CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina’s football program held its summer press conference on Wednesday at the Kenan Football Center in which every assistant coach and 13 players were made available to the media.
As we roll through each interview, here is what defensive coordinator Gene Chizik had to say during his 13-minute Q&A session with the assembled media.
Above is the full video of Chizik’s 20-minute presser, and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
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*Chizik was pleased in April about the progress the defense made during spring practice, but that was just one big step forward when several are needed by the start of the season Aug. 27. The summer, June and July, are important in getting to where the unit is close to simply hitting the ground by the start of fall camp on July 29.
The gray area in the players learning the new, more simplified defensive approach, is simply part of the process. But the message is the same regardless.
“It’s really about consistency, right,” Chizik said, asking rhetorically. “We talk to them all the time about great teachers and great coaches that just have the ability to remove the gray. So, really that’s what we are focusing on this summer.
“You know going back to the spring practice looking at the things we did and their jobs as players is to ask the questions to remove the gray. Let us know when they are unclear on something and our jobs as coaches is to be able to deliver the information so they can remove the gray. So, removing the gray for me is always about consistency.”
*Communication was often an issue on defense last season, so cleaning that up has been one of the missions since Chizik was hired in January. Part of the process is the simplification of the scheme, Chizik says. But there is more.
“It’s really been great, to be honest with you” Chizik said. “And that is the lion’s share, it’s like anything, when there’s communication breakdowns with anything, you’re not going to be very good. I think that they’re continuing to improve the more they understand the scheme and going back over things and looking at what they weren’t good at in the spring and when why weren’t we good.
“Usually, it comes down to communication of some sort. So, the communication’s gotten better. It’s an on-going evolving process, but the kids are all in.”
*Junior linebacker Cedric Gray didn’t start the first two games of last season, but once he got an opportunity in a win over Virginia, his game took off. He has become vocal around the team and a leader. What has Chizik seen from the Charlotte native and what is next for him as he continues developing?
“Cedric Gray’s leadership ability and his leadership skills has been valuable to our team at this point,” he said. “He is getting better at the linebacker position. What we are talking to Cedric about right now is being able to play with a pad level and physicality that is mandatory if you are going to be great at that position.
“Cedric is really good in space and very athletic. He can run, but I think to take his game to the next level, he’s got to be a box player that can keep his pads down and start knocking things backwards.”
*Junior defensive tackle Myles Murphy is on a bunch of preseason all-this-and-that teams, and he’s a projected NFL draft pick for next April. Chizik raved about Murphy, offering an interesting take as well.
“We expect him to be a dominant player in the league,” Chizik said. “He certainly has the ability to do it. I think consistency for him will be the key, right? He needs to look like the same player on play fifty as he does on play one. I will be very disappointed if the offensive line coach that we play aren’t always wanting to know where he lines up.
“Whether they send the center his way to block and make sure he has extra guys to block him. We want him to be offended if they don’t do that. He ought to be offended.”
*Chizik was a head coach at a few stops before his first stint as UNC’s defensive coordinator in 2015, with one of his jobs running the Auburn program, where he won a national championship in 2010. He was in TV the last five years, and some people believe he came to UNC to eventually succeed Mack Brown, but Chizik says being a head coach is the last thing on his mind right now.
“I have aspirations right now to be the best fit I can for North Carolina period as the guy that runs the defense,” he said. “I want to be great for North Carolina. I want to be great for Mack Brown. I want to be great for these kids. I have absolutely zero thought about am I going to be a head coach or do I want. That absolutely means nothing to me.
“I’ve done all I can do in that. So, I’m going to make that very clear that it’s not even in my wheelhouse. I’m extremely happy with this position and where I’m at working with people that I’m working with. So, all the other stuff it’s not even part of any discussion or thought for me personally.”
