CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina’s football program is without 52 scholarship players from last season’s squad that went 6-7 and saw legendary coach Mack Brown terminated the week of the season finale against NC State.
Plenty of Tar Heels hit the transfer portal when it opened, but quite a few stuck around to see who would take over the program.
And for Jordan Shipp, he didn’t have much intention on leaving because of how he feels about being at UNC. But when he learned six-time Super Bowl winning head coach Bill Belichick was Brown’s replacement, there was no way Shipp would move on to another school. He was as entrenched as it gets in Chapel Hill.
The immediate reaction was, ‘that’s the greatest coach of all time and he’s about to be coaching us,” he said recently in an interview at the Kenan Football Center.
As a true freshman last fall, Shipp was seventh on the team with nine receptions. He averaged 12.7 yards per catch and scored a touchdown. Shipp, who is 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, logged 162 snaps on the campaign, including 20 against JMU and Georgia Tech, 31 at Boston College, and 23 in the bowl loss to UConn.
So, with UNC losing its top three receivers and six of its top eight, he had to see a huge opportunity was there to leap into the rotation, and do so under a true legend. Carolina has some noteworthy receivers back and brought in five from the transfer portal, all from power conference programs.
Shipp will have some competition, but that he was made available to the media along with three other Tar Heels, and this was the first time any player had been made available since the bowl game, is significant.
Here are some notes and many pulled quotes from what Shipp had to say:
*On his initial reaction to Belichick being hired:
“When I got the news I was with my roommates (Alex Taylor, Vari Green, Jani Norwood), we were all together and it was like, ‘that’s the greatest coach of all time and he’s going to be coaching us.’
“At the same time, I still feel like you’re going to get in what you put out no matter what you do, no matter what you’re doing. So, of course that coach is going to lead us in a great way. The program has definitely changed. It’s more like an NFL-style program with the training, the training room, the food, the recovery stuff, the strength and conditioning. Coach Moses (Cabrera) has done a great job.”
*On the difference between how Mack Brown and his staff did things compared to how Bill Belichick and his staff go about business:
“I love Coach Brown. Coach Brown had a great run here. Coach Brown’s a great coach. He did great at Texas, he’s done great here. Great seasons. And to take nothing from Coach Brown at all, Coach Belichick comes with a different attitude. You can kind of tell the culture’s changing and stuff like that. So, I would say that’s the biggest difference between the two.”
*As noted above, 52 scholarship players from last year’s team are no longer with the UNC program, so what was it like for Shipp to see so many guys leave, and why did he stay?
“It’s hard to transfer from a school that you love so much. I’ve had a lot of friends who came here, a lot have been successful here. And it’s also hard to leave the greatest coach of all time (and) knowing you have one of the greatest coaches of all time coming here, it wouldn’t have been smart for me to leave, especially when we brought in other great coaches.
“Coach (Garrick) McGee, my position coach. He was at Louisville and recruited me to Louisville, so I have a good connection with him as well. So, it just felt like everything was kind of just falling into place and it was just something I was praying on heavily and it was something I was like, ‘God, I just felt like I need to stay here (so) let me stay here.’
“So, that was the biggest thing.”
*On what has been the biggest surprise from Belichick:
“I would say coach has the narrative of being like serious all the time, (but) coach, he jokes with us, he laughs with us. We’ll laugh in meetings. He has a humorous side to him as well. I feel like that’s the biggest thing, the biggest curve ball.
“You come into the first meeting you’re expected to be serious, 100 percent locked in, (and) he comes in and he introduced himself and then he busted a joke. That’s the second thing he said.
“So, it’s stuff like that; small stuff like that.”
*More on the misconception of Belichick.
“It catches you off guard. You don’t really expect it. You know, even if it was in a meetings, we can laugh about a play. There was a play where I tripped during the spring; I tripped right in front of him, and he was just kind of like, ‘tripped on air, tripped on nothing.’ And a lot of the boys (were) laughing.
“It’s just something where it’s something where you know its something small.”
*Shipp has worked a lot with true freshman QB Bryce Baker and was asked to speak about his game, work and more.
“The biggest thing that stood our really is his work ethic. In the weight room, off the field. In the weight room, after we lift, me and him do core afterward; extra stuff after. And a lot of the boys joined in.
“So, I’d say the biggest thing for Bryce that’s going to set him apart is the way he works and the way he approaches everything. His preparation is elite. He’s always there watching film no matter what it is. Watching NFL tape. He’s already started watching TCU and stuff like that just getting ready.”
*Gio Lopez transferred to UNC from South Alabama after spring practice concluded, so Shipp hasn’t had a lot of time to work with Lopez but he has had enough he could speak with confidence about the former Jaguar.
“I’ve been able to build a great relationship with Gio in a short amount of time. We’ve hung out plenty of times outside of ball just going to get something to eat, throwing on our own. I was at Top Golf with him, too, or we go play basketball and stuff like that. We talk a lot. Gio’s a great guy outside of ball.
“I haven’t had a rep with him in pads yet but I still feel like my trust in him is as high as everybody else.”
