CHARLOTTE – North Carolina safety Myles Dorn was one of two Tar Heels along with head coach Mack Brown at the annual ACC Kickoff on Wednesday at The Westin.
All three had turns at the podium taking questions from the media in their formal ACC Kickoff press conferences. Each was also available in breakout sessions that followed.
Here, we have Dorn’s press conference and the complete transcript of what he had to say:
Q. As your father played for two years for Coach Brown, I'm sure you compared a few notes. What did your father lead you to expect from Coach Brown? Secondly, had there been some things he's done that have surprised you that maybe didn't happen, wasn't in your father's scouting report?
DORN: The first thing my dad said is he's a great coach. That's held to be true. The one thing I didn't know, is that he was honest. He's the most honest coach. That's one thing you don't see in most coaches nowadays, is just honesty. He'll tell you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear. That's what you want as a player.
Q. What can you say about your first impressions coming in, just your overall thoughts about coach, if you felt the energy right away?
DORN: I felt the energy after the first meeting. He told us that he was going to take care of us. The day after he asked for what we could change. A month later, we saw it.
He's a man of his word. That's something that you can't compare to anybody else.
Q. Got a lot of players back on defense. What is the learning curve like with a new coaching staff? Stopping the run has been an issue at Carolina for a lot of years. Do you feel like you will be able to do a better job stopping the run this year?
DORN: Definitely. I think we'll be a better overall defense. We're paying attention to details. We're playing in a system to where we can just go out and play. Jay Bateman has put together a great program for us. We're learning it, communicating, getting everything ironed out.
Q. You mentioned the changes that Coach Brown installed. What were some of those broad changes you saw early on?
DORN: The first thing that we saw was in the players lounge. He cleaned out the players lounge, got everything that we needed. Second thing was he mentioned that we were going to get a new locker room; that's almost finished. New facilities all throughout. He's made an environment to where we want to be there and we want to work.
Q. The development of Chazz Surratt going from a quarterback to linebacker, what have you seen out of his development so far?
DORN: It's probably one of the smoothest transitions you'll ever see. He's a natural athlete. He's smart. When you can understand what the offense is doing on defense, you'll put yourself in positions to make plays that most players couldn't.
Just his ability to recognize and play fast is great.
Q. The talk of Coach Brown coming in obviously brought a lot of excitement. His staff coming in, working with DBs, Dre Bly, a guy that played for Coach, what kind of an impact have the alumni you've talked to and even worked with had on you and the rest of your teammates to reinvigorate that program?
DORN: It's one thing when you can learn from somebody who's lived it because you don't question anything they say. He's a player that's played for Coach Brown and went to be a Hall of Fame player, played in the league for a long time.
Learning from him is an experience you can't get anywhere else. It's just something that our players cherish, that we really hold close to us.
Q. To have a coach with the name Mack Brown, how do you think that impacts recruiting? The potential for this program is only getting better with that name leading the program.
DORN: Yeah, Mack Brown is a legendary name. It brings in some of the top recruits. Every weekend we have somebody in. We have a five-star here, a four-star here, they're committing left and right. We knew that when he came, that was something that was going to change. It's holding true.
THE MODERATOR: Nice suit by the way.
DORN: Appreciate it.
