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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday to discuss some things from the Tar Heels’ win over Wofford this past weekend, and to look ahead to the final game of the regular season Friday at rival NC State.
UNC and State kick at 7 PM and the game will air on ESPN.
Above is the full video from Brown’s presser and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*Tough news for the Tar Heels announced Monday morning that sophomore safety/nickel Ja’Qurious Conley is out for the season with a lower body injury. A starter since the Notre Dame game last season, Conley is fourth on the team with 46 tackles, he has two interceptions and a fumble recovery. He was injured returning the opening kickoff Saturday in a 34-14 victory over FCS member Wofford.
“I’m really disappointed for Ja’Qurious Conley that he will not get to finish the season,” Brown said. “That’s three defensive backs with Don Chapman and Dae Dae Hollins, and now Ja’Qurious out for the year. We’ve had tough luck with our defensive backs. We’ll be thin going into Raleigh on Friday night.”
*With the win over the Terriers, the Tar Heels are now 6-5 overall on the season, therefore they qualified for a bowl game for the third consecutive season. Carolina did not play in the postseason in 2017 or 2018 before Brown was hired three years ago.
“We became bowl eligible for the third straight time, and I think that’s the first time since 2016 (2014-16),” Brown said. “So, proud of these guys. The seniors go from no bowl games for two years in a row before we got here to three straight.”
*Players of the Game for UNC versus Wofford:
-Offense: British Brooks (seven carries, 89 yards, 2 TDs).
“A real story on offense, British Brooks,” Brown said. “A guy that walks on, fights to get on a few special teams, then becomes special teams captain, and then becomes the offensive player of the game with his 89 yards. He actually averaged 12.7 yards per carry.
“So good for British, really proud for him. And he represents all those young guys that were overlooked and didn’t have a chance, and he made it work for himself. And somebody better hire that young man, because he’s a special young guy and we will miss him.”
-Defense: Jeremiah Gemmel (5 tackles, one TFL)
-Special teams: Grayson Atkins (2-for-2 on field goals, and 4-for-4 on PATs)
*Brown was still not pleased with his team getting stopped in a goal line situation by the now-1-10 Terriers, failing on a fourth-and-goal from the Wofford 1-yard-line.
“(I’m) really disappointed on fourth-and-1,” Brown said. “It was our second team, but that’s gotta be a culture change. We’ve got to get tougher. You can’t get stopped on the goal line for fourth-and-1. That’s an alley fight. You’ve got to get in the end zone.
“Even though it was second-team guys, second-team guys have to play. They may be playing next year. That was the most disappointing thing of the second half.”
*Graduate running back Ty Chandler reached the 1,000-yard rushing mark Saturday for the first time in his career. Chandler played four seasons at Tennessee before transferring to UNC, and as a Volunteer he ran for 305, 630, 655, and 456 yards, respectively, through his four campaigns.
With one regular season game remaining, Chandler has 1,004 yards on 167 carries, which is an average of 6.0 per attempt, and has scored 13 rushing TDs. For his college career, Chandler has run for 3,050 yards and 26 TDs. He has also caught 71 passes for 673 yards and four TDs. He is 273 total yards from reaching 4,000 for his career.
“(It was) the goal we had for him when we took him as the only grad transfer,” Brown said. “He’s sure been worth it. I’m really proud of him. He went over 3,000 yards for his career – at Tennessee and here. So, Ty will go down as one of the great backs in our history with a thousand yards, and we’ve actually had four backs get over 1,000 yards the last three seasons.”
*Junior quarterback Sam Howell did not play versus Wofford, but he was back on the practice field Monday, and according to Brown, Howell “looked great.” Brown was later asked about Howell’s readiness for this week, as he sat out of the Wofford game nursing an upper body injury. The head coach didn’t want to go into any specifics, but he did acknowledge that Howell only took reps with the first team.
And the importance of having Howell play Friday night against Carolina’s biggest football rival?
“I can’t talk about players’ injuries, but he looked really good this morning,” Brown said. “I can say that. And he has never taken snaps with anybody except the first team since he’s been here, after the first spring, to be fair.”
*Carolina’s game at State on Friday is the Tar Heels’ fourth against ranked opponents in their last five games, the third of which is on the road. UNC fell at Notre Dame and Pittsburgh but beat Wake Forest. Brown says this is one of the toughest stretches any of his teams have ever faced.
“It’s probably the hardest stretch of a schedule that I’ve had,” Brown said. “I think one time at Texas we had a stretch like this when we were number one in the country and got beat at (Texas) Tech with three seconds left.
“But you’ve got to give these guys credit. Like Pitt, like Wake, like Notre Dame, it’s really, really a tough game for us, and on the road. And for us to get where we want to go, we’ve got to start winning on the road.”
*So, what do the Tar Heels have to play for this Friday? It still has the mythical state championship in play, and if they defeat the Wolfpack would make them 3-0 versus Duke, State, and Wake Forest. Carolina was 3-0 against the in-state foes a year ago, too. But what else does UNC have to play for this week, what other motivational tools will Brown use going into this contest?
“It’s a good question, and there’s 106 of them,” Carolina’s coach replied. “Each player kind of creates the edge on his own. I always loved the rival games. I love this weekend in college football because the fans are so stirred up, the fans don’t like each other. The NC State fans will be great Friday night…
“You go to NC State and play, and their fan base is very rabid, they love their team, they’re playing well. So that’ll be fun. That’ll be a great challenge for us.
“So more than anything else, I always talk to our team about getting better. You’ve been close on the road at Pitt. We should have won but we didn’t. And we’ve got to win that game at Pitt to end up being where we want to go. We had chances at Notre Dame in the fourth quarter but we gave up some big plays and couldn’t finish.
“For us to get where we need to go, we’ve gone from awful to good, (and) for us to get to great we’ve got to win on the road against good teams. So, my motivation for this team is, number one, it’s a huge rival game for our university and our fans, so understand that…
“Number two, let’s get better. We’re middle of the road. We had expectations that were higher than we are good… You can upgrade the type of bowl we go to by winning this weekend, and we need to get better.”
