CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday afternoon to discuss the Tar Heels’ season-opener Friday at Virginia Tech.
Brown hit on a variety of topics before fielding questions, and among the things discussed were the team’s mood as it finishes preparation for the Hokies, the depth they created in August, fixing some of the things expressed as parts of their offseason mission, backup quarterback, what is tricky about openers, communicating in a loud stadium, how the program is handling COVID, and so much more.
Above is video of Brown’s entire press conference, and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
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*The Tar Heels had quite a few minor injuries in camp, some pulls and soreness that kept some players from everything the team did, but overall, Brown says the team is healthy and ready to go to Blacksburg.
“We’re in pretty good shape for game week,” he said.
*UNC announced prior to the players’ pressers earlier in the morning that Beau Corrales was out for the opener but gave no other information on his situation. Brown was asked about it but didn’t go into any details regarding Beau Corrales’ availability, because it’s not how he handles injuries. It is left up to the doctors and media relations director Jeremy Sharpe what information is put out about players’ injuries. But Brown did say he hopes to get the senior wide receiver back before the end of the season.
Brown was also asked about returning starting center Brian Anderson and wide receiver Khafre Brown, both of whom missed considerable time this past month at practice.
“We’re hoping that they play on Friday,” Carolina’s coach said. “They’re out there, they’re practicing, so we’re planning on them playing.”
*The staff is still trying to determine what reserves can play how much. At what point is a rested reserve as good as a tired starter? Plus, the defensive coaches have maintained all month that some guys will be used more situationally due to their skill sets.
“We’re still working on all of those things as we start working toward the game on Friday,” Brown said.
*Having depth is what creates a scenario in which coaches are still trying to determine who can help and for how much. Building depth was one of the primary missions in the spring and again this fall, and Brown is pleased they have achieved that.
“We feel like we did that,” he said. “We’re a lot deeper with this team than we’ve been with any of the other teams that we have had (at UNC).
“We wanted to establish ourself at running back and wide receiver,” he said. “I don’t think we can answer those questions until after the game, because you can’t figure out in practice who’s going to do well and who’s not. And that’s the biggest question mark about this team that will be answered Friday night is, can we replace the 4,000 yards of offense that we lost and who will be doing it?
Brown said a few times in August that Tennessee transfer Ty Chandler will be the first running back on the field, and he reiterated that again Monday. He also said Caleb Hood and D.J. Jones would also play. But questions still abound there and at wide receiver.
“How much will they play and how productive will they be, because none of them are experienced in this offense,” Brown said. “And the same at wide receiver. We’ve got a lot of guys… Beau will not play; we’ve got a lot of guys that have played some but not guys with near the experience of Dazz (Newsome) or Dyami (Brown) in the game on Friday night, and Virginia Tech’s got a very experienced and good secondary.
“So, those questions didn’t get answered.”
*As for backup quarterback, still no decision announced on who would go into the game if Sam Howell couldn’t play. As of now, the depth chart says “OR” next to Jacolby Criswell and Drake Maye. But this isn’t an issue of neither player stepping up.
“I was watching both backup quarterbacks this morning in practice, and really felt like everybody wants a definitive this one’s better than this one, this one would go in, the truth is both of them are really good and they’re going to be really good players moving forward and they both had tremendous camps. I do feel really, really good about our quarterback room moving forward.”
*Most coaches would rather not open the season on the road against a regional rival in a conference game, and that really isn’t Brown’s preference, but players, fans, and TV sure like it.
“So, you probably work harder than if you were opening up against a lesser opponent,” Brown said.
It should be noted that next season, the Tar Heels open with FCS member Florida A&M.
*Winning the rushing battle often determines who wins games, and the Heels see this as a challenge considering that Tech has run quite well the last two seasons against Carolina.
“They’ve rushed for over 250 yards against us the last two years, and three of the five starting offensive linemen are back,” Brown said. “The center, left guard, and left tackle are as good as anybody in college football.”
On stopping the run versus the Hokies, Brown said, “They have been tougher than we are and more physical than we’ve been for the last two years. So that’s something that has to get better on Friday night.”
*One of the more glaring issues last season for the Tar Heels was the defense’s struggles keeping opponents from scoring late in the first halves of games. Eight of UNC’s opponents scored inside the final 1:28 of first halves: Boston College and Notre Dame kicked field goals as time expired, Duke booted one with one second left, and Florida State (:17 left), NC State (:54 left), Virginia (1:14 remaining), Wake Forest (1:28 left), and Texas A&M (:20 left) all scored touchdowns.
Brown said last January, just a few days after the Orange Bowl, fixing this would be a point of emphasis. So, did Brown see progress in this area, and does having more depth on defense partly fix it thus the team should be fresher just before halftime than it was last fall?
“I would think yes, yes, and yes,” Brown said. “We addressed it and we’ve looked at it. I do think depth will be a huge part of that, because you get tired right before the half, and you don’t want to substitute right before the half when they’re going to get a 20-minute rest.
“But, I think if I remember, Florida State went 75 yards in about a minute and 26 (seconds) after we had just scored to cut it to 24-7, and they make it 31-7, which is a killer. Just an absolute killer going in. Note Dame; we kick a field goal instead of going for it on fourth-and-one with a minute-12 left, and Notre Dame takes it in a minute-12 and scores…
“So, we’ve got to do better in the last five minutes of the first half. We’ve done better to start the second half than we have finishing the first half.
“What we’ve done is our coaches have gone back and looked at every one of those drives that we’ve had problems with for two years, and that’s what you do with your research when you’re self-evaluating your team, to try to see what we could have done differently, were we tired, did we not get the tipped ball, did we not get the interception? Why is that happening to us? So hopefully we’ll do better on Friday night.”
*There is no escaping the hype about this team right now. The players know it, the staff knows it, and everyone with the slightest interest in Carolina football knows it. Coaches and team leaders can talk a good game about keeping the club focused and not allowing those distractions to seep into the collective mindset of the team, but it remains one of the bigger challenges coaches face, especially in a program that hasn’t had a great deal of success for some time.
Where is UNC’s mindset right now understanding they must perform, the hype alone won’t do it for them?
“It’s a good question,” Brown said. “We’ve got 53 staff members and 106 players and to ask how I feel how they think is a little crazy because I’d have to sit down with them individually because they all think something different…
“Our problem is not with the older guys. They were fifth in the country last year going to Florida State and laid an egg and stunk. And then came back and fought in the second half and lost part of our season when we probably shouldn’t. They understand now we went from (ranked) fifth to 25th in three hours and 15 minutes. It didn’t take us long to get kicked out.
“So, ole number 10, if we leave Blacksburg on that bus disappointed, ole number 10’s gonna die, or nine or whatever it is. It’ll drop to 25 really fast. So that bunch understands.
“What I’ve told them to do is, ‘be the best team you can be. You can’t determine how Virginia Tech plays. They’ve got a lot better players than perceived and people are giving them credit for. They do a tremendous job coaching. So, don’t worry about them. They’re gonna be hyped, they’re gonna have trick plays, they may onside kick, those fans are going to be pumped.
“‘So, that’s a given. You worry about you. And if we play the best we can play and don’t win the game then we weren’t the 10th best team in the country in preseason. Let’s figure out where we are and get ready for Georgia State.’
“And that’s the way we’ve approached it.”
