CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina is just three days from kicking off a 2020 football season that has been more in doubt over the last six months than not.

But here the Tar Heels are, almost fully prepared for Syracuse’s visit to Kenan Stadium on Saturday and for dealing with the many COVID-related rules that have been put in place to preserve the safety of everyone associated with teams playing games.

UNC Coach Mack Brown met with the media following Wednesday morning’s practice to discuss this, the process in getting to this point, some elements of his team and quite a bit about the Orange.

Here are some notes and quotes from Brown’s Q&A session as well as the complete video interview:

Brown has said many times he’s a handshaker and hugger, but he’s had to ditch that over the last six months, and Saturday he will only wave to Syracuse Coach Dino Babers. The players won’t congregate afterward, either. Different times call for different measures, as the unusual changes include even things often previously overlooked.

“Coach Babers and I, Dino's been a friend of mine for many years, he and I have discussed what we're going to do is he and I are not going to meet before or after the game,” Brown said. “We're gonna waive just for the safety of everybody and asking our staff’s to do the same thing. And then, afterwards, the same thing with the players, and some of them know each other.

“He's got some guys from North Carolina, but we're asking them not to have the personal contact where you high five or shake hands. Just wave and be cordial, congratulate the other team on their effort and go about your business. So, those are just things that we're going to look at this weekend that are a little bit abnormal.”

With the state of North Carolina in Phase 2.5, meaning no large gatherings of people, Brown continued making a public push for the parents of players be allowed in stadiums across the state. A UNC representative said following Brown’s Q&S session that his understanding is that six in-state schools have bandied together requesting to Governor Roy Cooper he allow parents at games this month. Phase 2.5 is scheduled to run until Oct. 2 at 11 pm, so if Cooper goes to Phase 3 at that time, this current measure would only affect UNC for two home games: Saturday and next week versus Charlotte.

“I know that our administration has sent a letter to the proper people, asking them to let our parents come to the games,” Brown said. “I don't think they're asking for fans, but they are asking for the parents. And that's all they want. So, it's 100 percent that the University of North Carolina, its administration and six of the universities teams that are playing football this year of all ask that their parents, the players’ parents be able to come to the game. And that's the only request that there's been. But that has been asked by our university I know.”

Carolina held a situation scrimmage last Saturday that focused on two main things: Special teams play, which was live aside from tackling returners, and dealing with the new logistics of having a game amid COVID restrictions and guidelines.

As for the special teams part, the unit has been live in all three scrimmages, signaling to the team the importance to improve across the board there.

“We really felt like we needed special teams live, and we’ve had two scrimmages with special teams live, so we’re hoping we’re in a better place there than we were this time last year.”

The Tar Heels also had to get acclimated to the mask mandates and other in-game guidelines that have been out in place as precautions.

“The situational scrimmage was a lot for organization and substitution and we went through every possible scenario that could come up in a ballgame,” Brown said. “I know the kids looked at us and said, ‘’Good Lord, that’s not going to happen, and when did that happen?’ And with my age they say, ‘That happened in 1968, coach, when was the last time it happened?’…

“The substitution with the box being expanded. Trying to keep social distancing on the sidelines. It's still an issue. Poor coach (Phil) Longo hates that mask so much. I spend most of my time saying, ‘Phil, get your mask up.’ So, we're constantly telling the players either have your helmet on or pull your mask up just one of the two. And we'll have to do that on Saturday as well.

“Since you're being tested Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'm about to go be tested here just a second since and then we'll get tested it. I think it's between 11 and one on Friday. Um, we should have everybody on the sideline clean for Saturday, that's out there. So you shouldn't have to do as much as normal. So if somebody does have a mask off for a limited amount of time, they're not standing next to somebody without their mask for 15 minutes. We're probably going to be okay.

“But we're acting like everybody might have gotten sick after they got their test results back on Saturday morning. So we can make sure that we continue to stay spread out because the guys in the staff have done a tremendous job. job since early of making sure that we're keeping each other safe.”

No spring practice, no summer player-led practices, and a boat load of restrictions have made this a most unusual period for all football programs. But, with all of that said, does Brown believe his team is now ready to play a game?

“I don't think you ever feel good about missing spring practice,” Brown said. “And there's certain things that we would have been able to do then that that we're still behind on. I do like the fact that the NCAA let us have walkthroughs before we started practice, and then we've had a longer time to practice because our game was moved back the week from the original Central Florida. So, we feel like that we're in good shape.

“We haven't had a lot of pulls, we haven't had a lot of the soft tissue issues that we were concerned about. So, I do think that our strength staff and our medical staff, our trainers, our nutritionist have done a good job of navigating these crazy waters. And at the same time, we've been able to hit and practice like we normally would have, there's been no difference in the way we've practiced physically then there was last year at this time, the mass, the social distance, the way we drink our water. All of those things are different, but we've practiced and I think we're ready, ready to play.”

Syracuse announced Tuesday that three players have decided to opt out of the season, including its top two projected running backs. Given that UNC just found out a month ago it was going to play the Orange and forcing a crash-course in full prep while also in fall camp practicing for the season, does this just add another twist in the strangeness of the 2020 campaign?

“Well, it does,” Brown said. “Number one, you want to make sure that happens and that they don't get off the plane and come out and run for 200 yards. But, the other thing is that we talked to our players about if Michael Carter and Javonte Williams didn't play here, we've got some really good running backs on scholarship that would step up and be ready to play.

“So, Syracuse won 10 games two years ago. They beat Wake Forest in the last game, so I really believe that we're talking too many positive things about us when we haven't proven any of it yet. And I think we're questioning Syracuse too much because they've got great coaches, they've got great players and their quarterback’s really good.

“He scares me a lot. I like watching him and I saw him some when I was on TV. Their secondary is really good, their receivers are always good. They're going to have two good running backs run out there to play, regardless of who they are.”

*Most UNC fans might recall Syracuse QB Tommy DeVito from two years ago. He relieved Orange QB Eric Dungey in the fourth quarter and proceeded to lead Syracuse to an overtime victory by completing 11 of 19 pass attempts for 181 yards and three touchdowns. Brown heaped high praise on the Syracuse QB.

“He can move his feet, so he can make plays with his feet,” Brown said. “Their offense is very similar to ours. He can run the option, he can run the RPO’s, where you'll see him come out like he's gonna run the ball and stop and throw it when the defense comes up. I've been impressed with his toughness and his accuracy.

“He is so accurate, he hasn't thrown an interception in years it seems like because he's one of the best in the country, if not the best in the country, with his accuracy. So, I've really, really been impressed with everything Tommy DeVito.”