THI TV: Longo On Late-Game Calls, E. Green, Richards, Downs & More

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center for his weekly press conference to discuss more from his team’s win at Virginia over the weekend, field a variety of questions, and look ahead to the Tar Heels’ game Saturday at Wake Forest.

Carolina is coming off a 31-28 win at UVA winning its fifth consecutive game, plus moving its road record to 5-0. Overall, the No. 15 Tar Heels are 8-1, including 5-0 in the ACC.

UNC and Wake Forest (6-3, 2-3) kick off at 7:30 PM at Truist Field.

Above is video of Longo’s presser, and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:

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*When a team becomes one dimensional offensively, moving the ball becomes more difficult because the defense knows what to expect. So, when Longo and company took over at UVA’s 37-yard-line leading by 10 points with 5:52 remaining, he knew running the ball was the safest and most effective way to do so, but, unfortunately for the Tar Heel offense, the Cavaliers knew the same.

“When you are in that scenario from a defensive standpoint, you are going to cut some people loose, and tee off a little bit because they know we don’t want to air the ball out,” said Longo. “We don’t want to put the ball in jeopardy. They are going to take more chances defensively, and commit more people because they are looking for the TFL, or the open hit to create the fumble because they want the ball back…Four minutes (offense) is a tough deal.”

*After setting the school’s single-season record in receptions (101) and receiving yards (1,335) a year ago, it’s needless to say that junior wide receiver Josh Downs has had some big-time games in his Tar Heel career. But, according to Longo, Downs, who has gained 693 receiving yards in seven games, had his most impactful game against the Cavaliers in Charlottesville, and the impact goes beyond his ability to catch the ball.

“It was one of his best (games) in terms of how he impacted the game, '' Longo said. “We asked him to go downtown, he did that, we asked him to catch the intermediate stuff he did a great job. We asked him to catch the balls underneath where we can use his twitch and athleticism. He had a heck of a block on the perimeter when we threw D.J. Jones the swing screen. If he doesn’t make that block it probably doesn’t keep the drive alive on third down…

“He’s just so sudden and can change speeds, Longo said. “He’s really instinctive… He senses people around him and he is so instinctive, he does a really good job of knowing where the grass is, knowing where defenders are.”

*Some route concepts are effective against zone coverage, while some work better with man coverage. When you have a quarterback as savvy as Drake Make, you call route concepts to attack both coverages and let your signal caller make the decision. And that’s exactly what Longo did when Maye connected with Downs in the corner of the end zone to what ended up being the go-ahead touchdown against the Wahoos.

"That’s a unique play that we schemed for this team, '' Longo said. “There’s an aspect to that play that is really what we want to do and where we want to direct the ball if it's zone coverage. And in the event we get man coverage down there we have this match up. And in this particular case the matchup was Josh Downs on a corner route. We got man coverage , it took away the zone design, but the route that was in the play was designed for man, and Josh ran a very good route.”

*Coming out of last spring, UNC Coach Mack Brown boasted about the development of senior left tackle Asim Richards, saying it's the best he’s looked in his Tar Heel career. Nine games into the season, Richards has backed up Brown's words with his play on the field, earning an 81.1 pass blocking grade on PFF.

“He had a decent season last year,” Longo said. “He had some things he needed to get better on. He really worked on those in the spring and came back in the fall, and he’s an even better product right now than he was last year. We feel really comfortable and confident with both tackles.”

*In his third year in the program, and one who's been working to get on the field since he arrived in Chapel Hill, Elijah Green truly understands how fleeting playing time can be at the level of football. Now that the junior running back finally got his number called, he is seizing the opportunity. Greens play on Saturday made it hard for Longo to take him off the field, leaving freshman Omarion Hampton with no snaps against UVA.

“Elijah was hot, '' said Longo. "And when a guy is hot, we are going to let it roll. We kept waiting for him to show some fatigue and get tired and he didn’t get tired. He’s been waiting on this opportunity for a long time, and I think he made sure that he would be tired after the game, but it wasn’t going to be between the whistles.

“As long as he is playing well and protecting well, we are going to play him, but that has nothing to do with what Omarion did.”