CHAPEL HILL – Tuesdays means North Carolina’s football players are made available to the media to field questions about their most recent game, themselves, and look ahead to the coming contest that week.

So, four Tar Heels were available Tuesday, with two more doing zoom Wednesday morning before UNC Coach Mack Brown does his mid-week Q&A session. The two offensive Heels on Tuesday were offensive guard Ed Montilus and running back Caleb Hood.

Carolina (4-1, 1-0 ACC) visits Miami (2-2, 0-0) on Saturday for a 4 PM kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium. The game will air on ESPN2.

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Montilus was asked a variety of questions about the running game issues on early downs, red zone efficiency, improved pass protection, Caleb Hood, Miami’s defense, Middle Tennessee beating the Hurricanes, and how his family is doing after being hit by Hurricanes Ian.

*On the run game problems on early downs, notably first down:

“It starts with me at the guard,’ Montilus said. “On those combo blocks, we have to win pad level and be able to move the defensive tackles out of there so we can have some good runs. We’re working on it day-by-day in practice, trying to get the run game going.”

A key to improve their run blocking?

“Fixing the things that don’t require talent, like he says,” Montilus replied, referring to offensive line coach Jack Bicknell. “He says, ‘You need to get your hat on the play side, being on the back side of the block. Stuff like that.”

UNC has run the ball 139 times on first and second downs, and 82 times gained three yards or less.

*At the same time, the Tar Heels have allowed just nine sacks through five games. It should be noted a year ago, Carolina allowed 49 on the season. What has been the difference?

“I would say, especially at the tackle position, we don’t really back up as much,” he said, noting a year ago, the linemen would step back when the ball was snapped on passing plays. “Be more aggressive. And at guard, the same thing. We don’t want to lose a lot of ground or we’d be right in the quarterback’s face.”

*Montilus is from Apopka, FL, so his family was affected by Hurricane Ian last week. How did they come out of it?

“They’re doing well,” he said. “There was minor damage in the window on the side of our house. Everything else is good.”

Among the things Hood was asked about focused on the problems with running the ball on early downs, the competition at running back, his father Erroll, who played at UNC, efficiency in the red zone, Miami’s defense and more.

*Hood says the issue with Carolina’s run game on early downs has a lot to do with the running backs. People focus on the offensive line, but he said the backs have to do their part, too.

“Get more downhill and read the block better,” he said. “The o-line’s doing a really good job making the way for us, I think we’ve got to see it better.”

Asked a follow up if this is more an RB issue than an OL one, Hood replied: “It’s a little bit of everything right now. But we’ve got to trust them and them trust us, and eventually it will work itself out.”

*The backs have popped quite a few explosive plays in the run game on early downs, significantly skewing the numbers, so what has the frustration been knowing they can hit for big gains, but just haven’t found any consistency?

“Some of the explosive runs covered up the inconsistencies on the early downs,” Hood said. “So I think we’ve just got to be more consistent on early downs and figure everything out.”

*UNC is using four running backs right now, with Hood getting the start versus Virginia Tech, but D.J. Jones, Omarion Hampton and George Pettaway also part of the mix. Hood says the room is healthy, the guys get along, and are there for each other.

“It’s been great learning from each other, learning from D.J., learning from Omarion, and learning from me, and George, too,” Hood said. “They’re all great backs. And playing quarterback in high school, they help me a lot with everything – so does British (Brooks).”

There is competition, though.

“Oh yeah, no doubt,” Hood said. “It’s just fun, we’re all cool, everything is all cool with us.”