Williams, Boyd Q and A
CHARLOTTE--- Following Thursday night's UNC storm-cancelled scrimmage at Mallard Creek High School, Tar Heel Illustrated spoke with Marquise Williams and Jheranie Boyd.
On his thoughts about returning home to Mallard Creek......
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"My thoughts coming back here are just great. I kind of got a little bit emotional, because this is where I grew up just playing football and having fun on Friday nights here. It's kind of sad we couldn't come out and show the fans what we're about, but it's pretty cool just to be back here."
On how UNC coming to Mallard Scrimmage impacts recruiting......
"It helps a lot, because there's a lot of recruits in North Carolina. Our football program is coming on the rise. I figure if we had got this done a lot of guys would have started showing the North Carolina football their love."
On overcoming the adversity of coaching changes etc......
"It was kind of tough for us last year with a lot of coaching changes and stuff, but we moved on. This year should be a great season. We've been working hard just fighting hard every day."
On competition for positions and his own battle with Bryn Renner for QB......
"Oh you have to push everybody. It's a competing time. Everybody's here to show their face just to get the publicity of playing football. I came to compete. Bryn Renner, he's a great guy. He's a great quarterback, but I just got to keep pushing him, because that's game of football; just keep pushing people and competing at the position."
On his familiarity with the spread offense......
"I've adapted very well, because this is something I did back in high school. I run the spread offense. I get the signal and then I go with the play. I feel really comfortable with this offense, and I adapted really quick with it."
How's the transition to the new offense going?
"The transition is easier than I thought it was. Pro-style, it was a lot of motions and shifting. This offense is all about learning the signals and then the tempo. You've just got to constantly be in shape and constantly be running, but the temp is great."
"The signals are not as hard as I thought they were and then it's a wide open spread offense, so anybody can make the big play. You can't really key in on one guy. You key in on one guy and somebody else is going to be open."
Thoughts on how Marquise Williams is looking in the spread offense......
"He's been doing really well in this offense. He ran the spread in high school, and he was pretty successful with that. He's been catching on to the signals. He's been making big plays throughout the course of spring ball. We are roommates, so we talk about a lot of stuff."
"He tells me if I'm not running a route right, or I tell him he can't throw me a certain deep ball, [and] he needs to get his arm stronger, but he's catching on to the offense really good and he's a really good player."
On optimism for the season......
"I feel like with this offense and with this new defensive scheme we can win 12 games. Even without a bowl game we're going to make this season as exciting as possible. I'm really excited about the season."
"I'm really excited to see everybody play. It's just like Coach [Larry] Fedora said in his interview, 'If you leave to go get some popcorn and something to eat you're going to miss a Tar Heel touchdown,' and we really believe that. The offense is high tempo. It's aggressive, and it's fast."