CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina practiced Friday morning for the eighth time since fall camp began.

With classes having started this past Monday, fall camp actually lasted just four practices, so the Tar Heels are in more of a standard preseason building toward their Sept. 12 opener at home versus Syracuse.

Following Friday’s practice, UNC made available to the media junior offensive guard Marcus McKethan, senior linebacker Tyrone Hopper, sophomore defensive tackle Tomari Fox and sophomore quarterback Jace Ruder.

Here are their full video interviews, notes and quotes from what they had to say:

The offensive line returns 48 combined starts from last season, so experience is not much of an issue aside from Asim Richards, the current starter at left tackle who played sparingly last fall. Yet, the group missed spring practice, and with chemistry being so vitally important along the offensive line, has that been an issue at all through the first eight practices?

“The first few days it felt like we never left,” McKethan said. “Everybody was back in it and everybody was communicating really well.”

*McKethan played 821 snaps a year ago, so he’s quite seasoned now. So what is the biggest difference in his game now as opposed to this time last August?

“Definitely a lot more experienced,” McKethan replied. “I know what I’m looking for now, I know what I need to improve on, so I just know the game better.”

*It’s no secret that the biggest battle along the o-line this month is at center, even though Brian Anderson is the returning starter and played 910 snaps last season. Still, redshirt freshman Ty Murray is pushing Anderson. So, what is McKethan’s take on the there?

“It’s a battle every day for that spot,” he said, smiling. “But, they’re both giving it there all and just trying to get better to make the offensive line better.”

*McKethan said he’s playing right now at 336 pounds.

Tyrone Hopper has battled multiple injuries and a suspension two years ago that have kept him off the field a lot during his career. But the senior is healthy now and currently slotted as the starting hybrid linebacker opposite Tomon Fox. He's learned a lot despite the struggles.

“Throughout that process, I guess it just made me stronger (and) taught me how to overcome adversity,” he said. “It’s built me as a better player (and) better person leading me up to now.”

With all of that, Hopper has been praised by Mack Brown a couple of times as one of the players standing out so far. So how satisfying is it for him being in position to contribute a lot in his final season while Brown and the staff have confidence him his game?

“It’s great hearing from a coach like Mack Brown raving about me,” Hopper said. “But there’s always more work to put in, so I’m just coming out here every day to continue to work harder and harder because I know I have competition right behind me that can easily take my spot just like that. So I come out here trying to prove myself every day.”

Hopper said he never puts a hand on the ground anymore in this defense, though he did in the previous defense when John Papuchis was Larry Fedora’s coordinator.

“I’m really like a hybrid linebacker,” he said. “Right now, I’m moving all over the place. Sometimes, you’ll see me at the end position in the four, sometimes you’ll see me out wide covering the two and sometimes you’ll see me right on the edge as a defensive end type.”

Tomari Fox played 255 snaps last season, moving around to both tackle spots as well as defensive end. Right now, the sophomore, and younger brother of UNC starting linebacker Tomon Fox, says he’s getting the bulk of his work in at end. But he is playing the tackle spots some, too.

What’s important is that Fox’s flexibility is very important for a defensive front in which he’s the most experienced player after losing a pair of stalwarts in Aaron Crawford and Jason Strowbridge.

“I feel like that’s what I brought to the table my freshmen year and is something that is unique about me is my willingness to play all four spots,” he said. “I’m not saying this about my team, but a lot of people are unique to one position, but where I pride myself is being coachable and being athletic enough to move around all along the line just so we can work in different fronts, different blitzes and put a lot of different packages in.”

Being that flexible gives Fox plenty of confidence he will play a lot this fall, especially as the unit builds needed depth as inexperienced guys get comfortable. Figure, if he plays 30 snaps at end, 15 at tackle an 10-12 at nose, he’s at nearly 60 snaps in a game. That will come in handy for the Heels this fall.

“Definitely. That’s something that I pride myself on," he said. "We do have a position-less defense and just being available will get you on the field the quickest way possible. So you’ve got to be available in as many ways as you can.”

*Hidden talent part here: Tomon has discussed his love for art during his time at UNC, but that affinity appears to run in the family. Tomari is also an art connoisseur, and it runs in the family.

“Art actually runs in the family,” Fox said. “None of us were really taught how to draw, we just kind of know from my dad to my uncle to Tomon, myself (and) my sisters are crazy-good artists, like it is unbelievable.

“I dabble in it here and there. I like to do photo realism, graphic art, things like that. So, it’s just a talent we all share.”

Sam Howell is pretty well known across the college football landscape, but UNC’s quarterback room has four scholarship guys right now, three of whom were 4-star prospects in high school and another who probably should have been one. So Howell isn't the only slinger in the room.

Howell, Jace Ruder and Jacolby Criswell were 4-star guys and Jefferson Boaz was a 3-star, but he was rated as much as a tight end prospect as anything else, and was also the NCHSAA Male Athlete of the Year. It’s a gifted room.

Ruder, who is in his third year in the program, is the veteran of the bunch. Howell is in year number two and Criswell and Boaz are true freshmen. So what are Ruder’s thoughts about the QB room?

“Our position group has been doing really well,” Ruder said. “We hold each other accountable in the meeting room, on the field, and we really just have a good connection between the four of us. We’ve got me, Sam, Jacolby and Boaz, and we all do a great job of having fun with each other, competing every day, and making sure we know the jobs of our teammates as well as ourselves.”

*Ruder broke his leg last year during the Appalachian State game, so in two seasons he’s played 36 snaps in three games and suffered a pair of season-ending injuries. The one last September was much more challenging to overcome, he said. And it wasn’t that long ago that Ruder was finally a full go.

“Truthfully, I got back a hundred percent in early June – late May, early June,” he said. “So I ended up having surgery on my leg in February and it ended up being an eight-month recovery instead of an eight-week recovery, so it took a little longer than expected.”

Since being cleared, Ruder has been working to make up for lost time.

“It’s not easy because you’ve got to do a little extra to play catch up,” he said. “But (strength and conditioning) Coach (Brian) Hess does a great job making sure that we stay healthy as we’re trying to get back into it. So I’ve just been really listening to Coach Hess and making sure I’m doing my treatments, stretching, doing my mobility work, and doing my speed work to stay caught up.”