CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina defensive coordinator Gene Chizik met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center for his weekly press conference, this time to look back at how his unit performed in the win over Florida A&M, and to also look ahead to this weekend’s game at Appalachian State.

The Tar Heels defeated the Rattlers, 56-24, in a game in which the defense had some issues trying to stop FAMU’s quick-hitting short passing game, thus allowing it 335 total yards and 20 first downs. Most of that came through the first three quarters, as the Tar Heels got better defensively in the final period.

Above is the video of Chizik’s Q&A session with the media, and below is a transcript of much of what Chizik said.

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On the defense having trouble defending first down over the first half, but improving as the game went on. What was the problem, and what did they fix?

CHIZIK: “The great thing about the game Saturday night there was a lot of adjustments they had to go on. There's a lot of lot of teaching moments. You get in those first games, you're not really sure what you're going to see. I think there was a lot of growth in the game because we started out, we didn't play well in a lot of different phases, at a lot of different times, first down being one of them.

“We had to go and make sure that they saw the game and saw the pictures that they were getting and adjust to what they were seeing. The other thing that was great about the game is that they did a lot of things to put strains on the defense just in general. Yesterday when we got together, it was great learning environment to be able to adapt and adjust to things that we won't see. The same thing could happen this week.

“Some things we haven't seen, they got a new offensive coordinator, so there will be some things that we haven't seen that we have to adjust to as well, but there was a lot of great teaching moments. We didn't play great all the time, at times we played horrible. I feel like in the end, we were able to kind of adapt and adjust and get our feet back on the ground.”

*FAMU’s QB was 28-for-38 with 279 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. What changes would Chizik like to see in how the secondary played?

CHIZIK: “It's not really changes, its more communication. Identifying situations that possibly strain those type of coverages. Just recognizing things, I think our eyes were bad at times. I think there were some instances where we just didn't execute the coverages very well. Those types of things were pointed out yesterday so it's not that you go back and change a lot, I think it's really more go back and show when we were not playing well, why.

“When we weren't playing pass defense great. Was it a was it one guy? Was it several guys? I think there was a mixture of a lot of that. So again, yesterday was just a great teaching moment for a lot of guys. We were playing some young guys back there in the secondary, and it was some of their first games back there, so things were happening they were happening fast. But again, I think we go back to great teaching moments, and I think the way the game flowed it was it was really good for us because, we had to play when things weren't going well.

“We had to adapt and adjust to some adverse situations. As you start new, when you have new guys, and you have new coaches it's kind of a growing pains that go with it. We wish we would have played better when it comes to pass defense, but again our job between week one and week two is make sure that we make those changes, and we make those corrections, and they understand the corrections to play better next week.”

*FAMU ran 27 times for 56 yards, and that includes UNC allowing a 21-yard run, so on the other 26 credited runs, the Rattlers managed just 35 yards. So how did the guys up front grade out with respect to stopping the run, but also getting enough pressure on the QB?

CHIZIK: “First of all, they had a really good plan 'because they were getting the ball how fast. If you just look at raw numbers, we had three sacks, there was times when we pressured the quarterback, we were in his face, and he still got the ball off, and he threw some accurate balls.

“Let me go back; it's not all on the secondary, its everybody. It's pass rush, and then its linebackers in coverage, and its DBs and coverage. It's not an indictment on any one group, it's us all having to do it better, play it better start from front-to-back. There were times when we felt like we were getting good pressure. There were times when we felt like we should've got better pressure, so it was kind of a mixed bag. That's why I say that it was good as far as the way the game unfolded.

“We played okay in the run game. I expect us to play much better in the run game than we did. There were some things that we didn't do well, you can't look at those numbers and just say wow they played really good run defense. Final numbers suggest it was, but there's a lot of room for him for improvement there. We have to be much better this week against the run to be able to stop this run attack we're going to face. But again, there are small victories all over the field Saturday and we just got to keep going.”

*So, what does he want to see from the front seven this week at App against a team that runs the ball very well and is highly committed to it?

CHIZIK: “If we're going to win the football game, it's going to be won with the front seven and being able to control the ground attack. They've done a fantastic job; they got a great scheme. If you look up at down their offensive line, running backs, quarterback, it's amazing how many fifth- and six-year guys they have. So, what comes with that is a ton of experience. What comes with that program what they've done there is a lot of wins and a lot of championship expectations. They expect to come into these games and win. It's not new to them, they've done it before.

“It's a very talented group. They have great tough, downhill running backs. The quarterback is really, really efficient. But more than anything, from tackle to tackle and then going back to the backfield, it's just a ton of experience. When you have that many guys who played five, in some cases six years, that's a huge advantage for your team. So, we got to go in there, we got to be able to play stout upfront, we got to be able to get off blocks, we got to be able to strike blocks, we got to be able to run fit, and against this crew right now a lot of people struggle, so that'll be our challenge.”

*UNC faced Chase Brice two years ago when he was the QB at Duke, plus Brice was on the Clemson team UNC lost to at Kenan Stadium in 2019. Is there any value in looking at the tape from two years ago to gain anything?

CHIZIK: “I have not pulled that up but I will pull that up just to see his skillet. Let me tell you; quarterbacks change based on the scheme. Look at the guy last week who went to Vanderbilt and did nothing because I don't know why. No one really knew anything about him. I thought the guy last week was really efficient and accurate, sat in the pocket, and threw the ball well. I think the scheme helped with that.

“So, this quarterback has gone into a new program. He’s gone to a program that wins, and the scheme allows to run the football and take the pressure off the quarterback. The play-action game, he can have some success. They are absolutely about all protection. They're gonna put seven guys back there and protect him. And they’ll run a lot of three-man routes, and when you do that, he's been really, really efficient. Don’t know a lot about where he was at Clemson and Duke in terms of his production. I will go back and peek at it, but what I've seen so far, he’s really, really, really good.”

*Apps offensive coordinator was at Central Michigan last year, so does Chizik watch much of what he did along with some of the other stuff for Brice?

CHIZIK: “So obviously, the lion share of what we'll do is in this scheme; what has he done? That's what we've been focusing on right now. We'll go back and peek at Central Michigan because there'll be new concepts probably that he's going to bring in. I don’t think they will change a lot in the run game because they've had too much success with what they do. The pass concepts could change a little bit based on the coordinator, so I think it would be a little bit of a mixed bag.

“But we'll go back and look at what he did at Duke, peek at that because I want to see what kind of you know deep ball thrower he is, what kind intermediate ball thrower he is, what is he like if there's pressure on him? What is he like if there's not pressure on him? Those are the things that you look for. You don't really look for any things schematically you look for, if this happens, is he efficient? Or when this happens, is he not efficient? Meaning pressure or non-pressure things of that nature, so that's kind of what you get out of that.”

*The defensive line was hyped quite a bit entering the season, so how does Chizik think they played?

CHIZIK: “It was great because we built a plan on reps like a rep count. How many did we envision each guy getting? We stuck really, really close to that because we didn't really want any of those guys playing over 40 plays in the game, so our rotation was good. I think there were productive good times.

“I think that there's obviously a lot of room for improvement, but I feel like, when we did four-man rush, we pressed the pocket, the pocket collapsed fast, he's getting the ball out quick, so that's why three sacks were what we got. But we felt there was some pressure back there most of the day.

“I felt like they run-fit well, felt like they got off blocks, and they were striking blocks and getting off blocks. Obviously, with a lot of room to improve but again, if this defense is going to take steps moving forward, everything is going to stop and start with the D line and the linebackers, and the front seven.”

*DeAndre Boykins played 68 snaps, more than any other Tar Heel on defense, and made some big plays. Chizik was pleased with the sophomore’s performance.

CHIZIK: “I was really proud of him. I was really proud of Dre Boykins. I think he might have played more plays than anybody on the defense, to be honest with you. I think he played 68 total plays defense. He was really productive, is always around the football, and executed what we asked him to do in our coverage, in our run fits. He was part of the run game; we used him with some pressure a little bit and made a couple of negative plays in the run game.

“Overall, very, very impressed. You go into these games, and you wonder what guys are going to do when the lights come on. You don't he played within the defense, and he played a lot of plays, so very, very proud.”

*Power Echols had 10 tackles, two of which were TFLs, and one was a sack. He was UNC’s best player on defense.

CHIZIK: “Power Echols, I thought he was amazing. I thought he played a fantastic football game and was all over the place. He played with amazing effort. Played amazing within the scheme and was full speed all over the field. He’s the one guy that, to me, if you pick one guy that stood out in terms of production, what he meant to the defense, he was the guy that jumped out to me.”