Players Tuesday: Rucker & Kelly

CHAPEL HILL – Tuesday mornings are when some of North Carolina’s players are available to the media, and this week sophomore Cam Kelly and true freshman Kaimon Rucker were on tap.

Kelly has played in six of UNC’s seven games for a total of 329 defensive snaps and is right under a 60.0 PFF grade and is coming off a 70.5 grade at Duke, so he’s ascending in that respect. The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder is third on the team with 43 tackles and has two PBUs on the season. He’s been targeted 10 times allowing four receptions and has been credited with 13 STOPs, which are plays regarded as failures by the opposing offense.

Rucker has gotten game reps on defense in five of UNC’s seven games, playing 97 snaps so far with a PFF grade of 73.5. He has eight tackles, including one for a loss of yardage, and has four QB hurries and five STOPs.

Here are the full interviews along with some notes and pulled quotes from what Kelly and Rucker had to say:

*UNC’s injury and attrition issues in the secondary this season have been well documented, and it has forced numerous lineup changes, players roving to other positions at times and Trey Morrison wearing the mantle of most diversified player on the team. So what are Kelly’s thoughts on how the Tar Heels have dealt with losing three players to opt outs, one as a transfer, another to academic ineligibility, and several more to injuries, including starting corners Storm Duck and Kyler McMichael?

“We just stuck to the script,” Kelly said. “We came together as a unit, as rude boys, as a DB room, we came together. It’s a very tight-knit group and we didn’t let the odds define us or anything.

“Especially with the opt-outs, the injuries, we just took it day by day, kept our head on, kept our head high and focused on every gameplan, focused on every practice and made each other better. And then also made the offense a lot better too as a unit.”

*With all that’s gone on in the secondary, having vociferous leaders helping the group work through everything has been important, and Kelly noted senior Patrice Rene as one of the Hees who has led in many respects. But he also says widespread accountability has been more valuable in the unit moving forward. It’s everyone’s voice, he says.

“I can’t just put that on one or two players,” Kelly said. “I think, as a unit, we definitely criticize each other constructively and definitely in the best manner we can just to keep each other going because, no matter what, it’s next man up and we always preach that to each other.”

*Kelly started for the first time in his career last season when the Tar Heels hosted Clemson, but he also suffered a torn ACL that day and was lost for the season. He worked through the summer to get back to where he was fully cleared and has played quite a bit so far. Only seven Tar Heels on defense have played more snaps, so how has Kelly improved now that he’s finally had a long healthy stretch while also playing at the college level?

“I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable in the run fits and in the passing game, too,” Kelly said. “Bouncing back was definitely a great thing for me and just the guys in the room, just motivation. Just doing it for the person right next to you and then doing it for the team.

“Just keeping my head on and most definitely keeping each other's head on during this time period because everyone knows football’s a tough game, especially with mental, physical approaches and different things. And we’re just dialed in and that helped me dial in as an individual too and (I) definitely became more comfortable and more of a team player in a sense.”

*True freshmen don’t often play regular snaps in college football, especially if they line up near the line of scrimmage on the defensive side of the ball. But Rucker played 22 snaps in the opener versus Syracuse, so he quickly got a heavy dose of what ACC football is all about. Adapting to the speed of the game has been Rucker’s biggest adjustment, but he credits his (Hart County) high school coach, Rance Gillespie, for helping him get ready for UNC.

Gillespie spent nearly a decade as a college coach, including most recently as the offensive coordinator at Georgia Southern before going back to coaching in high school.

“I feel like he prepared me for the speed of practice, the mental part of the game, especially with coming from a collegiate level like Georgia Southern,” Rucker said. “He obviously knows the process of practice, he knows the speed, he knows the mental game for it. So, I feel like he prepared me along those years when he got there, my sophomore year. So, I feel like he properly prepared me for moments like these coming to UNC.”

*Rucker’s confidence is quite high right now, which was evident just listening to him speak Tuesday. Is there a seminal moment or sequence in which he realized he can play at this level?

“I can tell you that it’s definitely escalated from the first snap I took at Syracuse to now,” he replied. “I feel like, now, I’m also getting used to the speed of the game, the mental game, just everything. Seeing opponents on the field is getting slower, I can read people. I can read the playbook a lot quicker.

“I can process a lot more information faster and I feel like my confidence has definitely increased since the first time I touched a collegiate field.”

*Carolina’s run defense has been heavily criticized at times this season, as the Tar Heels have given up huge chunks of yardage in a few games, including both losses at Florida State and Virginia. Rucker says the defense is improving there and continuing to work on all aspects of slowing opposing ground games, as he explains.

“I feel like we’re fitting the run game a lot better,” Rucker said. “We’re doing a lot better at communication and I feel like that’s something that doesn’t need to be changed. And, to improve on, I feel like just to communicate a lot better. You cannot get in trouble for talking too much on the field.

“So it’s like, once we get the communications down, once we know where we need to fit, what we need to do, how we need to do things, we’re gonna be in better positions to win games.”

*Jacob Turner contributed to this report.