North Carolina running backs coach Robert Gillespie met with the media via Zoom on Wednesday afternoon to discuss his position group as the season nears.
Above is the full video of the Q&A session with Gillespie and below are just some of the things from what Gillespie had to say:
*Gillespie loves the competitive nature of the RB room. With Michael Carter back with the intent on getting better and winning, and with Javonte Williams’ ingrained competitiveness, the room has the perfect culture to foster improvement across the board.
*UNC’s offense requires that its running backs catch the football, they must be a part of the passing game. So how have Carter and Williams improved in that role since Phil Longo arrived with his air raid offense which puts a premium on getting guys the football in space?
“The game of football has changed a lot. It’s not just about handing the ball off to a guy 30 or 40 times anymore, it’s about touches… And that’s one thing I like about the offense that Phil brings. He’s always done a really good job of finding ways to get playmakers in space… In our offense, because we don’t huddle, I tell the guys all the time, ‘You have to be a guy that can do it all because I’m not going to be able to swap you out when we get to this play or get you back in. You have to be a guy that can do it all.’
“Mike is a guy that you can put in space, run between the tackles, block, he can do it all. I think Javonte opened up some people’s eyes because he’s a guy that has some of the best hands on the team. Just because he’s a bigger guy, I think a lot of times it may be in your mind that (just) a smaller guy can catch the ball, but he catches the ball really, really well.”
*Sophomore Josh Henderson could play an important role in the offense this season. He saw some action on special teams a year ago and got some carries, but how did he improve while mostly watching during his first year at UNC?
“Confidence. I think that’s the biggest thing,” Gillespie said. “He came into a group of guys (in which) he wasn’t called upon to have to come in and play, so he could just sit back and learn the game. So after every game, I would go up to him and say, ‘Tell me what you learned,’ and it was interesting to hear him say, ‘Coach, I saw ball security and how important it is and I saw how important it is to strain to get a first down.’
“As a freshmen they think ‘I’m ready to play,’ but when you get into the game and you’re on the sidelines and you see all the moving parts of it, that’s when you learn. So he learned a lot as far as what the demands are that go into being a college football player… I think his film studies improved and his confidence got a lot better.”
*Gillespie was on Larry Fedora’s staff for a year before Brown took over, plus he’s coached at multiple other Power 5 schools, so why does he think UNC is having so much success on the recruiting trail?
“The perception that we get now when we go into high schools because of the brand that we have has been great. The University of North Carolina has a logo that can go anywhere. So it’s been fun to be able to go and recruit kids that fit us, that fit the program. That’s what Coach Brown talks about all the time.
“We’re going to recruit to a profile, so we get to recruit kids and families that understand the combined of on the field and off the field, the academics and life after football…
“Being at other places and having to recruit against the University of North Carolina, you always knew that it was a talented state, a state that had a lot of really good high school football players, high school coaching is really good… You knew it was a hot bed for recruiting and you knew (UNC) was a sleeping giant…
“Just to have Coach Brown back, he has a blueprint, and that’s with families and coaches and uncles and everybody who understands Mack Brown and what that name means, now that he’s back people want to be a part of it.”
