THI TV: Everything QB Coach & OC Phil Longo Said Friday
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Phil Longo met with the media following the Tar Heels’ seventh practice of fall camp Friday morning.
Longo fielded a lot of questions about the quarterback battle between Jacolby Criswell and Drake Maye, as well as questions about the depth in the running back room, wide receiver, and so much more.
Below is the video of Longo’s Q&A session, as well as the complete transcript of what he had to say:
Q: What has he seen from Drake and Jacolby the last week and is there something both of them have shown you that you wanted to work on in the offseason and they have applied?
LONGO: “Without question. I think both Jacolby and Drake had great springs, so the goal was to clean up some of the technique issues that we had in the spring. They had stuff that they wanted to work on and we expected to see that stuff cleaner, sharper, a lot better than it was in the spring, and they both did that.
“So, we came in pretty clean fundamentally, and that gives us an opportunity now to try to play the game faster with regards to decision making and then when we needed to do some of the athletic things, like run the football or execute the screens. So, right now I think we’re very, very happy with where Jacolby and Drake are.”
Q: A point of emphasis in the spring was getting rid of the ball quickly, and even in Saturday’s practice, you can hear Mack often on the mic reminding them to get rid of the ball quickly. Have they progressed in that area?
LONGO: “They have. He’ll be on that every day, and we’re emphasizing it every day. We have coach (Robert) Everett out there clocking everything, and we time it to make sure that we’re running skelly and we’re throwing the ball, and we’re doing it without an offensive line at the same speed that is going to be realistic as to when we’re in a team setting.
“That’s got to be consistently better. There’s still a couple of plays we’re trying to speed up. But so far with where we are in camp, I’m real happy with their progress.”
Q: Neither Drake or Jacolby have played much in the last three years, so how much is the daily grind of the competition helping keep their edge sharp?
LONGO: “That’s exactly it. The daily grind and the consistency from play to play, they both did really well in the game where they split halves last year, executed well, had a few things to clean up, and played a relatively clean game with good decisions. So, we’d like to see that translate to their play this year.
“And I think overall, they have a very, very good grasp of the system, and the key in the camp here now, is to take what we know on the board and execute it at game speed out here. I’m happy with where we are. We’ve got some work to do, but the progress after seven, eight days, is where we’d like it to be.”
Q: Mack said he’d like to name a starting quarterback a week before the opener, is that a timeline you’re comfortable with, maybe two weeks from now?
LONGO: “I am comfortable with whatever timeline Mack Brown says is good. But we talked about it, and I think he wants our team to know, too. We want to have some continuity with who that guy is. I know the team’s gonna rally around either one of them, and I know the other one is going to be prepared and ready to go when he gets his number called. That’s the plan right now, and we may wind up knowing before that, we may not know until then. We’ll see how it goes. I’m enjoying this competition as much as y’all are.”
Q: There’s more competition than just at quarterback, running back, center, offensive line, do you like the competition or is it exhausting having to go through every single position group battling each day?
LONGO: “I think it’s at a much greater concern at a position or with your team when you go into a season without legitimate competition at every position. I think because of the development of the younger guys, and then the insertion of some of the new guys, we have more depth at receiver and a lot more competition at receiver.
“We’ve got six guys in the running back room; I can’t remember when we’ve had as many guys in the running back room that are creating a little bit of mystery with regards to who’s going to be in that rotation of two or three backs that we want to use in the offense.
“The good thing is, at center we’ve got the same thing, as you mentioned, and a couple of other positions on the offensive line, I think where we feel the most comfortable, and we have depth, there and we kind of understand our role, is the tight end room. So the competition that’s going on everywhere else is good for us, and the finality to it is whoever winds up taking the field day one, has beaten out some really, really good guys.
“And then also, the other indirect benefit is, when you have depth, you can keep everybody fresh. So, we have three or four running backs that can play, we can keep everybody fresh. Same thing at quarterback, same thing on the o-line, same thing at receiver.”
Q: Who stands out to you in the running back room?
LONGO: “Tell me what day it is. That’s kind of where we are right now. Caleb (Hood) is flashy, he has his moments. D. J. (Jones) has been Mr. Consistency, British (Brooks), we know what we’re getting. Elijah (Green) constantly flashes with his speed that he has, George Pettaway now looks like a guy that’s been through spring ball, so he’s not clueless like he was in the spring, and I mean that in a good way being a rookie and a freshman, and then Omarion Hampton has come in and he’s done some nice things.
“(Running backs) Coach (Larry) Porter has a very difficult job in just getting them all reps so we can evaluate them, and he’s doing a good job of that. We’re putting them in positions where maybe it’s not their strength to see who can handle the entire job at running back, not just carrying the football. You’ve still got to pass protect, still got to catch the ball out of the backfield.
“And so, we’ve got two more weeks to do that, and that’s not a lot of time when you’ve got six. So, we’re competing and we’re going to put them in some positions here and make some decisions very shortly.”
Q: Elijah Green told us the other day he feels like he’s finally caught up to everything that goes with the passing game from receiving, catching, and pass protection. He said he picked up a fire in the spring, and that’s when he realized he had caught up to where he needs to be. Have you seen that from him?
LONGO: “Elijah has had really three things to improve on since he’s been here. Being able to single-cut and chance direction, and not double and triple stick our foot in the ground, and change direction, and he’s gotten better at that. We’re able to stick our foot in the ground now on some of our plays when we’ve got to hit it and go downhill. So that’s gotten better.
“He has, to my recollection, really been out here every single day, either catching on the jugs or running routes and catching it from quarterbacks, because his biggest weakness when he got here was catching the football. The other day in camp, he caught a seam route on a pretty difficult ball and he looked pretty seamless doing it. So, it’s nice to see all that work start to translate into his play.
“As for the blitz pick-up stuff, I think being physical in pass pro wasn’t his strength when he got here. We feel a lot more comfortable with him at this point. I wouldn’t say he’s our best protector but he’s gotten to a point where he’s competent, and if we’ve got to play him we can depend on him in that area of the game.”
Q: D.J. Jones said that he was thinking too much last season about the injuries, and that he wasn’t as loose in his mind so he wasn’t as quick as he needed to be, but that he doesn’t have that problem anymore. Have you seen a difference in his play without having the injuries on his mind?
LONGO: “We have. There’s more consistency, and you get more consistency when you’re not hurt. So he’s been out there every day, and when you get out there every day and you work as hard as he does, there’s improvement.
“I can’t answer to how he felt mentally, but just in general with most athletes, there’s the physical challenge of overcoming the injury. And sometimes with more serious injuries, and I don’t know where his was, but there’s a little bit of that mental challenge to get over it. Some guys just take longer than some others, and he looks like a guy that’s playing free right now. That bodes well for both of us.”
Q: Going back to the QB competition, what stands out about Jacolby and what stands out about Drake?
LONGO: “They don’t look anything alike. They’re different colors, different heights, different shapes, and different personalities. You can't have two quarterbacks that are more different from a perception standpoint. But both of them throw the ball extremely well. Jacolby’s strength, he is an elite arm talent guy. He can make any throw on the field, from any platform, and you are seeing that in his play. He has some mobility, and he has a good understanding of the offense.
“Drake, I probably say this often. Drake has never been given enough credit for his mobility. He was classified as a pro-style quarterback coming out of high school, I don’t really see him that way. I watched him in two playoff games, and his mobility is what makes his plays. And that is lending itself to some of the plays he is making out here.
“He’s made more precision throws in August than he did in the spring; that’s been really fun to watch. The two of them are running the same offense. They excel at some of the same things, even though they are vastly different from an athletic standpoint. It’s a good competition. Coach and I aren’t going to make the decision, one of those guys is going to make the decision by their production.”
Q: Mack recently said this might be the best staff he’s assembled, and he said the chemistry on the staff is very strong with this staff. This is your fourth year, how has the chemistry changed and how would you articulate where it is right now?
LONGO: “It's not that anything was bad before, it's just everything is clicking right now. Gene Chizik and I meet every day, we talk about all the practices, we get input from the staff. There is a lot of input from the staff. Offensively, I can speak to that, we're going on our fourth season with (WR) coach (Lonnie) Galloway and myself. We’re going on our third year with (RB) coach (Larry) Porter and (TE) coach (John) Lily, then I have two years in the book with (OL) coach (Jack) Bicknell from Ole Miss, so we are going into our third season together.
“There's a lot of continuity and a lot of input and a lot of camaraderie in our room right now, that always helps. We want in the staff room the same thing you want on the field with the players, I think we are getting that on both ends.”
Q: Coach Chizik said the other day you guys discuss some things you might throw at each other before practice, has there been a time when they did something that stressed the offense but you like how your guys responded?
LONGO: “There's a tough aspect to practice. We can set up everything defensively and offensively for success all the time, and you can script for success, and that lends to a cleaner practice, and a prettier practice, and a practice from a morale standpoint you are going to feel about after the day is over. Tuesday of a work week going into a game or specific practices in camp, you want to put these guys in really, really bad situations. Because they are going to have to play in those bad situations, and they don’t get better at those adverse situations unless they do it over and over.
“I’ll give you a quick example: Coach Chizik and Coach Warren send pressures in skelly, where they are now covering with three deep and three under, and it's hard to cover the field with six people. Especially, when you are doing some of the things we are doing. And they are depending on the pressure in a team setting, but in skelly they are doing the same thing, and their guys are getting used to different spatial awareness with fewer guys, and we are getting used to feeling some pressures and adjusting some of our routes so we can throw the ball faster. Sitting and talking to him about what he’s doing. What we’re doing as a defense is helpful on both sides, and right now I think it's working as good as it can.”
Q: What jumps out at you about Andre Greene, and do you see him working himself into the rotation fairly early?
LONGO: “It's too early to tell if Andre will make a dent in the lineup, yet. Right now, he is in the rotation. What stands out a little bit about Andre, maybe more so than the typical freshman receiver that comes in, is that Andre is incredibly strong and physically mature for a receiver just coming from high school. I kind of want to check his license to see if he is 23 or 24, but I don’t because I want him to play for four and we are going to do what we have to do.
“He’s really, really physically strong, corners have to deal with him physically different than the normal type freshman. Like Gavin Blackwell came out here, he didn’t get here as physically strong as Andre Greene. Now, Gavin is tearing up the field and he is having a phenomenal August camp, and he is also a part of the equation,
“Andre just has very, very strong hands, very aggressive to the ball. So, the physical strength piece of receiver play is not going to be an issue for him.”