THI TV: Notes, Pulled Quotes & Full Video Of Brown's Tuesday Q&A Session
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media following practice Tuesday morning to provide some updates on where things stand on his team and field questions, as the Tar Heels are 11 days out from their opening game versus Florida A&M on August 27 at Kenan Stadium.
Brown discussed the many position battles that remain ongoing, and that we wrote about in a report earlier Tuesday, as well as noteworthy aspects of his team: British Brooks’ season-ending injury and how he’s handling it; other injury news regarding who has been out (Zach Rice, Storm Duck, etc), who is back, and more; how the staff is working to get such a young team ready for noon starts, night games, and other elements surrounding actual games; the regimen the quarterbacks are going through in their competition; and much more.
Above is the full video of Brown’s 30-minute interview, and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
**************************************************************************************
Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!
***************************************************************************************
*On the injury front, here is the information Brown offered:
---Ohio State transfer sophomore DB Lejond Cavasos “has been out. He’s had a lower body injury, he should be back for the (FAMU) game, but he’s missed a lot of practice.”
---Storm Duck missed the first couple of weeks of practice. And while his absence was a bit of a mystery, and he has been in and out of the lineup since an initial injury almost two years ago, Brown cleared up his situation: “He’s been back and practicing full speed for the last three or four days. He looks fine.”
---Sophomore running back Caleb Hood is the second most experienced player in that room now that British Brooks is out for the season, even though Hood played just 64 snaps last season. But he has missed time, as well: “Caleb Hood’s been out a lot of preseason practice with a lower leg injury. He did practice today, so he’s coming back some, but that did hurt our rotation again with our running backs.”
*Harvard transfer offensive tackle Spencer Rolland has not been injured, but he missed practice Tuesday, and has a schedule that clashes with Carolina’s practice time. Rolland is in UNC’s graduate business school, so perhaps something will be worked out.
“He wasn’t out here today because of class, because graduate school has already started,” Brown said. “He’s been missing one or two practices a week, so we’re still working with him to try to figure out that balance, because we have not had someone in the graduate business school that’s out here for practice every day.
*With the Tar Heels having struggled in night games under Brown, and the opener versus FAMU an 8 PM kickoff, the Heels have practiced a couple of times at night, including a scrimmage over the weekend.
*They will also have a run-through Saturday at noon, since their second and third games are both noon starts. This will be a complete game simulation where the players will have the pre-game meal, and so on.
“We’re trying to get them to be able to at least visualize and feel the mentality that they would have on those game days,” Brown said. “That’s something that we’ve worked really, really hard on.”
*Senior WR Antoine Green was injured more than a week ago, but is expected to return, perhaps as early as the Notre Dame game, Brown reiterated Tuesday. UNC’s coach also spoke about British Brooks, the fifth-year running back who suffered a season-ending injury Saturday night.
“He got an operation yesterday, and he’s going to help us coach,” Brown said about Brooks. “He does have an extra year where he can come back next year if he wants to. We’ve talked to him about that, (but) it’s not a good time to think about it or discuss it for him. He wants to coach, so what he’s going to do is coach our running backs as a student coach.”
*On the quest for quality depth, Brown says he keeps telling the players, “We need blue team guys,” meaning second units behind the starters. Some position groups are more bountiful than others, though. But the push is on.
“At some places, we’re getting that done, at others we’re still short of what we want to be, and we’re working really, really hard to get there,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we’re waiting to do a depth chart, and waiting to get ourselves into who’s going to play.”
*Inside linebacker depth is a clear concern. Cedric Gray led the Tar Heels in tackles last season, and while sophomore Power Echols is entrenched as the other ILB, he only got plenty of snaps in three games last fall, so he still lacks significant experience. Behind them are sophomore Rara Dillworth, who played 33 snaps on defense and 102 on special teams last season, and true freshman Sebastian Cheeks, who arrived in January.
“Can you get three to play, can you get four to play…,” Brown asked, regarding using Dillworth and Cheeks. “Can you just put them in, and are we ready to do that yet?”
*True freshman Will Hardy’s name keeps coming up, and today Brown continued the positives. He also added true freshman cornerback Marcus Allen, as well. Both players are from Georgia.
“Will Hardy may play some,” Brown said. “Marcus Allen’s out running with the twos.”
Brown noted the last two classes that have come in “have been excellent. This last year’s class is amazing how many good players are in that class.”
*The staff hasn’t had to ask players to pick up their energy that often since camp started July 29, as the attitude across the board has been what the staff wants, and certainly better than a year ago. It was an issue for sure at times last season.
“This bunch has really competed, they’ve competed every day, to an obvious point that I asked the staff the other day, and I have my opinion, too, ‘Who did not give us a hundred percent on Saturday night?’
“Because that was a practice at night where they had all day to wait, students were there, a lot of distractions. They had the band there, they had the cheerleaders there, the dance team there, they have the entrance video, they had everything. And the students were unbelievable…
“And really and truly, there were about four guys that didn’t seem as focused. We sat down and talked to them and said, ‘You can’t do that. The message to us is, you’re not passionate about football, it’s not that important to you.’
“But that’s pretty good if you’ve got a whole team and four that you are hoping you get something out of and they may have to be on the white team instead of the blue team. Because really and truly, that was their resume. They’re actually showing us who they are. It’s a practice, we’ve said it’s important. So, ‘If you don’t show up, that means to us there’s some game that you’re not going to show up for. You’re telling us who you are.’”
*Brown recalled his team’s tie with Georgia Tech in 1990 and eventually finishing 6-4-1 that season as a huge positive early in his first tenure at UNC, and about a question legendary UNC play-by-play radio announcer Woody Durham asked after the Tar Heels tied a Yellow Jackets team that won the national championship that season. Durham asked if the team had essentially arrived.
Brown told him they hadn’t, but he knew they would be good and were headed in that direction. He said the same thing Tuesday about where the Heels are at this juncture.
“We’ve got so much inexperience, who knows how they’re going to play,” Brown said. “But they’re talented, and at some point, they’re going to be really good.”