CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Football Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center for his weekly press conference in advance of the Tar Heels’ game Saturday at Boston College.
The Tar Heels are coming off a 31-24 win at home over Wake Forest and have won three consecutive games. They are 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. BC is 5-5 and 2-4. The game kicks off at noon and will air on The CW.
Above is video of Brown’s presser and below are some notes from what he had to say:
Note: Per UNC, LB Caleb LaVallee will be monitored this week. Darwin Barlow’s situation remains unknown, and Bryson Nesbit will not play.
*Brown said they did the basics of football Saturday night and that’s why they won. He said they won the kicking game, ran the ball better, forced three turnovers, and got a defensive score.
*Brown said he is disappointed his team didn’t close out the Deacons when up 31-17. An emphasis Sunday in film room and at practice to the players was went wrong in that span.
*Punter Tom Maginness punted six times averaging 38 yards per kick and was praised by Brown on Monday. It wasn’t about the distance it was about placement and punts that allowed for strong coverage.
*Travis Shaw played 21 snaps against Wake and had what Brown calls his best game as a collegian. Shaw had 4 tackles two were TFLs, batted a pass, a fumble recovery, and two STOPs, which are plays that result in failure for the opposing offense.
“He played great. Really proud of him. He stopped the run, he batted a ball.”
*Players of the Game:
---Offense: Omarion Hampton, who had a career-high 244 yards rushing.
“He’s just one of the great players in college football, and really college football history.”
---Defense: Power Echols, who had 8 tackles and returned an interception 42 yards for a TD.
---Special teams: Kickoff specialist Lucas Osada and Maginness
*Hampton is 78 yards shy of being the 4th ACC player to get 1,500 yards in back-to-back seasons over the last 20 years. The other three: Travis Etienne, Dalvin Cook and Lamar Jackson.
*Brown was asked about what must be done over the next two weeks to avoid a collapse like what happened the last two seasons.
“What we’re doing differently we did in January, and that’s try to develop more depth, especially in the defensive line. Defensive linemen get tired, they give out, they get hurt, and we’ve played two deep, (and) in some cases three deep, in every game all year.
“We’ve played more at linebacker, we’ve player more people at safety; we’re playing three safeties at least… Offensively, we haven’t had that luxury at offensive line because we’ve had so many people hurt. Tight ends, thank goodness we’ve got Jake Johnson here, so when we lost one of our best players (Bryson Nesbit), one of the best tight ends in the country. We were able to have John Copenhaver and Jake ready.”
*Beating Wake in the manner UNC did may not have happened when the Heels didn’t play well for a month and lost four straight games. Brown said he told the coaches earlier in the morning they wouldn’t have won that game, as they were finding ways to lose at the time. But said they found a way to win Saturday night, and that’s a sign of where the team is now compared to the bad stretch.
*BC Coach Bill O’Brien has an impressive resume. He was the head coach who replaced Joe Paterno at Penn State and led the program through the post-Jerry Sandusky nightmare. He was there for two seasons when he spent seven years as head coach of the Houston Texans. He was the OC & QB Coach at Alabama for two seasons and held that role with the New England Patriots last year.
*Brown said former Tar Heel tight end Kamari Morales is playing really well at BC. He is second on the team with 22 receptions and also have five touchdowns. Brown also acknowledged Morales for attending Tylee Craft’s funeral in South Carolina the week BC had a game on Friday.
