CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference to discuss what was learned from Saturday’s win over Georgia State, various elements of his team, and to look ahead to Virginia’s visit to Kenan Stadium this Saturday.
Above is video of Brown’s full presser and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*Junior cornerback Dae Dae Hollins is out for the season after sustaining a lower body injury during the 59-17 win over Georgia State.
“I really hate it for Dae Dae Hollins,” Brown said. “He’s turned his life around, he’s doing really well in school, he was becoming a legitimate corner for us to where he can go in and play at any time. So, I hate it for him.”
Hollns had been UNC's third corner through the first two games, as Storm Duck hasn't been available.
*Joshua Ezeudu, UNC’s best and most versatile offensive lineman, missed the GSU game, but his status for this week’s game is unknown. He will be evaluated during the week. Sophomore running back D.J. Jones also did not play versus the Panthers and he will be evaluated as well. Senior running back and special teams captain British Brooks, who scored a touchdown versus GSU, will also be monitored during the week.
*Sophomore cornerback Storm Duck hasn’t played since the Boston College game last season, though he will also be under evaluation this week. UNC defensive coordinator Jay Bateman said Monday morning he thinks there’s a chance Duck will play versus UVA.
*Players of the game:
---Sam Howell on offense after passing for 352 yards and three scores and running for 104 and two scores, becoming the second player in UNC history to go for 300-plus and 100-plus in the same game. He was the offensive Player of the Game.
“Sam looked like Sam on Saturday night and got back on track,” Brown said. “We protected him better, he’s doing a really good job with his legs and making plays, and I’m really proud of his performance.”
---Sophomore defensive lineman Myles Murphy graded out at 71.7 and recorded a sack in earning UNC’s Defensive Player of the game.
“Myles had a sack, two tackles for loss, and two more tackles, so that’s his best performance since he’s been playing for us,” Brown said.
---British Brooks was named the special teams Player of the game.
“He blocked a punt, and then he ran down the fake punt and was all over the place,” Brown said.
*Brown said the offensive play in the third quarter versus Georgia State was very important for the offense in outing together. Carolina scored 21 points and amassed 279 total yards in the period.
“We felt like there were some times in the game where we looked like we did last year,” Brown said.
*Four tight ends caught seven passes Saturday night: Kamari Morales had four catches for 42 yards; Garrett Walston had one for 22 yards; John Copenhaver had one for seven yards; and true freshman Bryson Nesbit had a catch for 47-yard touchdown. With a need for more pass catchers to step up, Brown said this development is something they will use more often moving forward.
“Proud for our tight ends that they had seven catches, and our staff is getting them the ball more,” Brown said. “Four different guys had seven total catches, and that will help us and take some of the pressure off of the wide receivers, as well.”
*This is just UNC’s third game of the season, but already its second Coastal Division game. Brown says the players understand the importance and pressure on what’s at stake already, but in connection with the opener at Virginia Tech, he isn’t in favor of how this has set up.
“They know it,” Brown said about the importance of Saturday’s game. “They are smart kids on these two teams. You have to tell them to take a deep breath and get ready to play; it’ll be a great game.
“I don’t like opening up on the road with a conference game. I wouldn’t have done that,” Carolina’s coach said. “That was obviously our league and TV, and especially at a tough place to play. Virginia is such a rivalry game, I’d rather it be pushed back in the schedule, because I think it builds up to that more than early. But nobody asked me, so I don’t have any input whatsoever.
“I do feel like after the opening ballgame, we had to quit worrying about rankings and we had to quit worrying about conference, we had to play better and get back on track. So right now, we’ve got enough issues, we’re worried about us. We’ve got to figure out why we’re inconsistent in the running game and we’ve got to figure out why we still have sacks. We’re still missing tackles and not getting sacks.
“So, we’ve got a lot of things we’ve got to fix that we can’t worry about Virginia. Virginia’s playing much better than we are.”
*Even though the Tar Heels won 59-17 and scored on their first six possessions of the second half Saturday, Brown said they’ve “been really, really hard with evaluations.” Perhaps it is a media and fan base nit picking, but there were some concerns about how the Heels played, especially on offense in the first half.
“We screwed up and we got expectations entirely too high,” Brown said. “When you win 59-17 and people are mad, you know things are have moved on from two years ago where we won two games. I do understand that without question.
“The questions for me coming off of halftime are, ‘What’s wrong,’ and we were up 24-10. I thought, ‘What’s wrong? I’m not sure.’”
Brown then went into what was most positive, again hitting on the third quarter.
“So, what we do is there was a stretch on offense in the third quarter – we scored 21 straight points and looked as good as we’ve looked since we’ve been here. I’m really, really excited about that. The defense held them to a hundred-and-something yards – only the one drive in the second quarter, the 75-yard drive was a really nice drive by them.
“I thought we played too many young guys and didn’t substitute enough. We’ve got to be smart. We’ve got talented young guys, but you can’t leave them out there forever. Let them play, let them grow up, and we’ll start being able to play them more as the season goes on. But, if they’re moving the ball on you, and those young guys are out there, and they’re getting a little bit winded, get them out. Get your starters back in the game and let them play…
“I still don’t like the fact that we’re not doing well on first downs. I checked it: we’ve thrown 32 times on first down and we’ve run 32 times on first down, so we’ve been very, very balanced with our first down calls. We’re going back and looking at every call in the ballgame, we’re looking at every play in our two ballgames, and if there is penetration, if there is a run that’s less than four yards, why? Because a success run is four yards. And we’re going back and studying exactly why.
“We’re looking at first-down runs against our defense so you can try to get to a second-and-long, a third-and-long.”
Brown also noted the kicking game, the positives (blocked a punt) and stopping the fake punt, and negatives (not returning punts).
*With the conventional ground game struggling some, Brown said to expect more called runs for Howell, but also because he’s effective, and there’s nothing wrong with using a quarterback who can run to help a team win.
“It does,” Brown said. “We even moved the quarterback some in the third quarter on the bootlegs and naked plays and getting Sam on the corner, and that really helped us as well. I do feel like we need to get him to slide more. He still likes to be physical, and I want him to go down unless it’s on the goal line or it’s a fourth-and-short where he’s gotta make the line to gain.
“I feel like he’s running so much better. What a great run for the 60-something-yard run for a touchdown when I was screaming to get down when he didn’t and then he scored. But he’s a valuable runner for us, and that’s obviously going to be a huge part of our running game this year because of the two guys we lost.
“And that’s good and that’s okay. We had Vince Young and Colt McCoy both at Texas, who were valuable runners and ran for a bunch of yards. People griped because traditionally we’re supposed to have running backs making the yards and quarterbacks throwing the ball. It doesn’t matter, you’ve got to win. And Sam now has become an outstanding runner.”
*Regarding the conventional ground game issues and sacks allowed, Brown warned about placing all the blame n the guys u p front. Other factors play into why some stuff doesn’t work as designed.
“I think we’re unfair when we just say, ‘offensive line,’” Brown said. “It may be blocking by receivers. It may be a tight end that let a guy get inside. It may be a running back that missed a cut. It may be Sam took the wrong check. It may be that Sam held the ball too long.
“So, it’s so simple for us to say, ‘offensive line stunk, those guys were bad.’ And then it’s not always that. I sit down with our offensive staff (and) I go over every negative play, and I want to see who is it and why is it. One thing (former Florida State) Coach (Bobby) Bowden told me, he said, ‘Don’t keep practicing bad stuff.’ So if something’s not working, change it or throw it out.
“Maybe because the two backs left, we can’t run this one play like we did last year. Maybe Javonte (Williams) was just different, and those guys had so many yards after contact last year. But the biggest thing is, just keep looking at every thing that you’re doing.
“There’s no question that the offensive line being banged up with (Josh) Ezeudu and Brian Anderson has hurt us. That’s our two best players up front. Brian’s the quarterback, he runs everything. He played the other day, but he didn’t play as well because he’d been hurt. But we knew more what to do.
“I think that’s the biggest thing, going back and looking at it. Each year you’re a different team. You’ve got some different personalities, you’ve got some new players, and you’ve just got to continue to re-evaluate.”
*Virginia comes in this weekend at 2-0 having outscored its opponents 85-14. Quarterback Brennan Armstrong has thrown for 744 yards and two touchdowns, and he has plenty of weapons, an experienced offensive line, and the Cavaliers run a unique style loaded with a bunch of pre-snap eye candy and using multiple players lined up at quarterback, though Armstrong is clearly their best and most important player on offense. How much time will UNC both with all of that since much of it are ploys to distract and throw off opponents?
“They’re very unique in their offense…,” Brown replied. “They do a lot of stuff, I don’t know how they practice it all. We’ve got to be us and just go play. If you spend all your time trying to trace the eye candy and all the stuff moving around, you’re not going to do a very good job. It still gets back to being sound and what they’ve done the last two years. Been more physical than we were last year for sure.
“And I think it’s more about how you play than all of the things that you’re doing, so you’ve just gotta play.”
