CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Football Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday following with 14th-ranked Tar Heels’ only open date of the season to discuss last week, areas of focus on the team and the program, and to look ahead to Syracuse’s visit this weekend.
UNC is 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the ACC, and will kick off versus the Orange on Saturday at 3:30 PM at Kenan Stadium. The game will air on ESPN.
Above is the video of Brown’s presser, and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*UNC’s game top open next season at Minnesota has been moved up two days to August 29, which is a Thursday night.
*Sophomore running back and kick returner George Pettaway will redshirt the rest of this season and then go through practice next spring before deciding whether or not he enters the transfer portal or remains at UNC.
Pettaway loves being at UNC, Brown said, but he and his father decided this was in his best interest. Brown said the staff agrees with the decision.
Pettaway would have continued playing if they asked, but the staff agrees he should redshirt, will go through spring practice and see where he is with respect to playing. So, he is not hitting the portal, and if he does, after spring will be the earliest he does so.
“I agree with him completely. He’s not getting a lot of significant snaps right now, so take your four games. He can play in the bowl game, (so) he can play in a fifth game now and still redshirt.
“He wants to stay here, he likes it, but he also felt like, and I agree completely, that take the year to redshirt unless there’s injuries or a need for him to play more and be smart and then give him the year back.”
*Junior offensive lineman Willie Lampkin practiced with the team Sunday and will be monitored during the week. Brown said it’s likely Lampkin will play versus the Orange. Junior wide receiver Gavin Blackwell also practiced Sunday and will be monitored this week. Brown didn’t give any indication either way about Blackwell and the Syracuse game.
*Since there wasn’t any media availability last week, Brown briefly went over the Pittsburgh game that UNC won, 41-24, on the road a week ago this past Saturday night.
The game MVPs were:
-Offense: J.J. Jones, who had career highs in catches (six) and yards (117).
-Defense: Alijah Huzzie, who had two interceptions and a PBU.
-Special Teams: Again Huzzie, who had a 29-yard punt return and later took one 52 yards for a touchdown.
*Brown heaped plenty of praise on the defensive staff and players for how they played after Pitt’s first two series, in which the Panthers scored a pair of touchdowns after long time-consuming drives.
Afterward, however, the Tar Heels allowed 150 total yards and just a field goal to Pitt’s offense over its last ten possessions. Of those yards, the run-heavy Panthers managed only 14 on the ground after their second series.
“Tremendous improvement on defense in a lot of areas,” Brown said.
Brown then rattled off how all of the team’s defensive numbers through four games have dramatically changed over the first four games compared to last season.
*As pleased as Brown was with the defense, he was unimpressed with how special teams played. Aside from the returns by Huzzie and pair of long field goals by Noah Burnette, the rest of the unit had major, well-documented issues:
Allowed a kickoff run for a TD when it was time to close out the Panthers; had a punt blocked giving Pitt the ball in the red zone right at the 20-yard-line.
*The Tar Heels are ranked No. 13 in the Coaches’ poll and No. 14 in the AP poll. Brown says that’s nice, but the only poll that matters is when the CFP one comes out. The first one will be announced October 31.
So, the coaches aren’t going about their business with the team as if they are 4-0, no basking in any glory. They are coaching them in a manner that will get their attention and keep them focused. No basking in any glory, as very little has yet been accomplished.
“Act like you lost the game,” he said is the message to the team each Sunday, and certainly this past weekend with respect to the Pitt game.
*Drake Maye has just five TD passes to four INTs thus far, a far different stat line than most people expected four games into the season. But Maye is still playing very well, as Brown was pleased to say.
Brown said Maye’s QBR is 87.3 (sixth nationally) after being 82.7 last season.
“Drake’s done a great job for us. Because we’re running the ball better in the red zone, he’s had a couple of guys get caught on the 1-yard-line that would have been touchdown passes that we’ve run in. His touchdown numbers don’t look quite as good.
In addition, he has completed 72.7 percent of his 132 pass attempts thus far, making Maye the first UNC QB to be above 70 percent through the first four games of a season.
“And that’s really amazing that he’s doing that.”
*Carolina practiced last Tuesday-Thursday, and Brown said the club was focused, went at it with great spirit, and got something out of the workouts.
Also, with it being an open date, the coaches met with each player to discuss where they are now in the program and their future. Pettaway was the only player who expressed any interest in backing away and possibly hitting the portal.
Brown said the practices last week were as good as he’s seen in an open week before.
*Lastly, the Tar Heels have 14 touchdowns in 17 red zone trips to far, with 11 of those scores rushing TDs, which is a clear departure from last season. Four contests into last season, UNC has 13 red zone TDs, but eight were passing with five rushing.
