CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media via zoom Sunday afternoon to discuss where his program is after 15 practice, two scrimmages, and a recovery period earlier in the morning.

The Tar Heels held their second scrimmage of the month Saturday, which Brown said went well and basically injury free. UNC’s coach also hit on a bunch of other items, including the backup quarterback situation, the wide receiver room, progress with special teams, the plan with the Virginia Tech game 12 days away, how they’re handling COVID inside the Kenan Football Center, and much more.

Above is video of Brown’s full presser and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:

*UNC has reached herd immunity. Brown said they are over 85 percent, which means they can have normal meetings, eat together at the training table, and so on. They have to wear masks in the meetings and any time indoors. The players are back in their own locker room. They want to get the numbers higher, though.

“Now our numbers are where we need to be (for full team gatherings indoors), even though we would like to continue to go in that direction.”

*Brown said they are treating COVID like that did last year.

“But we have much more knowledge now of what’s happening than at this time last year,” he said. “We still didn’t know if we were going to play, (the) season was moved back, the university was moved back… So, we feel like we’re in a much better position even though COVID’s rampant out there again… We’re taking it very, very seriously.”

*Whether or not full attendance at UNC home games remains in question, and Brown said he doesn’t believe it ahs been decided yet, though at the same time, he believes full capacity will be allowed.

“What that means as far as protocol, I’m not sure,” Brown said.

*The Tar Heels held their first scrimmage of fall camp on August 14, and the second one was on yesterday. Brown said it, “was really good overall” and “we didn’t get anybody hurt, which is the most important thing.”

Starters battled starters a lot, like in the first scrimmage, but first units also went against second units “just to see guys that haven’t competed against the first group and see how they would compete to try and separate some different positions.”

They also spent a lot of time on situational stuff: Live Kickoff and kickoff receiving; punt protection against a hard rush; field goals instead of just extra points; goal line offense and defense; they started the scrimmage at the one-yard-line; and they practiced the one-minute drill, which Brown said needs some work.

“The offense didn’t do as well as I’d hoped,” he said, “but we haven’t worked on that enough, so that’s got to be an emphasis here going forward.”

*The month has been a grind for the players. Saturday’s scrimmage was their 15th practice, and instead of a typical day-after practice Sunday, the players got into the tubs for recovery. The opener is 12 days away, and with Monday an off day, the Heels will return to practice Tuesday, which is 10 days before playing in Blacksburg. So, the team needs to pull back some.

“They’re more tired right now than they’ll be at any time during the season,” Brown said. “So yesterday was critical that we got through it, we had some spirit, we had good competition, and we came out of it really, really healthy.”

*The ACC is allowing teams to travel with 80 players for road games this year. Previously, it allowed 72, so the staff will now begin determining which 80 players will head to Blacksburg while still sorting out some depth chart competitions.

“We’ll start looking at a travel squad,” Brown said. “We’re looking at who plays, we’re looking at how many plays the guys have earned the right to play. And even in that, we’ve told them, ‘Don’t worry about how many plays you play, be productive while you’re playing, and that’s your job.”

*As for separation in some key depth chart battles, Brown didn'tannounce any like he did last week when he said true freshman Caleb Hood was the second-team running back behind Ty Chandler. And even though the opener is getting close, the staff isn’t rushed to make many of those decisions just yet.

“We’re seeing some separation,” he said. “We’ve still got to get more, but we’re seeing some, and we feel like the players have a pretty good feel after today, because we sat down and talked to them a lot about who would be starting and who would be playing, and they’ve still got two weeks to change that.

“They will have some base level that they would know coming out of yesterday’s scrimmage.”

*So, the plan moving forward is to get healthy, fresh, and be ready to tackle preparation for the Hokies.

*As for some of those pecking order battles, the one most people are highly interested in is the competition behind Sam Howell at backup quarterback. It was a little surprising Brown didn’t name either sophomore Jacolby Criswell or true freshman Drake Maye as QB2 on Sunday, but it is because both players are playing well, and the staff still has time to make a decision.

“All those guys are good players, and they play good when we put them in there,” Brown said. “And we just got out of a staff meeting a few minutes ago, and you wouldn’t know who you would put in first (behind Howell) because they’re playing well enough.

“Obviously, Jacolby’s been around longer, he’s a little bit older, but Drake makes some great plays. He threw a touchdown pass yesterday to (Stephen) Gosnell that was a tremendous throw.

“So, we’re still two weeks away. We don’t have to separate those guys yet.”

*A benefit from not yet naming the backup is this extends their intense competition for the QB2 spot. As long as this battle goes on, the staff can continue gauging how they handle a heated competition, as once a backup is defined, that player won’t have the same level of competition unless they get into some games.

“That was my point about (cornerbacks) Kyler McMichael and Tony Grimes playing better since Storm Duck was back,” Brown said. “Competition is such a key. (Former UCLA basketball) Coach (John) Wooden said the bench is your best motivator because the guys want to play. And when those two quarterbacks see each other making plays, there is absolutely no doubt that there is more urgency. And we all need that.”

*Brown emphasized earlier in the month the importance that would be placed on special teams this month, something special teams coach Jovan Dewitt discussed Saturday. Has Brown seen the kind of progress in all phases of special teams this month he was looking for?

“Yes,” Brown replied. “We’ve never worked best-against-best this much in special teams, and we’ve never worked this much live in previous seasons. So, we have really made an effort to see progress. I like our plan better, I like our philosophy better. We’re all on the same page.

“I do think it’s really helped bringing in (running backs) coach (Larry) Porter, because you bring in the special teams coach from Auburn and add him to the special teams coach that you’ve got with coach Dewitt. Not only can they separate duties and get more done individually, but they can have a collaboration of thoughts. I think we’re just better all the way around.”

*The wide receiver group has been a bit banged up this month with Beau Corrales still working to slowly get back into the mix, Khafre Brown has dealt with some stuff, freshman J.J. Jones and a few others as well. So, what has Brown seen from the room about some guys separating from others?

“Josh Downs continues to play really well,” Brown said. “He did some great things yesterday. He caught a deep touchdown pass against the ones with Sam. I’m really, really impressed with him. He competes, works every day, he is a valuable piece to who we are moving forward.

“Emery Simmons has taken every snap. He’s a warrior, he can run, and does everything right. He’s doing a better job of getting separation and getting open. And then probably one of the most improved players in Antoine Green. I’m really impressed with him.

“He’s got so much ability and he’s big, he’s pretty, he can catch, he can run. And we’ve always just said, ‘C’mon, man, give us some production here. He’s never been very confident and I’m just seeing that confidence grow. I like what I see out of those three.

“Justin Olson has a unique knock to catch the deep ball, and we’re looking at him at both slot and the outside guy. So, he’s playing a lot of different places. He’s another one that hasn’t had a snap off at all. In fact, those four guys have been the guys that have taken every snap, and they’ve got to be exhausted. And we’ve had to slow down a bit in some of their drills just to let them rest.

“Then you’ve got Khafre (Brown), who we feel like is well now and will be able to get back in there and go. You’ve got Tylee Craft, who was doing so well, and he got slowed a little bit with a lower body injury. But he’ll be back in there and ready to go. We’ve got Beau (Corrales) who continues to work his way back in.

“We’ve had more guys out at the wide receiver position with lesser stuff than we’ve needed. And that has really slowed the progress for those guys. Stephen Gosnell caught two touchdown passes yesterday, so he had a good day and he stepped up.

“And then you’ve got the three young ones. J.J. Jones has been out, but he played yesterday and he’s starting to get back. We were really excited abut him, he had an upper body injury. And then you’ve got (Kobe) Paysour and (Gavin) Blackwell that are making plays.

“So, there’s enough bodies there, but we’ve got to get them healthy. The young ones have made some mistakes and been tired some. One of them got hurt. But those four right there would be the four. Khafre is the fastest guy we’ve got, we need him back and we need him on the field. We need him paying. And then you just hope that the young ones continue to grow.”