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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference to discuss the Tar Heels’ win over Virginia Tech and look ahead to Saturday’s game at Miami.
UNC beat the Hokies, 41-10, in what was its most complete performance of the season. Carolina’s defense stepped allowing just 273 total yards and 14 first downs, and blanked Tech in the second half.
UNC is 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC. The Tar Heels travel to Miami for a 4 PM kick on Saturday. The Hurricanes are 2-2 overall and have not yet played an ACC game.
Below are parts one and two of Brown’s weekly press conference. We had some editing issues and weren’t able to merge the videos in time to upload. Also below are some notes, pulled quotes, and time markings from what he had to say:
Note: True freshman LB Sebastian Cheeks is out for the season, and sophomore LB RaRa Dillworth is being monitored this week. He suffered a concussion in the loss to Notre Dame and did not dress for the Virginia Tech game.
*1-min mark: Brown spent a few minutes discussing cancer awareness weekend, which is what the Virginia Tech game was, notably UNC receiver Tylee Craft, who was an horary captain for the game.
Brown said he can’t ever understand what Craft has gone through and is going through, so he spent a couple of minutes talking about that. Brown also said that Craft danced for the team after the win Saturday instead of him.
*4-min mark: Players of the game:
-Offense – Drake Maye (363 passing yards, 3 TDs, 73 yards rushing, 2 TDs).
-Defense – Star DeAndre Boykins (5 tackles, 2 STOPs, 8 targets allowing 5 receptions for 37 yards).
-Special teams – Punt shield team of Kevin Hester, Jonathan Adorno, and Malik McGowan.
*5-min mark: Brown is pleased with the Tar Heels’ pass protection. They allowed no sacks versus the Hokies, and a year ago allowed six. On the season, Carolina has surrendered just nine sacks and ranks 61st in the nation in that department. Last year’s team gave up 49.
“Very proud of the offensive line pass protection,” Brown said, also singling out the play of junior running back D.J. Jones and his work protecting Maye.
Brown also noted the special teams play of walk-ons Jalen Brooks and Jake Harklroad.
*8-min mark: The offense racked up 527 yards, marking the fourth time in five games it has been over the 500-yard mark. Brown praised the offensive line’s work in pass pro, but gushed again about Maye.
“He sees the field so well… He distributes the ball where it needs to be,” he said about Maye.
*9-min mark: An issue we have chronicled here for a few weeks has been Carolina’s struggles running the ball effectively enough and consistently on first and second downs. The Heels gained three yards or less on 18 of 27 such runs versus the Hokies, and through five games, have three yards or less on 82 of 139 first and second-down runs.
“We’d have trouble right now with a four-minute offense,” Brown said. “We’d have to throw it some, because we’re just not doing a good job. We’re frustrated with it. We’re not sure why, we keep looking at it.
“We squirted a couple of long runs with both Caleb (Hood) and Omarion (Hampton) on Saturday, but it’s not consistent. We’re still having the one-yard runs, the minus-two-yard runs. You just can’t have that.”
*10-min mark: UNC easily had its best defensive outing of the season, allowing 273 yards and 14 first downs. In the second half, the Tar Heels have up no points, 92 total yards, and just five first downs. Needless to say, Brown was quite pleased with his defense.
“We showed we can be effective for a whole game,” he said. “We showed our coaches know what they’re doing.”
The total yards allowed were the fewest since the second game of last season when they beat Georgia State at home. The shutout in the second half was the first time they’d done that since beating Duke a year ago, when the Heels blanked the Blue Devils in the first half.
*13-min mark: Brown hit on Miami saying he told the team to expect the Miami team that nearly won at Texas A&M, not the one that lost at home to Middle Tennessee State.
“We’ll have our hands full with Miami,” he said.
*14-min mark: Brown discussed Wisconsin firing coach Paul Chryst and that it’s happening to early in seasons.
*15-min mark: Brown was asked two questions about Maye trying to leap over defenders, his concern about it, and talking with Maye about fighting his instinct to do that.
“We talk to him a whole lot, he just needs to listen,” Brown said. “He’s trying to slide better, he’s trying to step out of bounds better, even sometime throw the ball away. Don’t hold it so long trying to make a play that you take a hit… The one the other day, he’s not going to score, so why leap?
*16-min mark: Brown was asked about Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke.
*18-min mark: Multiple questions about the problems running the ball on early downs, notably first and second down.
“They’re just too many negative plays…,” Brown said. “How many times can you waste a down now with modern-day college football, as important as every play is, why you go for fourth downs when you have way too many third-and-longs.”
*19-min mark: Each of the RBs have done some good things but nobody has taken over.
*20-min mark: With respect to shaking away the loss to Notre Dame and get ready for Virginia Tech, Brown said the team is “really working hard to do what we said in preseason unlike last year and not be an up-and-down team but to play and practice to a standard every day… We grew from the Notre Dame game”
*21-min mark: UNC had 17 explosive plays to just two for the Hokies. That is winning football.
*23-min mark: The defense must now show it can sustain its positive play in the last game. They also need to show it on the road, and “they’re the best team we’ve played on the road,” Brown said about the Hurricanes.
“You want to take your confidence and have that grow with your defense instead of being complacent feeling pretty good about yourself. And that’s been a problem for us since we’ve been here.”
*23-min mark: Brown was asked if having fathers into playing in the NFL, like Bryson Nesbit and Power Echols, and how it translates to the sons.
*24-min mark: Back to Maye’s leaping, Brown told a good story about going over to see Maye as he was laying on the ground Saturday. Funny stuff.
*27-min mark: Did Brown figure at some point the defense would just click at some point?
*28-min mark: The tight end room has gone from good to exceptionally good. Kamari Morales, Bryson Nesbit, and John Copenhaver have each progressed tremendously. Brown says his tight ends coach is a big part of their growth.
“I believe John Lilly is one of the best coaches I’ve ever seen. The impact of our tight ends is so much different than it was when he came here a couple of years ago. The routes that we’re running, the concepts that we have are different. So, he’s brought the NFL back to our team and our staff. And he has been a tremendous addition.”
*31-min mark: UNC has scored touchdowns in 17 of its 19 trips into the red zone, with the two misses when the Tar Heels took a knee as time expired in the opener, and when Jacolby Criswell replaced Maye for a snap versus Virginia Tech. And UNC kicked a field goal there.
“I think it’s because we put so much emphasis on it,” Brown said. “And we all know it’s there, (but) it’s different in saying we need to score touchdowns and spending a whole lot of your practice time scoring touchdowns.”
It was a major point of emphasis in the offseason and that attention and work has paid off so far.
*34-min mark: Brown discussed getting a pass rush from guys like Kaimon Rucker, Jacolbe Cowan, Malaki Hamrick, etc.
*38-min mark: What are some of the differences in Miami under Marion Cristobal?
*40-min mark: How much did Drake Maye’s redshirt year help him for this season?
*43-min mark: Brown had some fun discussing the trick play that should have worked but didn’t Saturday. One thing is for certain, they will only use a play like that once a season, so UNC fans will not see that same play again.
