North Carolina co-defensive coordinator and ILB coach Tommy Thigpen met with the media on a virtual press conference Monday afternoon to discuss the Tar Heels’ linebackers and recruiting.

Here are some nuggets from what Thigpen had to say:

*He discussed how Mack Brown is the same and a bit different from when Thigpen played for him at UNC in the early 1990s. He said Brown cares about the players beyond football, a message he got when he was recruiting and a message kinds being courted now hear.

*Said Brown was a great speaker before working five years at ESPN but is even better now. Thigpen also said Brown’s organization is a huge attribute.

*Thigpen says he has just six kids on scholarship at the position he coaches but raved about Eugene Asante and Khadry Jackson as backups behind Jeremiah Gemmel and Chazz Surratt. He said one thing that helped Gemmel and Surratt grow so much and so quickly last season was how smart they are. Called Surratt “cerebral.”

*He said the Tar Heels were playing as well as anyone in the country on defense in the N.C. State and Temple games.

*Thigpen said recruiting has changed a lot so he’s had to change with it. Coaches used to be able to get the player if they won over the parents, but now with the proliferation of social media and how kids recruiting one another, that doesn’t work as much as it used to.

*Another thing Thigpen said he’s learned over time is when to cut bait with a recruit. He’s much better at reading them now so he doesn’t waste time recruiting someone that isn’t going to his school.

*The biggest challenge caused by the shutdown is not being able to see kids face to face, either at UNC or in their own schools. It hasn’t been as big a deal with the class of 2021 because the staff has already met those kids, seen them play in person and had established relationships, but they haven’t seen the 2022 and 2023 kids as much or in many cases at all. Plus, a higher percentage of top targets are out of state, as the class of 2021 is loaded in North Carolina.

*Thigpen has learned during the shutdown, or rather it’s been reinforced, is that the key to recruiting is still communication. He’s spent more time talking to kids and their families and the value of that in building relationships has been hammered home once again.