Longo On Run Game Progress, Howell's Legs, Downs & More
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Phil Longo met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference to discuss what he learned from his unit’s performance in a 59-39 victory over Virginia on Saturday night and to look ahead to this weekend’s game at Georgia Tech.
The Tar Heels racked up 699 total yards against the Cavaliers, which ranks as the sixth most in program history. They had 35 first downs against UVA, as well. Ty Chandler ran for 198 yards and two touchdowns, Josh Downs had eight receptions for 203 yards and two scores,
Sam Howell ran for 112 yards and passed for 307 and five TDs. He has now passed for 300 or more yards and run for 100 or more yards in consecutive games, joining Louisville QB Lamar Jackson as the only ACC players to ever do it, and they are the only players from Power 5 conferences to do this in back-to-back games since 2004. Jackson won the Heisman Trophy the year he did it in 2016.
Below are video of Longo’s presser and transcript of everything he had to say:
Q: Are you surprised that Sam has developed into such a dynamic runner?
LONGO: "The quarterback running has always been a component of the offense. What happens is you either heat it up, and you emphasize it because the quarterback is gifted enough to be a weapon in that part of the game, or you don't. Sam came out of high school a very accomplished runner. He's running against some different cats at this level than he is in high school, so you'd like to see the slide aspect be a bigger part of what he does. And he's used that in the past, these last couple of years.
“This year, I think we have depth in the quarterback room. We know Sam is a run weapon, and really it's the scenario of need. We had a need for some backup quarterbacks in our room the last two years. We were gonna heat up Sam last year, with the emergence of Jace Ruder as a backup for us. Then, as he was hit with injuries, we wounded up feeling like we didn't have the same depth in the quarterback room behind Sam. There was a need to try and keep him healthy because of the depth.
“This year, I've got Jacolby Criswell and Drake Maye in the room, and then we got two other younger guys. I love our room, and we got five guys working their tails off, and they can execute. We feel like because we have more depth, we can heat Sam up and use him as a run weapon in this system. And I don't think that will change it anytime soon."
Q: What was the difference in running between the tackles, from the first two weeks to this past week?
LONGO: "I think Virginia Tech is the anomaly. We had communication issues at center and communication issues in general upfront. I think that was the biggest issue for us in the opener. Those communication issues were compounded by the crowd and the atmosphere, and all that stuff. So we've been through that, but that wasn't an issue last week, and it certainly wasn't an issue this week. We weren't thrilled about how we blocked the run game last week, particularly in the first half. I thought we were a little more physical in the second half.
“The other thing that's changed is Ty Chandler and Caleb hood. Caleb got his first real action in this game here against Virginia, so it was really the first time to see him multiple plays, multiple reps, multiple carries. Then with Ty, I think, he's kind of kicked into gear a little bit. I thought he was a lot more decisive; I thought he ran a lot more downhill. I thought he ran with a lot more authority in this past game than he did the first two. And keep in mind he's a veteran; played in the SEC, but he hadn't played in the ACC. Defenses are different here schematically than they are there, and he's in a different offense. He's also playing on every down basis for the most part.
“We rotate some guys in, but he's the guy right now, and I think that takes a little bit of getting used to. Things kind of clicked now. We went into this past game with both tackles and our center not slated to start the game, and they all gave us some adequate reps to spell everybody. You have guys like William Barnes and Ed Montilus step up, and you had those three veterans come back and actually give us some reps and give us some time.
“We were actually in a seven or eight lineman roll through in terms of how many we could actually play. For a while there, it looked like we were going to five. We wind up playing seven or eight they played very well, and I think that's a big reason why we were able to run the football."
Q: After everything William Barnes has been through, how personally satisfying is it to see him step and play valuable reps?
LONGO: "It's exciting to watch William’s progress because I kind of liken him to Antoine Green. When I was at Ole Miss, we recruited Antoine Green and William Barnes, and Ed Montilus very, very heavily. Those are three players that we did not get at Ole Miss, and they wound up coming to North Carolina. I alluded to this a week or two ago;(I was) excited when I got here that AG was here, also was excited that Ed and William were here. All three of them have we know they can be good, we know they have great upside, and we just have to keep coaching them and keep getting them to progress.
“And get them to a point where they can be starters here. Ed played his best football last week. He played significant reps and was consistent, and that in the past has been his issue. I think he's in better shape now. I think he understands the game as well as he has the entire time that he's been here. I think he's playing with the most confidence right now, and then William is the same. William is very athletic, and he had to work through the mental curve. As he's cleaned up the mental aspect of his game, he's become a very effective, very athletic lineman for us. He performed very well in the game on Saturday as well. We are thrilled about them, and obviously, AG's opportunity came a little bit sooner, and he's playing well for us, so I've been thrilled.
"I still remember sitting in William Barnes's living room recruiting with the oline coach.
Dancing in the living room with his mom trying to get this kid to be interested in Ole Miss, and now I'm happy that coach didn't do a very good job, and he came to North Carolina. We are obviously very thrilled that they are playing well for us right now."
Q: Why did the usual starters at center and tackles play but not start?
LONGO: "Brian (Anderson), we were just trying to limit his time until he gets back to a hundred percent, which I think we're close to now. I think we feel really good about where he is now. Leading into the game, it's always a 'let's wait and see how he's feeling.' We get the report from the trainers. Then Stacy (Searels) will decide what kind of rotation we want to have with them based on how they're playing. He's the one that's watching the box. Every position coach is going to eye up their guys and handle their rotation.
“That's just how we do it here. Unless I actually need a specific player for a specific play or a specific situation. We've all talked about the rotation; we all know exactly how and why and when we want to use these guys. So they handle the rotation, and if I need somebody, I'll call em, and if I don't, then I think we're good.
"We have that planned ahead of time. Going into the game on Saturday with UVA, Jordan Tucker had missed some practice. We didn't start him because William Barnes had a great week, and it's just the next-man-up deal. We started him, and he played, and Tucker was able to come back and give him some reps and spell him, so they were both fresh. Then with EZ (Joshua Ezeudu), it's just he's on the mend with getting nicked in Virginia Tech.
“None of them are serious, and all three, we feel like we'll be back for Georgia Tech. I wouldn't say we're full strength, but we're in a better boat right now numbers-wise upfront than we have been the first three weeks this season."
Q: Is there a player from your past you can compare to Josh Downs?
LONGO: "I think that he reminds me of Elijah Moore. Elijah Moore is the slot that we recruited at Ole Miss, and all he did last year was lead the NCAA in receiving. (He has) good vertical speed and phenomenal speed and quickness, from zero to 30 yards. Just a fantastic change of direction guy. I think in a man situation, he's almost not coverable. We just had to do a good job of earmarking targets for Josh. We move him around and will go motion him, and we put him in the backfield, and we will do all kinds of things with him, as we have shown in the last three or four weeks dating back to even the Texas A&M game because he's capable of doing that stuff.
“I wouldn't be surprised if we saw him run the football. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw him at wideout. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw him tucked in the box somewhere. We're gonna do everything and anything we can to get Josh touches, and he is one of those explosive players that we have in this system this year."
Q: Has Josh Downs outperformed your expectations?
LONGO: "One of the biggest benefits with Josh downs is his willingness to learn the game. We have a very intelligent player at that position. I smile a lot because I've been very, very blessed to have some good slots.
"At Sam Houston State, we had a player by the name of Yedidiah Louis get over 300 catches in his career. He was very much at that level, what Josh was like here. Then I go to Ole Miss. We have A.J. Brown, and you know who that is. He's doing the job in NFL right now, and he was a mismatch guy. Then we went to Elijah Moore, who just got drafted. And so when I come here, we got Dazz Newsome, so I just been really blessed to have these slots. We haven't really had to change the focus in this offense with regards to trying to put one of our best athletes at that slot position.
“That's some great company to be in, and now we have Josh Downs. They all have their strengths and their weaknesses, but I'm not sure that Josh Downs isn't the best cod (change of direction) guy that we've had in that position a long time."
Q: Does GT's unique defense complicate things for you this week?
LONGO: "That's an aspect of football that's been coming on. I think the three-safety stuff has been gaining popularity over the last couple of years. It was one of my offseason projects. A guy that helps us right now with regards to some preparation every week, I met him. I was searching out people who knew what we call the ghost defense, the three-safety stuff. That was a huge offseason project to prepare for because you think you're probably going to see some of that at some point this season.
“The other one that this offseason was the box defense, the box stuff, the front stuff that the Rams are doing right now. I think that's gaining some popularity. So those are the two things that we looked at in the offseason just in preparation for seeing something different. Particularly against teams that are searching for an identity on defense, or searching for ways to improve, or searching for ways to defend us. You just want to be ready and prepared for some of those things that you could potentially see that you have in the past. Those were two things that we studied in the offseason. It paid great dividends in the game against Virginia because they ran the three-safety stuff. Georgia Tech unleashed it or unveiled it at Clemson, and it gave them some issues. They run it very well and have a good understanding of what they're trying to accomplish in that defense.
"It's still a big chapter in their defense to run the four-down stuff with the movement, the twists, and all that they ran in last year. They showed a little of that also against Clemson, so we're going to need to be ready for three safety stuff and the four-down stuff. It's very similar to last week with regards to what we're going to see on defense because Virginia employed a very similar approach."
Q: What have you seen from Ty Chandler's approach to improving?
LONGO: "I think one, his mentality going into this game. I think he feels like he's more capable of being a more productive guy than he was in games one and two. I know he came out of the Virginia Tech game not happy with this overall production. We probably had an opportunity to run the ball better in the first half against Georgia State, and we didn't. I know he, along with the rest of the team, were disappointed about that. I just think he made it a point in his mind to prepare as best he could and run in the Virginia game with some authority.
"I do believe also that Coach Porter helped him and the rest of the running backs with regards to understanding who to expect. When you beat the line of scrimmage, who's greeting you? Who's going to be there? Having an understanding as to what you're going to see on the other side of the line of scrimmage. I know that was a part of their conversation. I think he's been working with all those guys in that room, but particularly with Ty because we do believe he can be very productive, and I think he showed that (against) Virginia. I'd like to believe now that we're going to see that type of running back at its high for the rest of the season. I think he got in a groove, a little bit of a rhythm.
“Obviously, we have to play better upfront to help running backs do that. We're getting to a point where we're able to be balanced and be productive on both sides running and throwing the football. This is where we want to be offensively."
Q: What is the plan when teams try to take away Josh Downs?
LONGO: "I think anytime you only have one (receiving threat), it's easy to double team or bracket that one and really minimize and eliminate productive plays in the passing game. I feel thankful that AG (Antoine Green) is playing the way that he is. He didn't get a lot of targets Saturday; the one he got he caught got us a first down. Just based on the way they were playing things, they did not crowd Josh as much as we expected. When they don't do that, we are going to get him the football.
“I think when we have to be more creative to get him the ball, we will. But he is going to need the supporting cast of Emery Simmons and Khafre Brown, and Antoine Green. Where we are right now with the receivers, I feel good about that entire unit. And so, as you have had in the past, there's going to be days where it's Antoine green with the big day. There are going to be days where it's Khafre Brown or Emery. And obviously, they're gonna be days where Josh has big games.
“It really depends on what the defense wants to do and who they want to take away. But because Josh is so explosive, we're probably going to go the extra mile there to make sure that regardless of what they do, we have an opportunity to target him with the football when we can.”