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THI TV: Phil Longo Summer Presser & Notes

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 QB coach and offensive coordinator Phil Longo had to say during his 13-minute Q&A session with the assembled media.

Above is the full video of Longo’s 16-minute presser, and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:


*Carolina has a quarterback competition going on, and it may last awhile. UNC Coach Mack Brown reiterated Wednesday they will play two QBs if necessary, and he’s comfortable with both Drake Maye and Jacolby Criswell. So in the eyes of Longo, where are they at this time?

“What I’m happy about right now is the leadership role that Jacolby and Drake are taking with all of our guys,” Longo said. “They throw a lot on their own a lot. They address different issues that they have, passing game with the receivers, working with all the footwork meshing with the RBs. But they are doing a lot of their stuff on their own.

"They have taken a greater leadership role with the team in particular the offensive side of the ball.”

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*An issue Longo and Brown have been quite vocal about the last few months regards the importance of quarterbacks getting rid of the ball quickly, perhaps quicker than they had the last couple of seasons. Of course, that is when Sam Howell was running the offense, but a knock on him was he held onto the ball too long.

Maye and Criswell could work on that during spring practice with live defenses, even if not live contact. But how can they improve in that area in the late spring and summer when defenses aren’t live?

“We are kind of policing them right now. And they are policing each other when we are not around,” Longo said. “We did this all spring in terms of getting rid of the ball. Getting rid of the football, saying we are getting rid of the football is easy to say but you got to go do it. The reason we are addressing it is because there are times in the past, we felt like that at our quarterback position we held the football.

“There are times in the past, we felt like receivers should have done a better job at getting open because the strike point was there. There are times that we felt that we didn’t protect well and that includes not just the o-line although it meant them. It also included tight ends and running backs. So, all of that has to get better for us to trigger the ball.

“But at the quarterback position, the way we get rid of the ball quicker is to make better and faster decisions. That is where all these reps they get play into us being able to trigger the ball faster and take stress off the o-line, running backs, and the tight ends in the physical aspect of protection.”

Longo said the use of skelly is good for them as they time everything to make sure they trigger the football so the play will be successful.


*UNC had six scholarship wide receivers available in the spring, and now have eight with freshmen Andre Greene and Tychaun Chapman now on campus. While it isn’t ideal, the staff is managing because they measure the players’ work and are keen to not overdoing it with them. They also have five walk-ons that get plenty of reps to satisfy the workload needs of the quarterbacks.

“What we do through Hess and the GPS system that we have is try to monitor their mileage,” Longo said. “That we are not putting any more miles on their legs, so we are fresh on Saturday. When you don’t have 16 or 18 guys, you have to monitor that mileage better. The key is to one stay healthy and two let’s get the work that needs to get done. We may not throw 3 or 4 deeps in a row.

“We may throw it deep, then throw short, and then we’re going to run the football. I may spread it out, so we are not rolling through a bunch of long mileage plays for our guys. We’re also monitoring GPS if they max out where we want them in a day. We might pull them back and take them out.”


*Brown described senior WR Antoine Green as “elite” at the end of spring practice. He ended up with 31 receptions for 612 yards and five touchdowns last season, doing much of his damage after the mid-point of the season. Yet, Green is being overlooked by many in the media and fans, which isn’t a big deal to Longo.

“I always think it’s a good position to be in when you are not the one everyone is looking at,” he said. “I think he is poised in what may be his last year. He is stronger than I’ve ever seen him. But more importantly he is more confident than I’ve ever seen him. Same athlete, same weapon, same physicality, and speed without confidence is a completely different player than a guy with confidence.

“He looks like a guy that believes he owns the field right now and that is how he practices. That is how he is leading in the receiver room. I’m really excited to watch him take the field in August this year.”

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