”
Morales’ touchdown receptions have been for three, seven, and two yards.
*Emery Simmons, Antoine Green, and Khafre Brown were targeted just eight times combined with just two completions for 14 yards in the win over the Blue Devils, a low figure given the expectations of what their roles would be in the offense. Simmons has 10 receptions for 236 yards and a score, Green has nine catches for 205 yards and a touchdown, and Brown has just one reception for 75 yards and a TD.
What is going on with the trio with them getting separation, pressure on Howell causing inaccurate throws, or something else, and how can they create more productivity in the passing game?
“It’s a little of all that, it’s an accumulative deal,” Longo said. “This is a team deal right now. And (about the receivers), I’m going to say thing: They have some strengths (and) we need to play to those strengths a little bit more and we need to do some things schematically to help.
“If we have a guy who doesn’t release well, we’ve got to do some things to help him get off the ball. If we have a guy that really does a good job on in-cuts and can separate, we need to focus those routes and in-cuts to that cat. If we’ve got a vertical guy, we’re going to have to scheme a little bit more specifically from a personnel standpoint to try to cater to their strengths and not what they’re not doing well right now.
“So the game plan as we move forward here is going to become much more specific to personnel, and we’re going to do some things schematically to help those guys with weaknesses that we have where we’re not effectively executing from a technique standpoint.”
