CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina defensive coordinator Gene Chizik met with the media following the Tar Heels’ fifth practice of fall camp Wednesday.

Chizik fielded questions about how the install is going, his emphasis on tackling and other fundamentals, the front line, coaching chemistry, and so much more.

Below is the full video of Chizik’s Q&A session and the entire transcript:

Q: 5 practices in, what are your what are your thoughts about your unit in general?

CHIZIK: “I think we’ve made a lot of progress. I think we’ve done a really, really good job of teaching them, and making them understand the importance of fundamentals. A lot of people get so into the scheme and all that, but you lose fundamentals. We haven’t done that. I think we’ve gotten better. I think five days is really starting to show up.

“Like I tell them, ‘When we do something out there on a drill and it’s not showing up in 11-on-11, we’re not teaching it right, or you don’t understand what we want you to do.’ That’s the whole purpose of the drills. The accumulation of the drills are starting to come alive. I’m seeing it in practice and I’m really happy with it.”

Q: What are some of the areas of fundamentals that needed a lot of work that you guys think you’ve made a lot of progress?

CHIZIK: “Tackling, number one. We’ve emphasized that ad nauseum. So, it’s been tackling, how we approach tackles, how we finish tackles, body position-wise, where we belong on tackles. So that’s been number one. The other is just striking blocks and playing in gaps, and just playing the defense the way the defense was designed.

“It’s not about guruing up all these defenses, it’s about us being able to get off blocks, strike blocks, never stay blocked, tackling in open space, al of those things – creating and forcing turnovers, which we worked today – that are really going to get us where we need to be.”

Q: Mack has talked about the need for improved leadership, what does leadership mean to you and have you seen growth in that area?

CHIZIK: “I think there’s been tremendous growth. Leadership is simply – we don’t need leadership when things are going great, we need great leadership all the time, but you certainly need it when things aren’t going good. And we talk to them about that. We talk to them about our body language, we talk to them about how to. We talk about those things, and like I told them the other day, ‘We don’t ever play to circumstances, we play to standards. That’s it.

“Standards over circumstances, right? We always play to standards, we don’t worry about whether the offense just scored a 60-yard touchdown or we just got an interception, the standard is the same on the next play. And that’s hard for humans to do because we’re all so emotional and we react to our circumstances.

“But in this game, if you’re going to be good, you have to have short memories when you do something good and bad, and you need to respond right. So, it’s not about how you play to a circumstance, it’s to a standard.”

Q: Who are some of those leaders that are stepping up and you’ve seen emerge?

CHIZIK: “A lot of them, I’m really proud of them. Let’s start with the linebackers, they’re kind of in the middle of the defense and the heart and soul. I think Power (Echols) and Ced (Cedric Gray) have done a great job stepping up. There’s a lot of defensive linemen that have really stepped up in terms of leaders by the way they play.

“I think Noah Taylor and Chris Collins have done a great job with that, Myles Murphy. There’s a lot of guys down there in the interior. And I’m going to tell you, Gio Biggers has done a great job in the secondary as we’re trying to tie things together and really get the communication elements that we need.

“Really happy with that, because t’s going to take a village to lead, right? So we try to get more than one, and right now we’re working in that direction, and we need to continue to do that.”

Q: You mentioned Noah and Chris Collins, can you tell us exactly what the Jack position does since it’s new to UNC fans?

CHIZIK: “It’s basically an edge rusher who’s got the ability to drop and be a coverage guy as well. But his main job is to set the edges of the defense, meaning nothing gets outside of him. One job description on the run is setting the edge of the defense and get the ball turned back inside, and then when it’s time to rush the passer, we’ve got to get some islands out of these pass rushers.

“We put a premium, since the day I got here, on being able to affect the passer on a four-man pass rush. We’re not gong to live in the pressure world to try to bring a guy down. We have really big, athletic, good frames up front, and we’ve got to let those big guys work.

“So, jack is part of that front four, and the importance of generating a four-man pass rush.”

Q: We talked to Chris (Collins) the two days ago, and how has he progressed, what do you see out of him?

CHIZIK: “Great. He’s so smart he could coach this whole defense right now, it’s amazing. Just a coach on the field, really, really smart, great run stopper, really getting better on his pass-rush stuff. I’m just really proud of him, I think he’s really, really done well. He’s another guy that gets it, and he’s great for our defense and great for our room.”

Q: When you were thinking about coming back into coaching, has anything about your coaching style from before changed, is there anything you junked because maybe it doesn’t work now?

CHIZIK: “No, I’ve done it the same way for 30-something years, and I’m not changing. I’ve been blessed with a lot of really good players, and been blessed to have a lot of really good defenses. So, it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

“If somebody said, ‘What’s your personal style?’ My style is authentic. I am who I am, and I’m not changing. Players know that, everybody knows that. I don’t feel like if I had to reflect on that, yet I had to reflect on some things Xs and Os-wise that we might need to recalibrate, absolutely, and we’ve done that. As far as my personal coaching style, no.”

Q: Xs and Os-wise, what are some of the differences since coming back?

CHIZIK: “We’re doing a lot of the same things, it’s just that we’ve expanded the flexibility of the defense to be able to do some other things, because this day and age, the game even from six years ago, five years ago, has changed. It’s so much of an RPO (read, pass, option) world and things of that nature that was just coming in there a good bit, and we definitely had to play it. But now, you play our offense and you’re playing it a lot.

“A lot of guys are playing it a lot, in this league. So, more geared toward adjusting and adapting what offenses are giving you now in terms of any wholesale change.”

Q: Another element of your style that some of the guys have talked about, is that when you first walked into a defensive meeting, you said “feel the floor, eyes straight ahead” and it’s a constant and brought immediate respect for you. Where does that come from in your history, and how do you see a difference with a group that maybe didn’t have that before and adapting to your style being so different?

CHIZIK: “I just told them, ‘It’s a hard game, and to be great at the game, you have to focus. Everything is about respect – it’s not about respecting me, it’s about respecting the game, it’s about respecting the process, it’s respecting the things that you have to do to be great. When we start meetings, I want everybody focused, I want everybody intent, I want ready and giving me body posture that says, ‘I’m ready to learn.’

“It’s like anything. I tell them, ‘If you come into my office and you want to talk with me, and my eyes are on the ground and my head’s down and I’m kicking the back of my chair, the non-verbal is I really don’t care what you’re saying to me. So, that’s not okay, it’s disrespectful.”

“We talk about respecting everybody, right, respecting the game, respecting the process, respecting everything that we’re trying to do. So, it’s not trying to be militant, it’s trying to get them to understand if you want to be great at something, there’s got to be great intent. And that’s how we start every meeting every day.”

Q: Earlier in the summer, you talked about removing the gray from the defense, do you think having improved leadership go hand-in-hand?

CHIZIK: “Yes, they do. They really do. I think our have been great; they’re great sounding boards. I listen the players, I listen to the players. ‘What do you understand, what do you not understand? I need to teach you, our jobs are to teach you, we have to remove the gray. What do you not understand?’ That’s how we communicate.

“And so, removing the gray is huge because the leaders of the defense will come up to me immediately and say, ‘We’re not real clear on this, we’re not real clear on that.’ We need to clear it up, right? So, I think they all intertwine and mix together.”

Q: Mack has said a few times recently this might be the best staff he’s assembled in his career and that it has great chemistry. What does great chemistry on a coaching staff look like to you?

CHIZIK: “It looks like everybody is aligned. When you say anything; I’ve owned businesses before, and everything’s gotta be aligned. From Coach Brown, from (Director of Athletics) Bubba (Cunningham) on down, everything’s about alignment. When staffs are aligned, that means that everybody is trying to do the best thing for the team. It’s not about, ‘I want my position to be great.

“Yeah, you want your to be great, but what do I have to do in practice working offense against defense? (Offensive coordinator) Phil (Longo), what do you need, Gene what do you need? What can we give you? Phil, I don’t need to see that today, can you back off on that? Gene, that’s a little bit too much for me today, can you hold off on that?

“That’s working together, right? That’s what everything’s about. When you’re aligned and everybody is in one direction now and all they care about is the best thing for the team and winning, then you’re aligned. So, I think that’s what Mack was probably referring to, is I feel like we have great alignment right now.”

Q: How much of the UNC defense from last season did you watch once you got this job? And does that even matter?

CHIZIK: “It does matter. It doesn’t matter about scheme, but it matters about effort, it matters about body language when things weren’t good, it matters about how you tackle in space, it matters about how we executed, techniques, a lot of techniques will carry over. Coverages are coverages, right?

“There was a lot of film watching because we had to find out, talking techniques and fundamentals, what are we not good at? How do I work them when I don’t know what we’re not good at? That’s kind of where we started, so yes, we’ve watched a ton of film.”

Q: Was that the starting point for you and your process?

CHIZIK: “It was absolutely the starting point. Absolutely. It matters who plays hard, it matters who loves the game, it matters when it comes to correcting issues that you see, not just with individuals, but as a scheme and a team. We certainly spent a lot of time on that.”

Q: What are some of the goals you have for the guys over the next 10 days of camp?

CHIZIK: “We have to improve every day. It’s the compound effect. So, I will tell you about the compound effect before I even tell them: It’s doing small, little, seemingly insignificant things every day, and you wake up one day and it’s amazing. So, if you take a penny ad you double I every day for 30 days, you’re over $5 million. That would be the analogy. A penny doesn’t seem like much, in 10 or 15 days, you’ve got about four grand. But after 30 days, you’ve got $5 million. So, that’s the compound effect. I just taught you guys something.

“That’s how we feel, every day small seemingly insignificant things every day can help you be a better player.”

Q: Is it hard not to compare yourself right now to when you came into Carolina seven years ago your first time?

CHIZIK: “Absolutely not. That is so in the distance, that has nothing to do with anything. I don’t think about that. This is new guys, this is a new group, this is a new challenge, new exciting move for me. That’s a distant memory. I loved every minute of it, I loved the kids we coached, but that never comes into my mind.”

Q: Cedric Gray said he loves the message you gave early on saying, ‘I want you guys to be good at five things and not okay at 15.’ Do you think that kind of relieves some of the pressure not having to have a broad scope of stuff and can narrow down their focus and know wat their job is every time the ball is snapped?

CHIZIK: “Yes. That’s what creates good defense, right? Indecision creates bad defense. Bad communication because you’re not sure what’s going on because you have too much in there, that creates bad defense. And it doesn’t allow you to be in positions to tackle and make plays.

“We talk about searching for inches all around us. When you see a guy miss a tackle because he has only one arm out, if he were to change that by moving over this far (hands gestured several feet) because he understood where he needed to be, then that tackle might be a four-yard gain instead of a 40-yard gain.

“So, there’s inches all around us that we’re trying to find, and that’s a daily challenge.”

Q: We hear every preseason the defensive line is two-deep, three-deep, that it’s always got a lot of hype. It does seem like on the DL you guys have the bodies, how good do you think this defensive line can be and what do you like out of them so far?

CHIZIK: “I think they can be as good as they want to be. I think they have a lot of talent, they have big frames. I think that they’ll just keep pressing and learning not being okay with being okay. They have a chance to be real good. There’s some great leaders being developed down there. But it’s all about out-working the opponent.

“We’ve talked about pass rush, if you want to be great pass rushers, you’ve got to out-work the protector. Those are the things we’re always talking to the guys about. I think they’ve got a chance to be really, really good. They should be the focal point, the starting point of this defense. If we get them to play right, they will be. But I think they can be as good as they want to be.”

Q: What players jump out to you?

CHIZIK: “Oh, there’s a bunch. Myles (Murphy) has done great, Des (Evans) has done great, KJ (Kevin Hester), the outside guys. This is the first time I’ve coach Ruck (Kaimon Rucker), Ruck’s been hurt, and he’s been great. Chris you’ve got to include in that group. I’m probably leaving somebody out mistakenly, I know they’ll probably be mad at me watching this. I’m proud of a lot of them.”

Q: KBJ (Kedrick Bingley-Jones) has been hurt the whole time here, is he healthy an looking food?

CHIZIK: “He’s healthy, and it’s been baby steps and he’s really been growing. There’s no question in my mind he can be a good player and will help us. He needs to keep coming on. He’s got a chance.”

Q: How do you deploy those guys on the d-line? Is it play one group for 10 snaps and then the next group? Some sort of plan?

CHIZIK: “There has to be a plan. Every week, (DL) Coach (Tim) Cross and I will sit down and formulate a plan. What does it look like? So, I don’t want to get done with a game and one of our defensive linemen played 80 plays. That’s on us. That should never happen. We want to have the right amount of plays designated for each guy, plus or minus three of four plays. We track it, we track every game, we call it the ‘pitch count.’

“It’s a pitch count, and starting with those d-linemen man, the game is so hard for those guys because everything is so east and west, and they’re running and running and running. What we like to say is, ‘No matter what happens in the second series, boom, you go. No matter what happens in the third series, you go. Oh, the ball’s on the five (yard line) going in, it doesn’t matter, y’all go.’

“That’s called you’re with the ones. We believe in you. You’re a starter. There’s only four positions to start, so we’d like to have eight and we’d like to have ten to be able to say it doesn’t matter where the ball is on the field, ‘We need you now.’ That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Q: How are Dae Dae Hollins and Ja’Qurious Conley coming in their recoveries?

CHIZIK: “I think Dae Dae’s making progress. It’s baby steps. JQ, we’re still kind of bringing him along. He hasn’t done a lot in camp. He’s in all the meetings and learning and paying attention to what’s going on. But as far as the physical stuff, he hasn’t done a whole lot.

“But I think Dae Dae, we’re watching him. We can’t be dumb-tough with him and push him in there and make him do something he’s not ready for, but to me he’s gotten better every day in terms of feeling more confident – everything’s about confidence – being more confident in that injury.”

Q: Is he going to be ready for the Florida A&M game?

CHIZIK: “We fully expect him to play in the Florida A&M game.”

Q: Mack said the other day there won’t be any holding back as far as what is thrown at quarterbacks Drake Maye and Jacolby Criswell as they battle for the QB1 job. Can you assess what you’ve seen from your quarterbacks so far?

CHIZIK: “To be honest with you, we’re just trying to install our side. They’ve done a great job, the quarterbacks have been unbelievable, they’re putting the balls in unbelievably small windows we can’t even get to. And I love to see that, we need a great quarterback; we’ll have a great quarterback. But we don’t really do anything defensively based on what the quarterbacks can handle.

“And Phil and I think we’re on the same page, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this today, are you good with that, are you ready for that? We need to see it, probably not ready for it, (but) we need to see it anyway.’ Those are the things the quarterbacks are getting exposed to. But we’re trying to install at our own pace and not based on what they’re ready for.”

Q: What do you like about how Charlton Warren coaches the defense and goes about his job?

CHIZIK: “Structure. There’s no gray with this dude. He is a phenomenal teacher, he is as structured and to the point as you can be, but he’s really, really good with the players. He’s not going to bend on certain things, this is the way it’s going to be done, this is the way we do it. He’s a phenomenal teacher and coach, and he holds them accountable. That’s the thing back there (secondary), you don’t hold guys accountable right now, you’re going to see a lot of bombs, a lot of balls over your head.

“So we hold those guys accountable, he holds those guys accountable, does a great job of teaching them all of the intricacies of coverages. He’s one of the smartest young coaches out there.”