Tuesday Offensive Report: Nesbit & Barnes

CHAPEL HILL – Tuesday evening in a game week means North Carolina’s players are available to the media to discuss their recent game and the one coming up that following Saturday. And for the Tar Heels who were off last week, the focus was almost exclusively on Notre Dame, which visits Kenan Stadium for a 3:30 PM kick Saturday.

UNC (3-0) faces a Fighting Irish team that lost a close game at Ohio State in the opener before a stunning home loss to Marshall. They rebounded to defeat California this past weekend.

Carolina offensive lineman William Barnes, tight end Bryson Nesbit, and quarterback Drake Maye were the three offensive available Tuesday, and much of what they discussed focused on Notre Dame, the excitement about the game, working to improve the running game on first and second downs, where Barnes is lining up this week, Maye’s continued development, possibly getting Josh Downs and Antoine Green back, and much more.

Below are videos of their interviews along with some notes, pulled quotes, and timing marks from some things they discussed:

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

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

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

*1-min mark: With the Tar Heels at 3-0 and Notre Dame visiting this weekend, does Nesbit sense a buzz on campus that this is a big deal to the students? Plus, has Mack Brown talked up the game, or is he down playing it?

“He’s emphasized it’s a big game, but we really have to prepare like every other game,” Nesbit said.

*2-min mark: Now that Drake Maye has had three games as a starter, has Nesbit seen literal improvement from Maye as each week has passed?

“The biggest improvement that I’ve seen with Drake is definitely his leadership,” Nesbit said. “He’s definitely learned to take control of the offense. Everyone listens to him, everyone loves him, so he’s doing a great job.”

Maye’s vision is something more and more people will talk about as the Tar Heels face better defenses, and it’s truly an asset, as Nesbit says.

“Yes, definitely,” he said, agreeing to the premise of the question about Maye’s vision. “Depending on the defense, most of the time he knows where he wants to go (with the ball), he’s very good at improvising and finding the open guy.

How about an example of Maye finding him when Nesbit wasn’t sure Maye could see him?

“I would say probably the touchdown against App State,” Nesbit said, referring to the TD late in the first half that OC/QB coach Phil Longo said was an example of a wow throw. “I think that got a little bit cloudy, and he just knew where to put it.”

*2-min mark: Nesbit discusses how much better the offense can get. He said each position group can do better, noting the tight ends can be “better in the run block game.”

*3-min mark: The TEs have approximately a third of the team’s receptions and receiving yards, and that gives them “a little bit” of a swagger, Nesbit says.

*3-min mark: Nesbit describes what he has seen from Notre Dame’s defense on film and if they’re any different than they were a year ago.

“They’re always going to be physical,” he said. “They’re always going to try to reset the line of scrimmage, always going to be handsy with the DB group.”

*4-min mark: Expectations are UNC will have Josh Downs back Saturday, and QB Drake Maye appeared to say Antoine Green is likely to play as well. So, Nesbit discusses what having them back can do for the Tar Heels.

As for Green, Nesbit said, “He’s looking great.”

*5-min mark: Nesbit was asked to give a self-evaluation through the first three games, so he did.

Part of his response: “I feel like I’ve done okay. I feel like I definitely could be able to do better. I’m going to keep working to do that.”

*5-min mark: Nesbit was asked an interesting question about if his role now at UNC was what the staff pitched him on in his recruitment.

*1-min mark: Two years ago, after Notre Dame won at UNC, Mack Brown said the Irish simply won the battles and the line of scrimmage and that his team needed to get better there. Barnes says the Tar Heels have used that as a bit of a road map to what they want to become.

“These past two years, competing against Notre Dame, they’ve been a great team and they’ve always come out with the win,” Barnes said. “We’ve been working really hard to stay intense on both sides of the ball in the trenches, making sure that we have that physicality, the same physicality they brought to us two years ago when they came to our stadium.

“I think the emphasis this year is intensity and consistency in the trenches on both sides of the ball.”

*2 min mark: When he watches the Irish on film, Barnes sees the same physicality from the last two years.

“Absolutely, absolutely,” he said. “They bring it every time.”

*2-min mark: Has Brown talked a lot about that with the team?

“Absolutely,” Barnes replied. “Every year since then, it’s just been ‘consistency, consistency,’ the main focus. And the work behind that is execution.”

*3-min mark: Barnes started the first two games at right guard but started at right tackle in the third game, a win at Georgia State, because Spencer Rolland was out with an injury. However, Barnes said he’s now the starter at right tackle and Rolland has moved inside to guard and is battling Jonathan Adorno there.

“I’m still moving around at right guard and right tackle, (but) as of now, they still have me as the starting right tackle,” Barnes said. “I’m ready for coach to move me to any position.”

He said he’s also gotten some work at left tackle.

*3-min mark: Barnes wouldn’t say which position he likes better, saying he likes them both.

*4-min mark: Phil Longo said Monday that Barnes is physical enough to play guard and athletic enough to play tackle. So, he described why those are important attributes at those positions.

*5-min mark: As an older player, class of 2018, Barnes was asked to describe what he has seen from Omarion Hampton since the freshman running back’s arrival in June.

*6-min mark: Longo said Monday that a concern he’s had through the first three games is the inconsistency running the ball on first and second downs. The key to being better and more consistent in those situations?

“Just moving off the ball and also just staying when it comes to being consistent knowing exactly what we need to do each time and executing at a hundred percent,” Barnes said.

*7-min mark: Barnes says “every game is a big game because we want to win every game,” but he also recognizes this week is slightly different. “We go out to the practice field and we think about Notre Dame, but we don’t talk about Notre Dame all the time.”

*7-min mark: He discussed the Irish’s defense.

*8-min mark: Last time Notre Dame visited, only 7,000 or so fans were allowed inside Kenan Stadium because of COVID-19 protocols, but it will be full Saturday, and the players are pretty juiced to get an element of a 12th man on their side in this game.

*9-min mark: Barnes was asked what the biggest win the Heels have had since he arrived, and his answer may surprise some people.