Tuesday Defensive Report: Hester & Gray

**************************************************************************************

Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!

***************************************************************************************

CHAPEL HILL – With North Carolina preparing to host Pittsburgh on Saturday at Kenan Stadium, a couple of defensive Tar Heels were available Tuesday evening for the weekly players interviews to discuss themselves, their units, the team, and getting ready for the Panthers.

UNC, which is ranked No. 21 in the nation this week, is 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC. Pitt is 4-3 and 1-2.

Below are videos of Q&A sessions with defensive tackle Kevin Hester and linebacker Cedric Gray as well as some notes and pulled quotes from what they had to say:

Among the things Hester was asked about included his increased playing time with Ray Vohasek out for the season, how the defensive front is adapting to Vohasek being out, Hester’s job eating blockers, last year’s game at Pitt, the team dealing with success and being ranked, and more.

*Hester has played 203 snaps this season, but 88 have come in the last two games with Vohasek out, including 52 in the win at Duke. He was a bit surprised afterward to learn he played so much in the game.

“At the time, it didn’t feel like 52 snaps,” Hester said, chuckling. “(Defensive line) Coach (Tim Cross) told me at practice, and I’m like, ‘Fifty-two? That’s crazy.’ It felt good. It felt like I adjusted to it well, it didn’t feel like 52 snaps.”

Hester didn’t realize he had played that much as the game was going on, but did he feel a little different afterward? After all, his career high was 36 a week earlier at Miami, and before that it was 31 last season at Pittsburgh. The high for this season prior to Vohasek going down was 28.

“Yeah, after the game, yeah, I felt it,” he said, smiling. “But during the game, ain’t feel it at all.”

*UNC defensive coordinator praised Vohasek on Monday for not just whatever stats he accumulated, but his ability to take on multiple blockers freeing up a teammate was one of his best attributes. This is something Hester is doing better and better.

“Being big is one thing, but taking on multiple blockers is more of a mental game, honestly,” Hester said. “Everyone is big, everyone is strong, everyone is physical, but if you’re mentally strong, you’ll be able to do it.”

So, while engaging with two blockers, what is an intangible to maintaining that engagement?

“When you take on multiple guys, it’s a team sport, so if I’m taking on two guys, ‘okay, cool,’” he explained. “I know (linebackers) Ced (Gray) and Power (Echols) are behind me and can make the tackle… I’ll take up as many guys as I need to make sure my guys eat.”

Hester said Travis Shaw and Keeshawn Silver will get increased playing time with Vohasek out.

*Regarding Pitt, Hester says its offensive line stands out.

“Their o-line is solid and physical, an experienced o-line,” he said. “Stopping the run is going to be big in this game. They’ve got great backs. I’m looking forward to that; great challenge for our d-line.”

Gray spoke about the mood shift on the team that is helping them handle being ranked and accolades more than last season, lessons learned from the last two years being ranked highly. Pitt’s running game, Panthers’ star RB Israel Abanikanda, and he was asked several questions about his game, including his cerebral approach.

*UNC RB Elijah Green said Tuesday there has been a big “mood shift” on the team from last season, and that’s why he thinks the Tar Heels will handle being ranked much better than last year’s team did. UNC Coach Mack Brown said Monday somewhat the same thing. Gray agrees.

“There’s been a whole mood shift an attitude of this team this year,” Gray said. “It’s started from the ground up, and is honestly why you’ve seen a better team this year all around. But one thing I will say, and I’ve said this before, too, is this team is resilient.

“No matter the situation – good, bad, or indifferent – we’re just going to keep going. So, it’s nice to have all these accolades coming in for us midway through the season, but we all understand there’s a bigger picture, a bigger goal to accomplish down the road.”

One thing helping the Heels is that they have direct recent example to learn from on how not to handle those moments. Twi years ago, they climbed to No. 5 in the rankings but were handled at Florida State in a poor performance, and last year they opened the season at No. 10 and didn’t play well in a loss at Virginia Tech.

So, with that knowledge and understanding, Gray says this team should avoid the same fate.

“Those are definitely lessons learned, and those are feelings that you will never forget as a player,” Gray said. “And as a player, you kind of talk about (it) and use that as fuel in the offseason. We don’t want to feel like this anymore in the coming season. I definitely think that we learned from those two losses.”

*Pitt RB Israel Abanikanda is fourth nationally in rushing and leads the nation in all-purpose yards. He is a load, and dealing with him will be the defense’s primary challenge this weekend.

“I saw that he had over 300 yards versus Virginia Tech, so (he’s) a very, very talented running system that they’ve got going there, in particular running back number two (Abanikanda)… He has great vision, great speed, and great footwork. He seems like a pretty twitchy fast kind of guy.”

*UNC DC Gene Chizik said Monday that Gray can talk the game with him at a very high level, and that he just sees things most other college players don’t. So, as a college student, Gray understands some classes come easy to some students, while others don’t. Does the class of football come easily to Gray?

“I would say so it definitely comes easier for me than others,” Gray said.

He has known football his entire life, so he just sees and feels the game.

“I’ve been playing football since I was like four or five years old, when you’ve been playing that long, you pick up on things some people didn’t pick up on or it takes them a little bit longer.”