THI TV: Brown Monday Presser, Loaded Notes & Report
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center for his weekly press conference in advance of the Tar Heels’ game Saturday at home versus Notre Dame.
Brown spoke for 34 minutes hitting on numerous areas, including a few notes from his team’s win at Georgia State on September 10, which was the last time they played. He also hit on the Fighting Irish and fielded questions about the health of some key players, the staff’s focus during the bye week, the communication struggles in the secondary, and so much more.
Above is video of Brown’s presser, and below are some notes, pulled quotes, and timed markings of some things he had to say:
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*Offensive tackle Spencer Rolland and defensive lineman Myles Murphy have been back at practice, and this week the trainers are monitoring receivers Josh Downs and Antoine Green, as well as running back Caleb Hood.
*In addition, Brown was asked about defensive back Ja’Qurious Conley, who tore his ACL returning a kickoff last November versus Wofford.
“His earliest date was supposed to be this week and he’s not going to play… He has not practiced one day,” Brown said.
A source close to the situation told THI on Monday: “He’s being evaluated on a week-to-week basis to determine when he can get back into practice.”
*Senior safety/star Don Chapman was arrested two weeks ago in a situation with his pregnant girlfriend and charged with a few different counts. But, Brown said he is back and practicing with the team and will play this weekend.
“He never left the team, but he did not travel to Georgia State,” Brown said. “With the information that we’ve gathered over two weeks, we feel like that he should stay on the team, and he will play this weekend.
“If some other information comes up, obviously, that is different from what we’ve learned, then we would look at it closely and see if that changes the narrative.”
*Much was made about the Tar Heels losing eight consecutive games away from Chapel Hill, ranging from the win at Miami in December of 2020 leading to the game at Appalachian State a few weeks ago. But the Heels have now won two straight on the road, and Brown was happy to remind the media his team now has a road winning streak.
“Very proud of the two road wins,” Brown said. “It’s interesting we talk so much about something when it’s not good, nobody says anything about the two wins when you’re undefeated on the road. That’s not as big a narrative as it was when you weren’t.
“I’m proud of the guys. They found ways to win two games that were tough games to win.”
*UNC is 3-0 for the 36th time in program history, but just the fourth time this century. But it’s just a quarter of the schedule, Brown is quick to point out. And, his team must get better to continue winning.
“Happy to be 3-0, but lots of things we can still grow up and improve,” UNC’s coach said.
*UNC scored touchdowns in the red zone last season just 57.1 percent of the time, but it has ten TDs in 11 trips so far this season: five rushing and five passing. Needless to say, Brown is quite pleased over this.
“I am impressed with the offense so far that we are scoring touchdowns in the red zone,” he said. “We’ve scored a touchdown every time except the one time we had the young ones in there against Florida A&M, and pretty much just took a knee and shut it down. Other than that, we’re 10-for-10 with touchdowns in the red zone.”
He noted that UNC trailed by four points going into the fourth quarter at Notre Dame last season, but were 1-for-4 scoring touchdowns in the red zone. UNC had two field goals and failed to score the other time.
*6-min mark: First-down defense must improve, Brown said. He also says they need to get more turnovers. They have forced just three so far.
“We’re not doing as well on early downs, and that’s where you force your turnovers,” he said.
*UNC had an open date this past weekend, so the team practiced Tuesday-Thursday.
“We focused on just little things…,” Brown said. “Mostly, we wanted to get well, because we’ve got a lot of guys that are banged up, but it also (gave) us an extra three days to work on Notre Dame. Notre Dame’s got the same offensive coordinator as last year, but Al Golden’s the defense coordinator.
“So, they changed and are running different things on defense, so that gave us a little more time to work on the running game and minimizing pressure on the quarterback. Drake’s played really, really well, but he’s still having to leave the pocket too much.”
*8-min mark: Communication in the secondary has been a point of emphasis the last few weeks, and Brown says he’s seen progress, certainly at times in the win over Georgia State.
“We’re communicating better in the secondary, but we still had some miscommunication at Georgia State, and gave up two touchdowns because of that,” he said.
*Carolina was close the last two seasons versus Notre Dame but struggled in both fourth quarters. UNC lost 31-17 at home in 2020 in a game that was 24-17 until the Irish scored with 1:20 left to play salting it away. Carolina lost 44-34 last year in South Bend in a game that was 41-34 until the Irish kicked a field goal with 1:37 left to ice it.
“We have been in position the last two years, we were down by seven here two years ago, they ended up scoring with five mins left to beat us by 14,” Brown recalled. “We didn't make a first down in the second half. We have been really good around here offensively, they completely shut us down better than anybody that we played since we've been here.
“Last year, we were down by four with a chance to win and they broke a 91-yard run, which you just can't have happen. We had a fourth-and-three, we stopped them and got off the field, but we got a facemask across the field, on the other side of the field with a different player.
“We gotta be tougher, be more confident in the fourth quarter, to give us a chance to win. Those are things we have not been able to do, they are very, very physical in both in line of scrimmages. This will be a good test for us to see if we can handle this.”
*11-min mark: Brown was asked about possibly going 4-0.
*12-min mark: He went into detail about the staff re-evaluating all aspects of the team. They self-scouted in al three phases.
*Carolina opened its season August 27 at home versus Florida A&M, so by the time Saturday arrives, it will have been 28 days since the Tar Heels took the field at Kenan Stadium. Does it feel like that long to Brown, or perhaps even longer?
“It feels like it's been six months since the last home game, we haven't been here in so long,” he said, chuckling. “The crowd for Florida A&M was fantastic and it was just a wonderful weekend. I expect this one to be the same. Virginia Tech is already sold out for next weekend. It is a fun time for Carolina football, fun challenge ahead this weekend.”
*13-min mark: We will elaborate more on this topic later in the week, but Brown was asked two questions about the communication in the secondary, and if he can gauge improvement during the open week, or does he really have to wait and see it in a game. He gave an interesting response.
*18-min mark: Does Brown have a prior relationship with Notre Dame Coach Marcus Freeman?
*UNC will play the Irish for the third consecutive year, and are the only team in the ACC to do so. Brown sees plenty of advantage in having Notre Dame on the schedule, and wouldn’t mind facing them every year.
“You love to play a national brand,” he said. “It helps your program. Obviously, it is fun for our fans to go to Notre Dame or have them come here. We are one of the three ACC teams that have played them three years in a row. That doesn't happen very often. So, we were very, very fortunate even with the covid year that we got them on the schedule. I'd love to play Notre Dame every year.”
*It is expected that Josh Downs will be back in the lineup this weekend, and increasingly likely that Antoine Green will also be back. They are UNC’s two best and most experienced receivers. Incorporating them into things is something Brown was asked about.
“We would have to look at them during the week to make sure,” he replied. “They have to get hit, they have to be able to practice and stay healthy. And how many plays can they play. When they have been out so long. It's confusing, it’s a lot of things you have to put together this week.
“The other thing is since you're playing well, how do you get the number of plays properly for the guys that have been doing well? You just don't throw them out and some other guys come back in. So we got some work to do. Number one, can they stay healthy? Number two, can they get hit at practice and stay healthy during the week? Number three, how do you get the rotation now?”
*Getting Downs and Green back into the lineup means fewer snaps for the trio (J.J. Jones, Kobe Paysour, and Gavin Blackwell) that have been on the field almost exclusively in their absence. That is something Brown, offensive coordinator Phil Longo, and receivers coach Lonnie Galloway must handle.
“Josh is the best player on our team,” Brown said. “We haven't had him since the first game and I don't think there is any question he is the best player on the team. Antoine Greene is an NFL wide receiver. So, to lose those two, plus (running back) British Brooks, we took a shot there early.
“I am really, really proud that coaches didn't make excuses, players didn't make excuses and we recruited well enough younger people to step up.”
*22-min mark: Interesting and really good question to Brown was about how he addresses to his team Notre Dame’s slow start. He said they showed them the Ohio State game, which worked getting their attention.
*23-min mark: Brown sees Notre Dame as 1-1. The Irish almost beat Ohio State on the road, they relaxed and lost to Marshall, and then beat a good Cal team. He said, “I think it’s the same old Notre Dame,” Brown said.
*28-min mark: Brown is surprised his defense hasn’t been more consistent. They have been in base a lot, and said the staff pounded home during the open week the importance of doing their own jobs, each being one of 11.
“We’ve really challenged the guys to be where you’re supposed to be,” he said, also noting disciplined football is key.
*Trey Scott contributed to this report.