CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina's football program held its summer press conference last Wednesday at the Kenan Football Center, in which every assistant coach and 11 players were made available to the media.
Myles Murphy earned second-team All-ACC honors last season after finishing second on the team with eight tackles for a loss of yardage, four of which were sacks. He was fifth on the defense with a 66.2 PFF rating for the season, and was credited with 26 STOPs, which are plays that result in failures for the opposing offense.
Murphy is also a projected NFL draft pick next spring if he decides to leave Carolina.
As we roll through each interview, here above is the full video of Murphy’s presser and below are some tidbits from his interview:
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*Murphy loves the new defensive approach the Tar Heels are using under Gene Chizik in his return to Chapel Hill. Murphy believes it will better utilize his skills than the previous approach under Jay Bateman.
*Chizik said the defensive line is loaded with talent and depth, certainly much more so than when the first time he got to UNC in 2015. Murphy agrees with the overall quality of the line, which he went into detail discussing, along with noting some of the younger guys who should rise up and take their next steps forward as players.
*Murphy said he didn’t play too many snaps (511 in 13 games) last season, and that he didn’t wear down. But he did acknowledge he has to do a better job this season at taking care of his body as the season goes on.
*The Greensboro native said he learned a lot last season about how to take care of his body during the grind of a season, in part what not to do, but also what stuff (food, sleep, etc), works better.
*How good can he be this year, Murphy replied, “there’s no telling; the sky’s the limit.”
*DL Coach Tim Cross and Chizik both said Murphy should be offended if he isn’t double-teamed this season, to which Murphy agreed.
*To battle double-teams and all he will see this season, Murphy says he’s preparing to play lower, but most of his work is learning to better handle double-teams. This is a major part of his process and will be key in Carolina’s season, plus how he’s viewed by the NFL.
*Being low is a key as well. “If you’re not getting low, you’re getting knocked off the tracks,” he said.
