CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina inside linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Tommy Thigpen met with the media via zoom following Friday’s practice, which was the Tar Heels’ eighth of fall camp, to field questions about his group and that side of the ball.
Thigpen discussed reserve inside linebackers Cedric Gray, RaRa Dillworth, and Power Echols, how the increased depth and quality up front can help his group, who on defense has stood out to him the most during camp despite the position they play, and even about running back Ty Chandler, whom Thigpen helped recruit to Tennessee several years ago and then again to UNC last January.
Above is the full video of Thigpen’s Q&A session and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*Senior inside linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel is the clear leader of UNC’s defense and has become a coach on the field for the Tar Heels. He even says he usually knows what defensive coordinator Jay Bateman is going to call before each snap prior to the call being signaled in to the players.
Thigpen was a cerebral player during his time at Carolina, as well, so what are his thoughts overall about Gemmel as a leader, smart guy in the room, and the other intangibles he brings to the position and team?
“He’s turned himself into an alpha make,” Thigpen said. “He’s leading, not just my position, but everybody else, too. I see him and (quarterback) Sam (Howell) talking a whole lot of schematics lately, and they’re all starting to meet as leaders in pulling this team together.
“He’s really just one of those guys that when he’s on the field everybody’s got a great comfort level. He’s probably one of the best communicators we’ve got on the football field. He sees the game as a coach sees it. Very rarely can you get him twice on some type of schematic. He’s a problem solver on the football field…
“Jeremiah’s the guy on the field that can make adjustments and see if a three technique was breached or if a shade got doubled and knocked back, he can fix those issues on the football field.
“For the young guys, it’s been a really good blessing and been really good for guys like Cedric Gray, (an) older linebacker we’re really looking to stepping up their games. He (Gemmel) sets a precedent, and guys are starting to try to live up to his standard.”
*Cedric Gray played just six snaps on defense last season, but he did see a bit more action on special teams. Yet, now he finds himself as the third most experienced inside linebacker on the team, though his toughness, speed, and smarts are helping him get to where he can be trusted on the field in important situations.
“He’s gotten a lot bigger,” Thigpen said about the 6-foot-2, 225-pound sophomore from Charlotte. “He’s probably our biggest linebacker we’ve got and just as athletic as the rest of them. Everybody knows RaRa and his speed, but probably the second fastest guy would probably be Cedric Gray.
“He’s long. He’s 6-2-and-a-half, probably 225 pounds, and as cerebral as they come. That’s kind of the linebacker’s creed here; we like to look at ourselves as tough and smart. And he’s probably the one guy on the football field that’s one of the more valuable guys for us just because he can play that Mike position and do all the communication. And then he has the smarts if we need to have him go over and wheelin’ and relieve Eugene for a couple of spells, he’s articulate enough and smart enough to go over there and play that position as well.
“He’s been a great surprise. If you ask our guys on the football team who’s one of our toughest guys, he would probably be one of the top five guys. But now he’s starting to be like a Jeremiah Gemmel, who sets the standard. He’s starting to be that same kind of guy and communicator where he can get guys lined up and he also has that commanding force.”
*The Tar Heels have had full pads and full contact for the last three practices, and that is when some guys start separating and standing out the most. So who is one player on the defensive side of the ball who has absolutely popped out to Thigpen?
“The guy that just keeps capturing my attention is Desmond Evans,” Thigpen said. “Him with his length and strength now, it’s truly remarkable. Just watching him how he fits on tight ends and how physical he’s gotten in one season I can’t wait to watch him play. That’s probably the one kid I really look forward to, especially with tight ends trying to block him, offensive linemen trying to block him.
“He is long and he is strong, now. Our guys, when we watch tape, that’s the number one guy we look at… Can a tight end really block him? It’s going to be something because we think we have a premiere guy in Desmond, and I think that Desmond can really give us something that we haven’t seen here in a long time.”
*Thigpen was at Tennessee when Ty Chandler went there. In fact he played a role in Chandler ending up in Knoxville. What was his role in Chandler transferring to UNC once the NCAA gave players last year back?
“I’m good friends with his mom and day, Chico and Trina,” Thigpen replied. “So I recruited him to Tennessee. When we found out that he was going to go into the portal, when he said he wanted to go one more year, his family trusted us.
“Robert Gillespie had a very good relationship with him at Tennessee, I was the one that recruited him at Tennessee to get him there, and he needed one more year. He felt like he needed one more season to shine. He didn’t want to be a free agent. He said he looked at our offense – he knew he had great ball skills, he knew he is a team guy, a hard working kid – and he just wanted an opportunity.
“And talking to his family, his mom and dad thought, ‘Why go free agent at Tennessee and take a chance when I can go over here at Carolina and be the featured guy?’ He saw the success of our two guys had last year with (Javonte) Williams and… with Michael (Carter), he saw the success those guys had, and he saw himself coming in here and being able to contribute and get himself noticed, especially on the national scene.”
