The North Carolina Tar Heels held their 2024 spring football all-access practice on April 14, 2024. Head Coach Mack Brown wanted to switch things up and televise a practice as opposed to a scrimmage, giving fans an inside look at how a normal practice looks. During the drills, you get an inside look at how practice is run, with interviews with coach Brown, Chip Lindsey and new defensive coordinator Geoff Collins as well as current players Kaimon Rucker and J.J. Jones and former players Cedric Gray and Tez Walker. Check out this all-access look at the Tar Heels’ practice right here.
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well good morning from Chapel Hill and we welcome you to a full day of ACC Spring football here on acc Network and we get you started inside beautiful Keenan Stadium it’s an all access practice for the next couple of hours with the North Carolina Tar Heels and when we say all access we mean it wide receiver JJ Jones will be live with us so will linebacker rushan Cayman Rucker will join us and then both coordinators new defensive coordinator Jeff Collins will be here and seconde offensive coordinator chip Lindsay will join us as well as we get started on busy day on acc network from here in Chapel Hill and great to be with Rody Jones espn.com’s David hail who covers the ACC and of course the Hall of Fame head coach of the tar Hills m brown joins us here at the top this is always a fun time of year a it well it is a fun time of the year and and what we thought it might be more fun for fans to see what happens at a practice instead of just a spring game spring games are so different now and you got limited guys health and you’re not going to show anything and uh so we felt like this gives our our our culture more experience more exposure it gives our players more exposure so we thought this would be a fun day and appreciate you guys coming and Rody said he wants to call a few plays and that’s good we can do that and the good thing is in the spring when you call them nobody cares exactly it’s in the fall where they care I know well the the big question for people coming who who are watching this practice thing they’re going to see is a quarterback stake May off to the NFL you got two really good op options Max Johnson transfers in from Texas A&M you’ve got Conor Harold here what has that quarterback battle been like Rody the the best thing right now is both of them can play we’re excited we’re and and we’ve had two of the best ever that they’re in the NFL one of them’s going to be in the NFL in two weeks so we know what we’ve lost but uh it’ll be fun to watch these guys today Max is 65 230 he can run similar to to Drake when he runs a lot better than people think uh Conor probably runs 44 and is getting more accurate as a passer so what we’re doing is is Chip lindsy and our offensive staff are having to do a great job of of what is Conor do best let’s make sure we’re doing what he does best it’s not our offense it’s his offense what does Max do best and Max has thrown over 900 balls in the SEC he’s played in some big games so neither one of them are scared they’re both confident they really respect each other they’re appreciating each other and it’s it’s been a fun room and and fun competition for them well one of the things that I think everybody’s talking about Drake May’s gone so how are they going to replace that to me you also lost four guys on that offensive line so whoever is at quarterback you got to be able to protect them I know that’s one of the positions you really liked this spring though yeah David I appreciate what our guys did that were here at cour and tough and and and now you’ve got Austin blasy that comes in from Georgia and he was the sixth guy there and he’s done the same thing he stepped up as a leader in the center and he’s been fun to watch and uh Willie lamkins back we’re looking at the left guard but there there’s some good competition there um Trey Green standing up 68 2 240 I like it when I look up at him when I and and he’s really doing a good job as a red shirt freshman left tackle we brought in Howard Samson 68 335 from uh North Texas State he’s doing really really well and some of the young ones look good so I’m really encouraged with this offensive line it’s interesting as we’ve mve moved through in in preparation for this and visiting with you and your staff yesterday one of the underlying tenaments is you want to finish better you know exactly what’s happened the last couple of years and it’s a point of focus for you right yeah I’m proud of our guys I’m proud of what we’ve done in 5 years we’ve been to a bowl game every year we’ve lost some really good players in bowl games every year so we haven’t won them and that’s changed our world a little bit so we’ve got to prepare better for that if we think a guy may not playing the bowl game let’s have somebody else ready to play and you may we we might should have played Connor some if Drake wasn’t going to play in the bowl game so we’ve got to relook at at that but we’re 6-0 last year and and didn’t finish well still won eight we’re we’re nine and one the year before and and we lost some games that we should have won in my estimation that’s what you can’t do as a coach that’s what you can’t do as a team so we’re looking and and uncovering every little Stone to see what can be different we need to play more people because we get tired and have too many injuries at the end of the year uh we we need to do a better job in the kicking game we we were second in the league two years ago go we were not good last year why we’re not playing the best players cuz we’re playing them all on offense and defense and they’re tired so we’ve got to do a better job of being all inclusive getting more guys to play transfer portal more guys that are happy in the morale is better they stay they got a better chance to stay uh we got to run the ball consistently better we got to pass protect better and and we’ve got to stop the run better and force more turnovers on defense so we know what we’ve got to do to be better and it’s not gray it’s it’s real it’s there I tell recruits everything in this program is great except I want to win all the games and and that’s what we want to do and and we’re close we’re so close but we’re not there yet Coach you you mentioned a lot of stuff on the defensive side of the football you went out and got Jeff Collins a guy who you were familiar with from competing against knowing Through The Years what has he brought to this team to this defensive unit our our defense has had we’ve had two really good defensive coordinators and Jay bman and and Jee chisik they know what they’re doing they’ve got a track record of success we’ve been good at times we haven’t been consistently good and we haven’t had a lot of confidence on defense it’s it’s like the first time something happens bad we kind of duck Jeff is a confident guy and that nobody’s ever questioned that he he knows what he wants he wants to play a lot of players he he’s high energy he’s inclusive with the staff he’s watched us for a year uh he’s watched me Pat suus was with him at Georgia Tech he’s here as our general manager so there was a a Common Thread between the two and um he he he’s been simpler and more aggressive and that’s what I was looking for look complicated be simple but come after him man we we we’re not good enough to sit and just wait we got to go be aggressive and get after quarterbacks and stop the run I think people are going to be able to see that when he when he’s miked up with us later in the uh in the show all of the Jeff noted introvert Jeff yeah uh M you mentioned the transfer portal earlier and it’s we a couple of days out from another transfer portal window opening you mentioned getting a couple of guys that maybe Hubert might have been actually uh recrui against you for but how how much is your job this time of year changed because of the portal Windows David it’s changed and we said you can gripe about Co when we had Co because there there wasn’t there were not any guidelines so the guys that handled Co the best were the ones that were going to win you can gripe about the transfer portal it’s real it’s here you can gripe about the nil and the combination of n on the transfer portal it’s really difficult and people are tampering they’re just calling our players um so we can ripe about it we can whine about it we can make it an excuse and you get fired uh so handle it handle it the best way you can handle it with your players and within the program try to help college football wake up and get better at some of the things we’re doing but what’s different now David is is uh next Tuesday the portal opens if I walk by a guy at lunch and he doesn’t speak to me I figure he’s gone last year we had the portal open on our the day of our spring game and I said pregame meal guys if you walk by him and he don’t look up he’s gone just just just f figure that so but what we’ve we’ve tried to do is be very honest with our players we tell we tell our coaches treat the players like you would want your son to be treated right I’m really tough on my kids I’ve always told them the truth I’m hard on the staff I want them to know exactly what I think we’re doing well and what I think needs to improve we’re the the same way with our players and the players have responded so well the players that have left here by and large we had one get bought off our campus last year but by and large the guys that have left here weren’t getting to play and to me that’s what the Portal’s for it’s not for your top players to be bought it’s for the ones that aren’t getting to play that are trying really hard to have a chance to go somewhere else and play real quick I want to uh chip Lindsay’s in his second year you’ve got one of the Premier running backs not just in the ACC but nationally took us long enough to talk about the running back come who is this again yeah amarian Hampton comes back uh behind an offensive line we’ve discussed in terms of its Improvement you’ve got to be pretty excited where chip is and it sounded like in our visit the variety in your playbook with your X and0 package seems to be expanding too yeah it it’s uh Rody was a great running back but I’ve coached some great running backs and they make that offensive line better when when you can’t touch them they say God what a great block yeah well he ran over too that that as well um so om Marian’s different he he is special and and people are trying to get him to leave and he’s he’s been committed he’s he wants to stay here he loves this place and that’s who you got to recruit now recruiting is different David when you start looking at portal because if you if you think he might be bought before he gets here he’s darn sure going to be bought after he gets here if he’s any good so you’ve got to think about who’s going to stay not only who’s good Marian’s tough he’s smart he’s 220 runs 44 he’s one of the best players in America he’ll be a very high draft choice next year and and he’s got to be our our face on offense you got to have a face it was Drake last year well it’s Omarian this year because he’s one of the best out there and then he makes everybody else better because when they’ve got a bunch of guys around the line of scrimmage you got to stop the running game then the wide receivers are oneon-one and we got some very talented young wide receivers so uh and we said the running game is a quarterback’s best friend we’ve had too many sacks around here for 5 years I expect to have fewer sacks just because we can run the ball better Coach wide receiver you mentioned you’ve got a bunch of good ones maybe not the household names you’ve had the last couple years Josh Downs followed up by TZ Walker before that you had dami Brown and and in that group this wide receiver group what excites you about them Rody every wide receiver that started for Lonnie Galloway our receivers coach in our five years is in the NFL so that’s been pretty cool yeah it’s an easy sale for recruits y uh and then you look at you you’ve got Chris culer who will not practice today but he he’s looked great this spring you got Christian Hamilton I’ll probably forget one now since I’m I’m throwing him out here uh Nate McCullum is playing much better than early last year the transfer from Georgia Tech uh but the the three young ones you got a bunch hurt you got about four hurt that and we told them they don’t know who Wally pip is I I I said you may get Wally pipped here if you don’t get back out on the field uh but Jordan ships got great hands Alex Taylor can run and got he got great hands uh Vari green was uh he ran 4-3 at some camps when he was out there so these young guys are fun and they’re fun to watch and and every day we walk off the field and say hm those guys are good man you mentioned ship and I just want to follow up on that cuz we talked to cam Rucker and JJ Jones a little bit yesterday they said they haven’t seen him drop a ball yet you’ve coached some real good ones over the years I know you don’t want to get ahead of yourself but you actually have compared him to some of those better ones that you’ve seen just in terms of his his hands and consistency David he and Alex Taylor are both long they’re fast uh but I have seen and you’ll see it today some Jordan ship uh lony gets mad at him our receiver coach cuz they’ll throw him a ball he’ll catch it like this Lonnie says put two hands on it and I said you can catch it with one you know use the other one to get people away man so uh but we’re we’re very very fortunate we got some great young backs we got some great young receivers uh top three tight ends aren’t out here today and we’re still going to be talented at tight end that’s one of the best rooms in the country so we’re uh we we’ve got a a fun season ahead well I want to tell you it’s a good thing you mentioned tight ends there at the end because as you know these two leave the Le love tight end room I mean they’re they’re all about it I love that tight end room too so so you’re right you are right thank you for the invitation to do this today we’re looking forward to uh going all access here with Jeff Collins in a minute and uh thanks for the hospitality great you won’t have to talk much with Jeff have your finger on the sensor button but other than that we don’t have to no uh he he did warn him yeah he said I’m going to be all over you in a positive way and he and he told him the truth so that’s it but glad you’re here let’s have fun today I want people to see what a college football practice looks like and and all access means you got access to anything we got so whatever you want you got out yeah yeah well you can do that too if you need something we’ll bring it out but grab me during practice if you need something a question and and um you think the fans might want to know about and we’ll answer it all right coach thanks a lot M Brown gets us started from Chapel Hill when we come back the tar Hills new defensive coordinator Jeff Collins will be live with us as we continue from Chapel Hill on a busy Saturday on acc [Music] Network well welcome back to ACC Network all access with Carolina here this morning with Rody Jones and David hail West Durham and we start talking about the tarhill defense and of course the new coordinator Jeff Collins who of course Rody three and a half years as the head coach at Georgia Tech but Rody plenty of experience as a coordinator Florida International Mississippi State and then Florida before uh getting his first head coaching opportunity at Temple yeah and and the the the head coaching stops at Temple in Georgia Tech obviously great success at Temple Georgia Tech made some improvements after replacing Paul Johnson But ultimately wasn’t able to get as much success as he would have like there but when you go back and you look at the numbers from his tenure at a as a defensive coordinator at the power five level at Mississippi State turned that defense around and those two defenses he coached at Florida West were phenomenal top 10 in both Total Defense and scoring defense in 2015 and 2016 Jeff Collins is one of the best defensive coordinators in the country bar none and I’m excited to see what he does with this Carolina crew well Carolina is uh getting into their stretch period to get ready to start this practice and Rody we’re going to listen in a little bit here with Jeff Collins but at the same time uh his enthusiasm for not only being here and being back on the sideline but his enthusiasm to work with this Personnel was pretty evident yesterday yeah it was it was incredible just talking to him you can feel the energy uh at all times it seems like Coach Collins is having the best day every day but you mentioned the Personnel W I just want to talk about the size of some of these defensive linemen in particular Travis Shaw’s coming in at a cool 65 330 Desmond Evans 66 270 playmaker you got Cayman Rucker who was one of the best disruptive defensive linemen in the conference last year Javari ritzy 64 290 you go down the list Kevin Hester over 300 they have the Personnel particularly on the defensive line to be great you heard m brown talk about the fact they wanted to be more aggressive but simpler at the same time we’ve got Coach Collins so I I want to ask Coach Collins coach how do you accomplish being aggressive and yet simple with this incredible group that you have on defense are you talk oh we’re going to mean right now right yeah let’s go uh just excited about the guys uh playing fast playing physical playing aggressive and on the back end you got Corners like Elijah huzzy and Marcus Allen and the new kid duy Tyran Stewart on the back end je go ahead David uh we just heard uh Rody talking about the size of some of these guys including Travis Shaw you you told us a good story yesterday you you you texted Travis a picture of you in high school and him and said look we’re the same guy and uh I I think that is uh a evident of your personality but B very much about the relationships you’re trying to build with these guys right off the bat how important has that been for you as the new coach coming in to build those bonds with these guys take good ah he’s not here so yeah I mean this is sort of the beauty of Jeff Collins right I mean he is all personality and I I think a lot of folks that that yeah I think a lot a lot of the folks that remember Jeff from from Georgia Tech I mean this is this is who he is he’s he’s a talker he’s a relationship guy yeah we’ll try and get that worked out it is interesting you mentioned the Personnel Rody a moment ago and Jeff was talking about the back end of who they are on defense uh when Elijah huzzy was lost in the last third of the Season that was a big loss for a Carolina team who had started taking the ball away a little bit and David that speaks to kind of what m brown visited with us in the first part of this program about Carolina’s got to focus on the Finish if you will at least in the last couple of years well that’s part of it has been just a matter of the Reps I mean look at how many reps some of these guys could get Cedric gray played about six seasons over the last two seasons and I think that that’s part of it is just getting having guys fresh at the end of the year is a big part of winning late all right we’ll take a quick break come back more coming up with Jeff Collins Carolina going through a stretch period before they begin our all access practice here on acc Network oh beautiful Saturday here in Chapel Hill for the North Carolina all access practice here at Keenan Stadium don’t forget it’s the start of a very busy day here on acc network and on the ESPN app as well right after we’re done here at High Noon Martin keser Mark hli Ashley stoline will join you from Chestnut Hill Bill O’Brien makes his debut BC spring game and then over on the accnx and ESPN Plus at 1:00 Brent key puts Georgia Tech through their Paces at 2:00 on acc Network Paton ardi and the pit Panthers will be there and I think Lewis rck is going to be involved in that along with our our crew and then at 3:00 off to blackburg Brent pry and the hokes and the maroon and orange game if you will and then at at 4:00 off to South Florida Mario crystal ball in Miami and that’ll be on ESPN plus and also AC NX so five other spring practices and games this afternoon for you here on acc Network Rody we’ve talked a lot about it David just mentioned the secondary Jeff Collins talked about Marcus Allen uh being a factor of course Elijah huzzy’s return from injury a year ago you see a lot of familiarity on that side of the ball for for North Carolina and you know the Simplicity with which he built Mississippi State in Florida Carolina and then we start talking about schedule Carolina’s got to be ready to go in like week one on a Friday night in Minnesota don’t they yeah I mean just ease into the schedule uh W with a team that was really good in the Big 10 West especially on defense last year but but this defense as you mentioned there’s a lot of familiar faces uh in some different places Elijah huzzy who they raved about the spring that Elijah huzzy has had has led the team in both pass breakups and interceptions he played that star that nickel position for North Carolina last year he’s bumped outside they’ve got antavius stick Lane Jeff Collins calls him 62 stick He’s listed at 5’8 but that shows you just the power that he plays with and speaking of power of course you got to power reckles who won half of that duo last year with Cedric gray at the linebacker position he is now in a system with Jeff Collins in that beef up front where Coach Collins told us the goal is to let those big bodies up front be big let those big bodies up front keep players off keep blockers off of Power echo down the field to let him run the field be athletic like he has been he’s been phenomenal in the box and I think from a leadership standpoint with Cedric Greg gone he’s going to be the guy to step up and provide that leadership a guy that had 103 tackles a year ago if those big bodies were able to keep those blockers off of him West he could have an even bigger season and then David yesterday besides power Eckles the of Cedric gray was discussed but also the emergence of Amari Campbell right and then and I think one of the other things get to get back to what we were mentioning a little bit earlier is yes they’re very excited about Amari Campell it was almost like we don’t need to talk about him that’s that’s a safe bet right now but it’s developing some other guys behind them so you’re not as riing on those two guys you know if if if Amari Campbell and power Eckles each end up with 110 plus tackles this year it’ll look good on the score sheet but it probably won’t match what Jeff Collins actually wants from them because he would love to see a little more depth and a little more playing time for everybody and and you know the other thing to hit on what Rody said Jeff Collins is about taking a complex thing and making it simple sometimes the talent has not matched the production here on defense I think what Jeff Collins wants to do is put people in a position to maximize what they are best at and I don’t think we can talk enough about exactly what you said the depth that they’re trying to build if you watch Jeff Collins particularly if you’re an ACCC fan at Georgia Tech but then also at Mississippi State and at Florida I mean you get entire line changes on the defensive line four out four in linebackers rotating secondary rotating pretty consistently and that does exactly what Mac Brown talked about for late in the year but that the the focus on that I think will help them a lot particularly with guys like Cayman Rucker who can then be fresh to get after the pass in crucial situation there were times last year where Cayman Rucker Cedric gray power Eckles made all the tackles right and there were games David where North Carolina played less than 20 guys on defense for four quarters that can’t happen anymore can no and and to your point it’s not just that but how you’re utilizing these guys so I mean Jeff Collins talked about how many plays last year you might have seen Cayman Rucker dropping back and he’s basically out of the play When the play is run to the other side and he’s dropping back you want to put Cayman Rucker in a position to do Cayman Rucker things and that so when he’s on the field he is productive and he’s being used properly and he doesn’t have to be on the field for 60 70 90 snaps a game and you’re fresh because again you look at as good as his numbers were last year the the trend line as the year ended went down and that has been the story line the story line all right so now it’s time to really excite the Carolina fan base this morning because the number one guy mentioned by the defensive coordinator by the linebackers by the head coach was the Improvement of Travis CHR and he was the he was the first guy asked about because that is a guy that can unlock what this defense can be by being being disruptive up front and as you said every single one of those people you just mentioned raved about Travis Shaw and let’s not forget there been some changes on the coaching staff on defense outside of Jeff Collins one of those was Ted monino right going from an off the field position to an onfield position and M Brown and Jeff Collins both talked about the impact that he has had focusing guys like Travis Shaw because of his NFL experience able to say hey look man you may have an NFL body but all of these other things don’t match NF production Travis Shaw if he is half the player that the coaches have talked about in this preseason or excuse me in this spring season he is going to be one hell of an addition for North Carolina one of my favorite uh things we heard yesterday from Jeff Collins as he was talking about you know he’s been up here in Chapel Hill since he took the job his family has not yet and he’s been missing his daughter astred so they call and talk every night and he said she always wants me to tell stories and I’ve run out of stories at this point so I’m just telling her about the guys on the roster and I’m going through the roster I usually through three four five a day he said I got the Travis Shaw there’s only time for one guy when I’m talking about Travis Shaw yeah I think it’s uh Rody it also feels like that different mentality might be based on the fact that the first couple of years it has not gone well for Travis Shaw highly recruited out of Grimsley and Greensboro thought of to be a premier defensive recruit when he arrived here in Chapel Hill and sometimes it takes a minute or two there five star players number three defensive tackle in the country and and when you have that level of success I think sometimes it’s easy to come in and think that that success is is guaranteed but after two years where it wasn’t guaranteed you sort of work yourself into being a great player and I think he’s realized hey look if I dedicate myself I can be one of the best defensive tackles not only in the conference but maybe the Country David is if they get Shaw and Desmond Evans ready they’re all of a sudden a whole different defense aren’t they and that I mean to your point it is amazing to me how much the guys up front will help everybody else you know it’s a little like Mack was talking about how Amari and Hampton can make the offensive line look a lot better well you get you start getting after the pass rush you start R blocking the run better you fill gaps it’s amazing how much better that secondary will get when when the front four is really making things happen well it’s going to be interesting to watch Carolina and before we’re done we’ll look at the schedule and again we told you a Friday night Minneapolis starts the campaign even before the month of September hits there’s more to come from Chapel Hill all access practice with the tar Hills [Music] next all right welcome back to Chapel Hill special teams period moving through its Paces Liam Boyd of course involved in the kicking competition here this spring with Noah Bernett and all that for North Carolina we bring you back to Keenan Stadium well m brown had a lot to say about the 23 schedule David Rody he was a little more gracious about 24 but not much uh keep putting good teams on there we other teams in general why can’t they discri all right you know what I mean Rody when you look at the opening night game in Minnesota but then you look down three straight home games all non-conference Charlotte North Carolina Central Bob chzn new coach at James Madison after Kurt Signet took the Indiana job and I see five of the next six at home after the road game at Minneapolis to start the year yeah I think the schedule’s pretty manageable there is a stretch there uh from October the the October 26 game the Virginia game or the and then the Florida State game on November 2nd they’ve got buy weeks that sandwich that so A buy before Virginia and a buy after Florida State so there is a chunk of time where they’re not at home for a while in the month of October into November but overall I think it’s pretty manageable like if you were to look at the the top teams that the teams that we think will be the the best going into the year right North Carolina misses a lot of them no Clemson on this schedule no Virginia Tech on this schedule obviously you get NC State Florida state which we expect to be very good the rest of them I think they’ve got a lot of question marks but wait no Cal Stanford or SMU on that schedule either yeah it’s they they’re they’re like the Cool Kids the old school guys who are like we’ve been in here for a while we’re not meeting with the new kids that’s we don’t we don’t can’t sit at our lunch table can’t come to a lunch table is that what you’re saying you’re over in the court yeah I will say though we talked Wes about the the back end being the trouble for for North Carolina the last few years well look at that back end for them away from home away from home at Florida State rivalry game against wake away from home rivalry game against NC State the back end is where the problems are great Point well and here it is I want to David you bring up a really good point so Rody here’s the quiz we all know what Virginia’s like when it comes to Carolina yep so in November where’s the danger zone we know Tallahassee is going to be a tough assignment yep Bill O’Brien in Boston College the Saturday before Thanksgiving well here’s here’s yeah look Going Up To Boston I think B anytime you have to go to Boston College after the month after the mid mid October you’re a little scared about that one up there to watch the leaves you could you could get you could get some uh some unseasonably cold weather up there in chest and Bill O’Brien’s a new coach there by week 11 they’re going to have that thing figured out know exactly what they want to be on offense and yes both teams could have some injuries but but still they’ll have that thing more figured out than at the beginning of the year all right David can they get a stronger finish I mean yes certainly they can um but look I I don’t I don’t feel great about a trip to Virginia given the history there I don’t feel great about a trip to Florida State given that Florida State should be really good what I would love to see and it it has been a sort of a fringy thing the last few years but certainly could be this year the way both of these rosters are shaping up is that last game of the year against NC State being for a spot in the ACC Championship cuz I think both of these teams have potential to be in that conversation and boy would that be a fun rivalry matchup if it’s if that’s the case and let’s just say the talk around NC State in the preseason in the spring has not gone unnoticed here in Chapel you know it’s good to have state Carolina at that special spot in the ACC where it’s mentioned in the spring where it means something every time I mean well and it’s not as if there hasn’t been some basketball going around too and yet we’re still talking about football for these two that’s a good sign yeah no and I I think you’re right so there’s expectation here uh we’re going to see some of the competition going on now as Coach Brown noted several guys are not going to practice they’re done for the rest of the spring they won’t even be in their organized spring game let’s get to the quarterback situation Rody Conor is an incumbent if you will he started the last game they played and that was the loss in Charlotte to West Virginia he’s got a powerful arm Max Johnson’s got two truckloads of experience coming in here though from LSU and Texas A&M he’s played a lot of high level games in the SEC he threw for over 3500 yards uh in at at LSU and a lot of those coming in a season where he started 11 games for him so so look Max Johnson can bring a lot to the table and I think the thing that you look at from Texas A&M that he really does a nice job of is running better than expected when he gets out of the pocket he’s really accurate especially in the short and intermediate games and people are going to underestimate his ability to create with this feet but he hangs in the pocket he’s not afraid to Stand and Deliver he’s got enough arm strength to make all the throws that Texas A&M offense at times was an abject disaster last year so his ability to operate successfully in that offense and in that craziness that was Texas A&M last year I think shows a lot of maturity and I think he’ll bring a lot to this offense even if he doesn’t win the starting jum well yeah and and to your point about the the chaos that was A&M last year he’s working with an offensive game plan that might fit him a lot better than the Cheesecake Factory menu the Jimbo carried around with him we just have everything yeah a little at everything but he he does a lot I mean look let let’s not compare him to Drake May that’s a foolish thing to do but he does some of the same things that Drake May did well he does well too including moving the pocket throwing on the run and being accurate on some of those short and intermediate throws which I think is going to be a lot of the bread and butter of what UNCC is going to do well I as we talked about earlier I think he’s got a really good receiving core and tight end room to throw to I I I’ll be I’m curious your opinion though if you would if you would view it this way Rody is Max Johnson the sort of the lower ceiling higher floor candidate and Connor Herold is sort of the higher ceiling lower floor candidate is that fair I think off of off of pure potential yeah I think so and and I think a lot of it’s going to come down to what do they want the offensive identity to be what role do they want the quarterback to play if they want a lot of quarterback run game and explosiveness and ability to create explosive plays when things break down at the quarterback position then I think Conor herrell is probably the guy but if you want the guy that’s going to distribute not saying Conor Herold can’t but if you want the guy with experience that’s going to distribute to an excellent group of of of skill players on offense then I think you go with the experience and the Steady Hand of Max Johnson so it’s interesting that yes I think the ceiling is probably higher with Conor herrell from production from that position but is that what you want to be on offense where you go back to sort of the Sam how Drake may days of hey look quarterback save us I don’t know if they want that I don’t think they and you know another area where we talked about the experience and 900 plus snaps in the SEC that Max Johnson has but another area where him and Drake May are very similar is just the family and and of course Max Johnson the son of Brad Johnson uh former Super Bowl winning quarterback the uh uh nephew of Mark Rick the guy I think a few of us know and of course his younger brother Jake Johnson who I think everybody said thought he was a package deal coming with Max I certainly did we were told he wasn’t apparently not apparently not but either way they’re both here I think that’s good and and again just talked about that tight end room we won’t see any of the guys we’re excited about today so but boy if there’s something to be excited about for any of these quarterbacks come come to fall is being able to throw to the guys in that tight end room uh cuz there there’s three real good ones all right let’s uh far be it from us not to cannonball into the pool of speculation especially in late April right love love this all right um so are we saying we expect this competition to go into August between Harold and Max Johnson and is there a possibility in your mind that it goes all the way to I don’t know two weeks before the Minnesota game I I I think even if they know realistically just being completely transparent with how these things work now it does not benefit m brown one bit to name a starting quarterback before the fall in my opinion maybe from a leadership standpoint it does in the locker room you get one voice but that Portal’s a real thing man and so you don’t want one of these quarterbacks to leave and I’m not saying m brown would do anything to be to be uh dece deceitful right with these quarterbacks but I think this coaching staff can take its time and even if the conversation is hey look we think Max is the guy we think Conor is the guy why would you name a quarterback until till F all right it’s time do activate the mark Packer don’t tell anybody until the first snap Theory David you in I listen I am in on this and frankly I think because of the the Divergence and skill sets and what they do there’s the even if it’s Max Johnson’s the guy I could see a role for Connor it’s a great point it doesn’t have to be a full-time I and and look frankly coaches who figure out a way to make sure everyone feels involved even if you’re not the starter is a real asset in this new era of college football yeah I think it’s I think it’s really one of the interesting wrinkles that the landscape presents and also the competition presents but here’s the other thing too we’ve mentioned the Marian Hampton or as Cayman Rucker and JJ Jones told us yesterday the Big O who is the ball carrier for Carolina and a and a darn goodwi of course finalist for the do Walker Award last year but here’s the other thing too you’re going to see Darwin Barlo and Davon bullet gauze today both are suited up and uh I think that’s an interesting wrinkle behind Hampton in ter terms of running the football and I think it’s one if you’re if you’re following Carolina and you’re going to follow this league I think you got to keep an eye on it yeah I I we it’s funny because we talked to uh chip Lindsay yesterday and I asked him uh you know Marian had 253 carries last year is that is that a good number for you and he was like that’s a good number for me he was worked out real well but as m brown said it much like with the guys on the defense that we don’t necessarily want to run our guys into the ground so I think you will see a little more of the guys that we’re going to see more of out here and yeah I think when you got a big dude named bullet who by the way the great inside info that we got yesterday from JJ Jones Mr Gau does not wear socks what why why would you he’s just taping up his ankles with no socks slipping on some cleats and going out there to run that is a baller move in my opinion all right we’ll take another timeout when we continue from Kenyon stadium in Chapel Hill miked up with Jeff Collins as the defense begins their session next [Music] back here at the North Carolina all access spring practice we got Coach Jeff Collins miked up he’s running a turnover drill let’s listen in to Coach Collins in the turnover let’s [Music] go all right they’re working they’re rotating right now let me ask Coach K coach cins what we work here turnovers getting the ball this is the power Echo drill something gets tipped we got to find a way way to get the ball show them let’s get it let’s get it let’s see it stink right there s get it well [Applause] nice take JT going to the prime tonight feet [Music] [Applause] [Music] Indie IND IND Indie let’s get it coach that energy that you bring I mean where does that come from I don’t I have no idea I just love what I do I love where I’m doing it with these guys and I’m just fired up to be here this is awesome we we talked about being more aggressive and yet simpler how do you execute that yeah so just making sure we have we have everything packaged into family’s defensive I want it to be very complex for the offense when they’re looking at us but I want these guys to be free play fast and teach it in very simple terms and the guys have picked up on everything they’re doing that for us you told us that one of the reasons that you wanted this job obviously the culture but also those bodies on that defensive line how excited are you about those guys yeah well first of all it’s mck brown I mean he’s a Hall of Famer he’s absolutely amazing uh and then as I went down the road with some of the jobs this one had a front seven that is comparable with anybody in the country and then I’ve got gotten here and it’s even better than what I thought it was the guys are bought in they’re playing fast but there’s some really good uh players in experience on the front seven all right so we’re an individual right now if I wasn’t standing here with you where would you be let’s walk around let’s do what you do so always start with the DBS I’ve been a DB guy most of my life uh so right now they’ve got one line and two line going on in the secondary so they’re doing two line down there so in two line use two lines to do the drills so they’re going in and out doing the weave and then right here we’re doing one line with the corners and uh we’ve got some Talent uh Elijah huz is one of the best DBS in the conference uh probably one of the best punt returners in the country and we’ve added some key pieces in the secondary as well uh with jaem Harris stick Lane uh traven Stewart who we affectionately call douly number nine why do you call him douly I have no idea he’s he he was from East Mississippi and uh he’s come here and I think it’s just easier to say duly than trying to pronounce his first name what what are some of the coaching points that you look for as you walk around particularly with the DBS a group that you have been been involved with for for years right well I mean just the first thing is the quick feet pad level change of Direction and then the thing that we’re blessed with right now is we’ve got some DBS that have some really good ball skills so they can make plays in there I think huzzy has had like seven turnovers in 10 practices picks and all those kind of things and uh you know change direction is huge for us and then pad level you can see it in action right there now do you typically stay over here or do you wander I walk to the de line so we can go over there and then this is the group that I think Tar Hill fans and people should be really excited about um so obviously it starts right there with Dez Evans you know 656 so he’s listed at 270 I mean he looks like he could carry 290 easy at some point down the line there there’s no doubt he’s he’s a big man um and I tell him all the time I feel taller when I’m out here coaching him and he’s out there making plays for us and uh so he he’s done a great job in the off season tremendous work ethic and uh you know just the length that he has the presence he has physically and he is a natural leader as well now one guy that we got a chance to talk to you about yesterday we’ve talked about him earlier in our broadcast it’s Travis Shaw because in the middle a disruptive defensive tackle is a GameChanger for a defense you’ve talked about how he has changed and dedicated himself more the S what have you seeing from the the human eclipse Travis Shaw during this spring he he is such a pleasure to coach first of all and again he’s another guy that had a really good off season um and he’s come out here picked up the things that we’re doing uh he’s played nose for us he’s played three technique for us he’ll play some defensive end actually today for us as well and uh just just very coachable and uh you know just wants to be really good I’ve coached the Fletcher coxes of the world I’ve coached the Chris Joneses of the world and those relationships and experiences you know they’ve you know we show tape this morning uh of Chris Jones doing certain things in our package and and Travis has that ability as well I mean if that’s the role he’s going to play I think Carolina fans should be incredibly excited at the linebacker position you’ve got power Echo back the the other spot you seem to be really excited about what did the linebackers look like to you what role do you see them playing in your defense yes so we want them to fly around and make play um up front you know we we use Kevin’s another defensive line that’s played a lot of ball here uh to off the linebackers so they’re free to run and hit ritzy is also ball up um but Power Eckles has played I think 2300 snaps in the Carolina blue and made a ton of plays and uh so he he’s you know got the street cred with the guys but Amari Campbell number 17 played in two games at a level played in the bowl game started in the bowl game and he’s come out uh during and he looks like a young power Ecko out there playing and that’s a huge compliment to him and they’re just building depth behind him C Caleb Laval I don’t know if I’m pronouncing that correctly I call I’ve said it like 18 different ways and uh Michael Short CAD law have have done really well this spring as well well coach before we get you out of here uh want to ask what are you looking for what’s the goal for this defense today yes so we’re just want to fly around uh play physical we’re going to have inside run today we’re not going to move and stun and Blitz we’re just going to line up and play physical brand of football and the biggest thing too is creating turnovers having energy but playing really clean football while we are showing a lot of disguises showing a lot of things but still being able to execute at a high level and have fun doing it talk about all access we just got it the eyes of the defensive coordinator walking around practice coach really appreciate it we’ll check with you later on appreciate that all right Wes uh we we we took the full tour with Coach Collins I’m excited exed about this defense to see it in the spring and also going into the fall man yep I appreciate it Rody thanks very much thanks to Jeff Collins for the inside look in the turnover drill and all that comes with a visit at the defensive end of the Tar Hill practice when we come back we’ll lean more to the offense chip Lindsay still to come miked up so is JJ Jones Cayman Rucker as we continue from Chapel Hill this morning on acc Network hey don’t forget game two of a big weekend series at Doug Kings Stadium at Tiger toown comes your way tonight 8:00 NC State who upset the Tigers last night by a final of 11 to8 it’s presented for you by Auto Owners Insurance Mike far and Gabby Sanchez have our coverage tonight at 8:00 p.m. on acc Network terrific weekend series with NC State Clemson we welcome you back to Chapel Hill we’re at North Carolina spring practice a week ahead of their game with David hail and Rody Jones West durh and Rod’s found his way out there with the T he offensive coordinator chip Lins I know you can’t get me on the sideline I got to find the coordinators coach what do we have going on here with the receivers and the quarterback yeah just almost a little loosen up drill kind of what we call Pat and go just throwing the ball over the top kind of a slight little jog just to get ourselves loose and you know quarterbacks we don’t want to miss these right this gives us an opportunity to give them a chance to catch the ball but really trying to work on getting the so many people are looking at this quarterback position it’s no uh no pressure on these guys but the last two guys to win quarterback competitions are either playing in the NFL or going to play in the NFL how do you evaluate the quarterback competition through the spring yeah it’s been good I mean both guys are getting basically equal reps here so we’re just trying to let them get as many reps they can and get comfortable you know every year is a different team right 2024 uh you know you got different people here that maybe weren’t here last year so you’re trying to build your offense around the strengths of your Playmakers and you know both these guys have come in and competed extremely hard as well as Michael and Tad as well so we got a good group of guys they all they all like to compete they all along they all you know it’s competitive but we have fun with it too and uh I like the progress they’re making I I always wonder with a guy like like Conor Harold and Max to and their ability to run uh in practice is hard to evaluate that they’re not getting hit they’re not getting there’s a lot of times where the quarterback’s not live how does that fact during the evaluation how do you how do you measure that in practice Yeah you know Jeff will call a sack and you know if he gets close and I’m like you’re not catching Conor on that you know but whatever or Max you know Max runs really good too so no it’s it’s really it’s more about are they making the right decision are they getting us in in the right play if there’s is there a look we need to change it uh they getting the protection right are they are they in the right place with their eyes and their feet and evaluate them on that and you know you don’t nobody wants to get their quarterbacks hit you know I don’t know anymore back when we played you know that quarterback our quarterbacks were always but it’s a different day right and you don’t want to lose these guys and but I just think the decision making who handles a team who affects the other 10 guys the best it’s calm Under Pressure you’re trying to evaluate all those things and and and both of them are doing a great job by my count five tight ends not practicing including your top three guys who are who are very talented uh your top three receivers or three of your top receivers also not practicing um what does that allow you to get done with the younger guys as you go through this yeah I mean you know you can worry about it or or you can get get your young guys more reps and that’s kind of what we’ve done is it’s really a great opportunity for the Jordan ships the Paul bips uh the Alex Taylor the the Christian you know those guys are getting all getting reps that they probably wouldn’t get near as many and I think that’s how you build depth and Coach Brown’s really big on us about playing more guys and building depth and being able to do that and this gives us a great opportunity to do that so you take advantage of those situations and make the best out of them so I love I love chatting but I want you to do some coaching I want people to see what you’re doing so so I mean operate like you would always operate in this drill you go ahead and get it got told him I want to I want him to score more but slower I mean we all accomplish that coach just just kill a clock there we go I love it well you go coach coach I’m going to follow you around you get after it with the coaching point you got it all right let’s go Ball’s out on time today let’s go okay push settle let’s go get out from behind him get out from behind him good Conor nice good job being in Rhythm nice job here all right let’s go good Max good like it the ball out on time today nothing’s late today all right good good Tad good pre- snap decision nice job good good [Music] good all right let’s go Dees let’s go deames good good love it runnner ball good good runnner ball today where he can run through the catch that’s what we’re looking for right yards after the catch good Max good here we go Tad much better Tad with the feet ah come on behind him now let’s go come on he’s small I mean aim small Miss small right coach you talk about that runner’s ball what is that for people who are unfamiliar yeah you know that’s a term we’re trying to use just to make them understand like when guys are on the Move we want to make sure we get them a ball they can move you know former running back you know get get the guy on the move he score maybe you know instead of throwing it behind him or or high you know we’re really trying to focus on like the old movie uh patri you know B on his front tip there and let’s let’s try to get him a good runner ball Jordan ship just took a rep freshman a lot of people are excited about what have you seen from him in the spring yeah extremely extremely smart really good competitor I mean the guy competes on every rep which you like and and plays with confidence and a lot of times you don’t see that with young players when they first come to college CU it’s a pretty big jump for them scho comes from a great program guy works his tail off and and really just impressed with him so far and and what he’s shown us all right I appreciate it coach you get after we’re going to keep listening in Co okay good Max good let’s go let’s go Ball’s out on time every every time today right good good all right OTB here we go Vegas that way right push settle push settle good ball good nice okay we go hey hold up is this Vegas or no okay I thought he said OT good good Max good we don’t want to go past it right we don’t want to miss good one we think he’s going to win takes it away who takes it away good Mike a better ball making where he has to catch it Meg Murray has much better not throwing the in there right you’re throwing a good BP fast ball on that that was good all right good here we go good good nice love it love it good nice throw nice throw here we go eyes down the middle good good nice good Max good good star in the middle Ted star in the middle good drop good ball nice job nice job there we go now we’re throwing it today I like it what we got hey Rody one of the interesting things L is uh with some of the tight ends and wide receivers down they’re getting a fresh look at the guys who potentially are going to battle for for some playing time behind the names we all know they sure are and M Brown just came up to me he said make sure you take a look at this guy Paul Bops number 11 I mean a guy who has had an incredible spring what have you seen from Bops so far the spring coach yeah he’s he’s really talented he showed up last year you know getting reps even down on the scout team some and in our Skelly stuff against the defense he’s got unbelievable ball skills he really does a great job going up and attacking the ball and you see that every day uh this is a really tough day to throw the football people people don’t know it is windy it’s like the Masters yesterday what what are you telling the quarterbacks on a day like today again decision making and we have we got to understand that it’s a windy day we got to be more precise right we got to throw the ball on time uh you get a lot of throws here in in in pre-practice trying to trying to get a feel of what it is but you’re right it’s just like playing golf man you got to adjust you know it could be windy we’re going to I think we’re going to Boston College late in the season right it’s cold and windy you got to be able to figure it out so it’s a good challenge for us and that’s the thing we’re trying to embrace every day is the challenge of getting better and this is just one of those all right coach while I’m messing up the drill you’ve already had the riversider because of me so let me get out of the way thanks great stuff Rody thanks very much thanks to chip Lindsay for the look more to come from Chapel Hill JJ Jones Cayman Rucker coming before we’re done at noon well a full day of ACC football and we’re getting you started here this morning in Chapel Hill with an all access spring practice when we come back we’ll dig a little deeper into the Tar Hill spring sessions when we continue on acc [Music] Network Rody already told you a little windy in Chapel Hill on this Saturday morning especially with this uh practice session underway Carolina will play their spring game next Saturday here at Kanan stadium and with Rody Jones David hail Wester we welcome you back here to our coverage and I think one of the interesting players to talk about as this spring winds down and Rody you kind of noted this in your visit with chip about some of the guys on the second line but David Nate McCollum is a guy who if you took the first half of last year man he just he he set this place on its ear in the first six games it felt like well yeah and and if you go back a little further even to the last half of 2022 when he was at Georgia Tech he was terrific as well so you go that one year span basically from early October 22 to early October 23 he was statistically one of the top five wide receivers in the ACCC I’m not sure how many people would have realized that and part of the reason is because in the other games he really hasn’t been very consistent uh or very productive and I think you know we talked about the number of Top Flight receivers that are not practicing today mccullum’s one of those guys that’s out there and has a chance I think to be a genuine impact player for Carolina this year Rody an emergence of night McCollum could change dynamically whoever the quarterback is yeah it could he he’s that he’s that slot receiver he’s incredibly explosive you know could return punts for them if Elijah huzzy needs a break uh he is a guy that when he is at his best can sort of be that other security blanket for these quarterbacks the tight end group we’ve talked about it a lot but the explosive plays that he could provide is certainly something that any of these quarterbacks and this offense will really really love to have especially because teams are going to load the Box up to stop Amari and Hampton cuz they’re going to establish a run play with some big tight end uh Personnel groups and Nate McCollum if he’s able to create separation like that I mean man this this this entire offense could take a massive massive Collective step forward well there are a lot of former Tar Hill Stars today and David’s with one that is on the staff Harrisburg North Carolina’s nron mean standing by yeah we talk about some of the sh things at Carolina and they got a big old running back who runs for a lot of yards and breaks a lot of tackles by the name of Omarian Hampton they got another one here who’s on the coach in Sidelines now and nro means what is it what is it like to work with a guy who in some ways I think is very representative of you as a player too in in Mr Hampton uh you know what it’s very uh rewarding uh am maran’s a great play I mean he’s a great person uh you know as well as a great player uh he works hard every day uh you know he’s a kid that’s definitely dedicated to his craft and for me uh being a former tallo running back it’s a great feeling uh you know when he’s back there at the top of the eye and the ball’s in his hands well you’ve been around played with played against and coached some of the great ones over the years where does he stack up in terms of your minds is there anybody that he reminds you of um you know what I think that uh you know old kind of has a skill set that’s all his own um you know he is a definitely throwback running back kind of an old school guy uh he doesn’t mind contact he catches the ball well uh again he works hard to uh I mean to perfect his craft uh you know he’s a player who I enjoy watching uh you know he wears 28 so to me he kind of gives me the Adrien Peterson feel uh you know he’s a he’s a he’s a hard running back uh and uh you know he’s just a great guy to watch he had I think 253 carries if I’m remembering correctly last year I talked to chip I said how does that how does that number sound to you he said sounds great to me uh talked to Mack he said maybe a little few less than that what as a as a running back how much does the toll of a season add up and how does he handle that being a bcal type of guy um well obviously you know we go into to an understanding that the season is going to be long uh and that at some point every back in the room is going to need to be available but the thing that you know we always have been harping on with the Marion his body maintenance and making sure that he does all the things that he needs to do to uh you know keep his body in tiptop shape so he’s able to go out and perform so uh we continually focus on that because O’s a guy that always wants the ball in his hands he hates to come out of the game uh if you see him when he comes out of the game he’s standing over there beside the coaches uh Ching at the bit waiting to get back in so sometimes uh you know we have to hold him back uh but he’s a he’s a he’s a great player and uh he definitely wants the ball in his hands at all times Well you put him on a little bit of a tight leash this spring for good reason uh and making sure that he’s ready for the fall which has meant some of those other guys have gotten a good look from you uh Daren Barlo guy who comes in been at TCU been at U USC what have you seen from him so far uh you know what Daren is definitely flashed I think he’s still getting comfortable uh with what it is that we do schematically I think the way that we run a few things may be a tad bit different from what he’s done in the past but he’s been a guy who’s improving daily I think he’s going to surprise a lot of folks with what it is that he’s able to do he’s made uh plays this spring uh in the passing game uh with the ball in his hands and in and uh and in protection so I think Darwin’s going to bring us some veteran leadership he’s been around a while we kind of joke him that he’s the old man in the room since he’s on his sixth year and his third school but I think Darin’s going to be a great addition to our RB room well the other guy that that will get a lot of looks as a freshman uh Davon Goss who you know I think when you got a guy who’s 511 and 215 220 and his nickname is bullet that’s probably a good sign for you yeah yeah yeah definitely I think the thing that bullet has done is he’s come in and you know he’s really acclimated himself to what it is we’re doing uh in the back field he’s a guy who really carries himself not like a freshman but more like a veteran guy uh in his approach to the work you know he came from a program at Shaman where he competed on a high level week in and week out and those are some things that he’s definitely benefited from when he got here uh because the competition the level of competion ition has not been too much for him uh he steps up and he’s shown well in all aspects I got to ask you a question on him because yesterday JJ Jones told us that when you guys first came out for practice the first day gos is wearing ankle tape and no socks and says that’s just a South Florida thing we do that I see he’s got socks on today have you had to talk some sense to him no no no no no not at all not at all I love bullet I love his approach to it I mean he comes out there with no accessories you know I joke that he’s like a football player straight out the box no gloves no tape no towels he’s just out there with his ankles taped and he’s ready to go to work so he comes with a yman type of approach in it shows uh when he’s got the ball in his hands or when he’s picking up protection well I’m sure batteries were included with him because he’s got some energy uh let me ask you the the back field in general when last year you’ve got Drake May and I and I know look he’s a great great player and there was probably a lot of times between him and Omarian where everybody’s kind of saying like don’t worry they’re going to bail us out how much different does this year feel to you cuz I’ve heard Max sort of harp on like we can’t replace Drake may we got to be everybody’s got to be a little better yes yes yes there’s no doubt about it obviously great uh Drake was a great player and he did some great things for us and uh you know I think we’ve got some guys uh who are still here who are capable of making uh those same type of plays in the quarterback room I think there’s still some things that obviously have to shake themselves out but I think if we look at our overall talent wise I mean from our tight end room uh to our running back room to our wide receiver room uh I feel confident that everybody involved obviously will need to step their game up and I think that uh we’ll definitely get that done all right well talked about uh uh davon’s nickname of the bullet this guy with one of my all-time favorite nron means business sir the man over here nron means running backs coach at North Carolina nron thanks so much for joining us yes sir thank you very much for having me all right David thanks very much uh 3,000 career rushing yards 34 touchdowns in 33 games number two a second round pick golly 31 years ago that doesn’t seem possible by the Chargers naton means from har Berg North Carolina when we continue Cayman Rucker the butcher joins our all access practice session from Chapel Hill back here in Chapel Hill North Carolina’s all access practice one of the reasons Carolina fans should be incredibly excited coming into this year is the return of the butcher Cayman Rucker eight and a half sacks a year ago 15 tackles for loss one of the most disruptive defensive linemen in the entire League he’s got power he’s got speed he’s got Bend and he’s got a on him today Cay really appreciate first before we get into what’s going on here ask the name the butcher so um it came around my freshman year and we were playing Boston College and it was my very first start at the time and um now to my defensive line coach and was just like they was just like they was as aggressive as a rolling ball of butcher KN and so after a while they was just like they really like me and my dad you know nil was on the come up around that time and so we was like we got to do something with this and so you know we can’t that’s too much to say so we shortened it down to the Butcher and you know the butcher was born and we here now I love it I love it all right talk to me about what’s going on with the defensive line right now saw you having a conversation with Travis Shaw looks like we got a little what inside run going on what are the coaching points for a guy who’s on the sideline watching these guys that you want to see from them an inside run first thing you want to look for is technique for real because anything right now in inside run is all like obviously for the name of it it’s all inside run outside Zone runs anything that you can think of so right now the first thing you need to think of is just your fundamentals and your Technique so what that’s really what I’m looking for like whatever the call is that they’re um completing it to the fullest their steps are right their hands are right their eyes are where they needed to be and as long as you complete those things man hey you’re going to have a really good inside drill the rest of this defensive line we’ve had a chance to talk to Coach Collins about it some we’ve had a chance to obviously talk to Coach mck Brown what’s the feeling in that room when you’ve got returning guys like yourself like Desmond Evans Kevin Hester uh Travis Shaw guys that have played a lot of ball what is the feeling like in that room man just to realize that we got a lot of weapons in the room and we got a lot of dogs in the room man and just um to have guys return like myself and others and then um being led by coach Ted monino man we got the sky the um the sky limit for us man and I can’t wait to get to work with these boys um boys that are new to the team guys that I’ve been playing for uh two three plus years man and I feel like we’re all looking at at the same goal man I feel like we’re really excited to uh make a name for ourselves this season and to you know get back to UNC football to where D L is one of the best to come out so all right I’ve got a defensive lineman’s favorite period one-on-one Desmond Evans just took a one-on-one rep looks like Travis Shaw’s up here I want you to talk me through what you see with this rep so right now it was a good get off I feel like right there that a spin would have been good if um the guard overs seted him a little bit I think the guard was a little patient with him more of a horizontal Center so with spins like that you’re going to have to really buy the outside Rush In order to counter back inside my personal opinion I think uh Travis could have went with a double swipe right there kind of invaded his inside Space to get the guard to think on get him confused with his feet hit him with a double swipe and I feel like he would have really had a good chance to get to the quarterback right there all right there was a lot of great coaching points I don’t know if if you guys have a camera on us if you can get a camera on us talk to me about what a double swipe is talk to me about the double swipe all right so I’m going to do what I best hold on there’s a spider on you but um so I’m going to do the best what I can so if you’re on my left side leverage right here so I’m going go and the thing is with a double swipe you don’t just want to go and just run straight up field and just keep on swiping it’s not exactly what you think it is the placement of it is that your inside hand is hitting the wrist right here outside hand cuffing the um elbow back here so when you go and first with the get off you want to go invade the inside Space so you can have his feet a little confused and second he shoots his hands swipe and the second you swipe because offensive lineman they like to get their hands back that’s what they taught so they’re going to try to recycle Swip I love it I love it uh when you’re watching here how much can you learn watching sorry we’ll let it go how much can you learn just watching uh and Advance your game even though you’re not getting the live reps what are you looking for to help try and improve your game honestly I’m just looking at the feet man I feel like us as Edge rushers as defensive lineman that really likes to get after the quarterback there’s a lot of different things that we don’t really pay attention to the little details like when you watch film that’s why it’s so important to get the to rest get the visual rest because when you’re out there man all you’re taught is the plays and to be a ball player after that and so it’s just like when on my personal standpoint from my viewpoint I really look at the feet the hands the get off to see if you fall stepping or not where are your eyes when you’re looking at before the before the ball snaps anything like that so really even though like I hate that I can’t be out there with my guys practicing physically but I’m really taking the me to see what I can do to better my game and to help my guys be better pass rush we’ve got Coach mck Brown here now hanging out with us what about this guy best pass rusher in the country and better person how many great defensive ends have sung the National Anthem for the final four that’s a great Point by you I mean if you want to sing I I think the answer is one it’s this guy it’s just this guy uh the the singing ability I’m glad he brought that up because you can you can sing a little bit just a little where does that come from um shoot that just me growing up in the church man so um my mom and my dad they’re very U Faith fill God-fearing and so you know with me growing up in the church was no option and so that’s what I really got my singing ability Singing in The Adult Choir Children’s Choir you know that’s kind of where I got my voice from and now I I still do it to this day so I mean uh I’m not going to ask you to break out in the song here I know you got to get warmed up and all that but but a as as we see as we see full line going how is that different than just one-on ones in practice um really um for the full line man I feel like it gives a really good real live game rep of what it’s actually going to be in the actual game because in one-on ones you know it’s it’s an advantage for us we can be honest it’s an advantage for Ed rush or defensive lineman because the offensive lineman don’t have any help they don’t have the Zone protection and the man protection to their side and so when you go to a full slot when you go not to a full slot but a full um pass rush line you can really start to see how it’s going to be in the real game you’re going to have your zoning man size you’re going to have communications from them Center and so with that you got to figure out what games are going to work best so you like to work your text games to the man’s side because everybody’s matched up you like to work your exit gamees to The Zone side especially when you got the offensive linan their gaps are C D and so let me let me let me pause you there the two games that you just talked about break those down for us so the Tex game that is when more than likely you’re going to be to your three technique side the three technique to your side is going to be have a vertical charge into the B Gap and the outside Guy The Edge rusher is going to take a good a good vertical Step Up field and loop back around into the a gap the exit part is where it’s basically flipped so the edge guy is going to be the first penetrator he’s going to go into the B Gap first and the nose guard to your side is going to take a good step up field and loop all the ra around to get the contain love it love it got to ask about your finger other than uh having some awkward exchanges where you can bend all three fingers except for that middle one uh talk to me about the recovery time that’s keeping you out and the injury that’s keeping you out this spring yeah so um it’s a um I had a central tendon um slip and so what that is basically is a tendon that basically keeps your finger straight and I ruptured that in the Clemson game last season I don’t know what play when it happened but uh I just remembered that my finger was a lot more jacked up than it already was but um you know I just kind of waited a little bit I wanted to get some Spring ball reps and especially with Coach Collins coming into the system I really wanted to see the minister and Mayhem live so you know I wanted to really get some of his play calls we really um talked with the athletic staff the um athletic training staff the coaches all the coaches knew about my decision to get this surgery um it’s about a 2 to three month recovery but um I have these like little poles in my finger and stuff like that so I get them out after a month and after a month man I’m up and rolling so well let’s go you’re going to have a long NFL career if this appearance on TV is anything uh is anything going forward that you want to do you probably have a long career on this side too C it’s been an absolute pleasure man take care yes sir thank you so much for having me yeah appreciate it Wes all right Rody thanks thanks to Cay ruffer as well Rucker the butcher I I didn’t even realize he was injured I thought he just didn’t like Rody when we come back JJ Jones part of our all access practice session at Chapel Hill all right we’re back here in Chapel Hill uncc’s all excess practice and now I’m watching 7 on seven with the guy who can run us through everything Jones JJ let’s just jump into it uh little seven on seven here we got Max Johnson at quarterback I don’t know if you know the call but what are you looking for here ma Johnson good catch Alex Taylor across the middle um I got let me let me see this next play call oh we got one rep and then halftime it’s all right uh so with you mentioned Alex Taylor there and Jordan ships Jordan ship with the go ball Alex Taylor makes the catch two freshman how impressive have they been here in the spring you could tell that these guys are they’re coming here they want to play and they really impressed me so far cuz I know a lot of freshman when they come in it’s hard for them to understand the Playbook and be able to play fast but those are two guys who I believe you can make an immediate impact we had a chat yesterday about the the fact that this core has had names coach ma Brown told us earlier every started Galloway has made it the NFL um what is the feeling amongst this as there’s not the names that you’ve had in the past with TZ Walker coming over in joshs a couple years ago we all have a chip on our shoulder absolutely um I believe that we have one of the best receiver rooms in the country and I genuinely believe that and I know from top to bottom we have the depth I know we’ve had a lot of guys who have been hurt or just been underrated so I feel like this year everyone has a chip on their shoulder in the room and we all want to prove Pro that we all belong and we’re all great players well you’re the guy that’s that’s that’s catching the passes from Max Johnson and from Connor harell what’s it been like being in the middle of a quarterback battle and having to work with both of those guys I it’s not too bad I remember having to be in the battle with jacobe chriswell and Drake may my sophomore year um but you know you try to catch from each one of them I know Max is a lefty quarterback and not a lot of people know it’s kind of hard catching from a lefty quarterback it’s uh it’s a little bit different but you know catching for both both those guys they they’re both really good quarterbacks really accurate and um I mean at the same time Whoever has whoever starts is going to be a great player for us well the way of the kickers a little bit we’ll take a couple steps this way uh going through the spring you know not being able to be a full participant uh you’re an older guy you’ve been through it you know what it’s like to go through the grind of the ACC but what’s it been like not being able to be out here as a full participant I mean it’s tough you want to be out here and compete with all your teammates and compete with your brothers but at the same time feel like now it’s more of a leadership role for me uh teach the young guys uh just be a mentor for them and um at the same time still learn the Playbook even though I’m not out there getting the physical reps still get the mental reps at the same time last one before we get you out of here um year two under chip Lindsay I think people kind of forget that because we’ve got Jeff Collins on the on the defensive side and it’s exciting this offense this with being the second spring with chip Lindsay what have you seen that’s different this spring uh this spring I feel like we’re more focused on running the ball a little bit more um when you have guys like am Marion Hampton who is probably the best running back in the country you want to be able to feed that feed him the ball and feed him the Rock and uh coach Lindsay’s best game plan is give your Playmakers the ball um I know we had a lot of Playmakers last year but especially with this year we have so many unproven names that I get I got to go out here every day and watch and see a bunch of guys who really didn’t make plays last year go out here and make plays which is really good and really helps out this team overall uh unc’s leading receiver last year one of the best receivers in the conference uh coach as soon as he gets through playing he going be trying to get your job both of these guys he a’t came and I think they’re both really good I do too they’re good it may be a while for they done playing football JJ really appreciate it man Wes all right Rody thanks very much thanks to JJ Jones quick halftime break if you will at the practice session when we come back more to come from Chapel Hill on acc Network work well with the NFL draft just right around the corner don’t forget Wednesday night 9 o’l Eastern here on acc Network and the ESPN app the ACC huddle crew will have their drought film breakdown special highlighting all the ACC players who could go in the NFL draft that’s Wednesday night 9:00 draft film breakdowns on the ACC hudle here on acc Network David hail continues our coverage of the all access Carolina practice and he’s with Brian Simmons yeah you know uh I was before when I was talking to nron me he came up to me afterwards and he said I want to plug something here real quick so he gave me some stats he wanted me to share 5,000 yard rushers under Mac Brown for all ACC guys one ACC play Player of the Year One doke finalist three NFL draft picks just in the back field we talked earlier that uh every starting wide receiver under m brown is playing in the NFL right now they had a quarterback Named Sam Hal another one named Drake May the point of all of this that I’m getting at Wes is they got some Pro Talent here in Chapel Hill and we got a guy who’s helping them out Brian Simmons 10 years in the NFL eight years in scouting of course a North Carolina Ring of Honor guy but your job now is praison give us a little bit of a background on what that means so basically doing the fall when the Scouts come in and stuff my job is to kind of orchestrate the guy the day for those guys to make sure they have everything that they need to make their day easy to evaluate our guys and then throughout the process just advising our players in terms of you know maybe the agents or just kind of what they expect during the process and now also with the draft leading up kind of what they expect and and how to go through that process we’ll have a zoom call with those guys on Tuesday they kind of talk about that kind of stuff more in depth and uh so you know along with the coaches and other people in this on the staff that’s kind of how we approach it well yeah and the draft process can be such a weird thing for so many guys because you’re used to getting ready for game day and putting stuff on film this is a much different scenario and you look at a guy like Drake May who is being picked apart by everybody who has a a space for an opinion which is almost everybody these days what is it what do you tell guys who are going through that process and trying to navigate the ups and downs of it yeah and and even on top of that it’s different from for every guy too right Drake may experience is going to be be different from a guy who may not get drafted right Drake May has to worry about the personal workouts and traveling and doing all that stuff uh to go to different teams facilities where another guy may just be getting phone calls from position coaches trying to set up a relationship for free agency right so it just depends on the guy but what I tell them all is just to go through the process prepare when you have interviews but more importantly just enjoy the process because everything that you could have done to help yourself and to control the process is over there there’ll be no more games uh so now every team goes through their different process to evaluate guys and there’s nothing that you can do about that at this point so just sit back enjoy this process which you will only do one time in your life how much I mean having been a scout and been on the other side of this I assume you can give them some good insight to like hey when you’re talking to these guys when you’re working out in front of them these are what the the specifics that they’re looking at these are what they’re evaluating because obviously there’s a minimal amount of time that you have into prepping put your best foot forward on the things that matter the most yeah and and that’s really it put your put your best foot for with every single thing you do the same way you do as a player and then approach and and and attack everything with energy uh show leadership and be confident and if you do those things then the talent they’ll rate you wherever you may be but those things you can completely control and control those things well the confidence thing is an interesting one to me because you know we we’ve had some conversations about people critiquing Drake on things I think are are mindboggling but you look at a guy like TZ Walker who you know last season was a lot of ups and downs for him because of the off field stuff he went out and had not the Senior Bowl that he was hoping for but goes out and Wows them at the combine and looks really good at his Pro Day how have you how did you kind of help guide him through the the the ups and downs of all of that yeah so I was I got here in March so obviously during the fall I wasn’t on staff to be able to help with those things but I think he did he showed a lot of maturity he handled his situation really well and then when he had an opportunity to play he made the best of it you know I think with him they the NFL sees a guy that has a lot of good traits he catches the ball really well he’s has sides and he has speed and the NFL will all always like those things yeah as a scout did you prioritize a guy who had put a lot on film or a guy who’s got sort of the the skill set you know he’s got the skills the stuff you can’t teach and think ah we’ll figure it out when he gets there well a little bit of both right ideally you were like a guy with skill sets and a history of playtime and production right and those guys usually get graded a little higher but sometimes there may be guys who may not have as much experience he may be a one or twoe starter or maybe a backup Ro but has really good traits or May in cases depend on where he is and who he’s playing behind be behind a really good football player so you have to look at each guy individually and more importantly it’s not just that he doesn’t have a lot of play or he may not been started you have to look into it more deeply and understand why that may be the case well I want to ask a guy who has put a ton of plays on film and that’s said gray I think he played about six seasons over the last two years that that that’s how do how have you evaluated him or what have you talked to him about in terms of what he means at the next level same thing I mean he’s a guy that that you see his production and you see his play history he checks all those boxes he has the size when you look at him he looks like an NFL linebacker he plays the game the right way with a lot of passion and I think a team will get a really good football player when they draft him well sort of the wrap this up I mean you you obviously had this great pro career coming from Chapel Hill what’s it mean to you to be back in this role and to see just the sheer number of guys who have legitimate Pro potential back here in Chapel Hill playing under m brown that’s the way it’s supposed to be when you come to University of North Carolina here’s a place that develop NFL guys and and it’ll be no different you know when you come here you have a chance to get an education from one of the best schools in the country and then also you’re going to be at a place where we’re going to send guys to the NFL and that’s what’s expected and that’s the and that’s how we will operate well we’re glad to have you back here in Chapel Hill Brian uh we’ll talk more with TZ Walker and uh said gray just a minute and uh guys it is impressive that that the number of guys that are being ched out uh into the NFL from Chapel Hill we got a couple of them right here who have gone going through the process right now for better or worse I guess Cedric gray linebacker TZ walker uh Elite wide receiver here guys uh first of all what’s it been like the last few months to have everything that you’re doing sort of under a microscope picked apart one way or another are you where are you going to be you don’t even know what city you’re going to be living in in a couple months yeah I mean obviously we just been training really hard you know grinding uh through this process say uh waiting on that day but also we’re we’re feeling very anxious we’re wondering where we’re going to go where we’re going to be um where we’re going to spend the next few years to play football so it’s it’s an exciting process but definitely very anxious and ready for that day well TZ I want to ask you I’m going to slide over here too you you uh had a decision to make about coming out obviously the raw speed and athleticism is there on film for everybody to see but you only got because of whatever maybe poor decisions were made at higher levels last year you got so many games of uh in this offense and so much to put on film was that a difficult decision for you to make to say like all right I think I’ve done enough to take this next step oh it was a very difficult decision I thought about coming back but um I feel like I’ve done enough and I feel like I’m I’m ready to take that next step and go to the league feel like my skill set is different than a lot of guys in this draft feel like I can BR that’s what I can bring to an organization so um feel like it was it was time for me uh to go to the next next level when you’re going through this process there’s so many ups and downs that you go through and I look back the senor Senior Bowl game I don’t know if that was necessarily the best week that you wanted to put forward but you go at the combine and everybody’s like oh my Lord look at this guy how do you kind of navigate the fact that like you have some good days you have some bad days over the course of a full season that all Blends together but when you’re under the microscope like this I assume all of them feel big yeah I just continue to work uh I wouldn’t let one week Define me uh knew it was a bad week I just went back back back in the gri mode got back down in Florida uh got on The Jug worked on my craft U so by the time combine pro day came uh everything was polished and um looked good for everybody so um just continue to grind and work and don’t let didn’t let that affect me that’s pretty much what I what it was said we just talked to Brian Simmons and I want to ask you guys either if you can chime in but I’ll ask you said what is it to have the support system that Carolina gives you not just throughout the course of the season and getting ready for games and putting good stuff on film but as you’re navigating these sort of uncharted waters to have people who’ve been through it before and understand the way that the world works at this level yeah it’s it’s a great feeling like you just mentioned uh Brian is a former linebacker somebody the position that I played so he’s been a big help throughout this process just giv us advice on what it was like for him what his experiences were like in the NFL um and it’s a great tool to have you know heading into the NFL and have a a head start in an understanding of how things operate has anything surprised you as you’ve gone through this process excuse me through the draft process um nothing has really surprised me I’m learning a lot you know obviously this is something that I’m new to uh so I’m learning a lot and trying to take it all in but nothing’s really surprised me too much questions you’ve been asked by anybody during all this um N I haven’t I haven’t had no crazy questions um the crazy is what you’re saying uh pretty much the only Crazy Ones I get is when they um they ask about like the NCA and stuff like why didn’t I do this do that instead of doing this and I’m just like had anything crazy so well we’re going to get going thanks so much guys best of luck in the draft we can’t tell you how much we appreciate the time looking forward to seeing you guys all on Sundays sir appreciate thank you very much appreciate it and of course you’re talking about those are two of the three big departures for Carolina you know the numbers on Drake May who’s expected to be a top three top two pick uh a week from Thursday night you see TZ Walker in limited reps 41 catches almost 700 yards and what more can you say about one of the ACC and the nation’s best tacklers in Cedric gray 12 six stops Rody is standing by with JJ Jones and I think we got some one-on-one situations Rody well you know what they say can’t keep the Jones boys apart uh back here with JJ Jones uh JJ we got a little Team Action uh what have you seen so far in the team period so far I’ve seen a lot of plays being made on the offensive end uh like I said before the young guys out here really making a lot of plays and Connor and Max and quarterback they’re Mak they’re making the right reads right decisions and it’s going to be competition all spring who who are some of the young guys that you that you’ve seen making plays not just today but over the course of the spring I got sticking with the receivers you got to think of guys like Jordan ship and Alex Taylor um those two true freshman have came in and made plays right away not even you know on the on one of our more better and Veteran uh DBS they’ve made uh great plays and outside the receiver room I love uh Davon Gau he call we call him the pill toer from Florida he doesn’t wear socks he doesn’t wear gloves um he definitely you know who he is when he’s out there he knows how to run the ball well he’s got great vision so I really like Davon you those socks is a little disturbing to me but but moved past that as you mentioned Jordan ship had a big over route a little bit earlier catch on Elijah huzzy I assume that that’s that’s increased the level of play of the DBS as well it’s a DB group that you get to see often it’s a DB group that there are some question marks about coming into this 2024 season what have you seen from the DB it’s it’s a very very it’s a young room we’ve got some veterans we got three returners coming back but other than that we have a lot of new transfers new uh new freshman so it’s exciting to see all these young guys be able to compete at a high level and then we have a guy like Elijah huzzy back there in Stick Lane those were two veteran veteran veteran players and they know how to control the secondary like we got to play right here coming to me I’ll make a catch oh come on that was JJ that was going to be perfect that would have been a catch right there that’s a pbu that’s a pbu Coach Collins goingon to have to put that one on the card oh I mean Max Johnson throwing the ball away perfect pass to JJ Jones on the sideline who was ready for it I got the heck out of do but JJ was ready for it and it gets broken up it’s all right sometimes that happens uh but Max Johnson in the backfield in the backfield with DAR Darwin Barlo couple of transfers what have you seen from those two guys what have they brought to the table they’ve brought veteran leadership and experience um max Johnson coming from the SEC he’s played uh High football high standard football and he’s been able to come here with him and Austin blasy who played at Georgia um there they’re guys who know what they’re doing that one skipped that one skipped that one didn’t count that one I like the reflexes I mean you’re immediately going for the football and I’m 10 yard away it just shows why one of us played receiver and the other one is uh talking on TV right now when when you’re when you’re watching Team obviously you like to go to oneone battles I I’m obsessed with eyes like where where do people’s eyes go where do your eyes go as you’re watching Team periods um first you got to look at the linebackers see where they’re sitting at and then you got to look at the safties you want to look at your man but at the same time if you could read that there’s two safeties back there it might be cover two cover four so I’ve been able to read the whole field gives you an advantage in you’re route running cuz in you’re a receiver you know what you’re running DBS don’t know what you’re running so using all the advantages you can makes things a lot easier it’s been fun to to kind of be with you as these as these things are developing you pointing out guys on the defensive side of the offensive side that you really like but also pointing out routes that you like uh you were telling me about one of your favorite routes in the middle of the field not down near the goal line because there all you receivers like a fade down near the goal line but in the middle of the field where what are some of your favorite routes that you like to run I’ve got to go with a climb route that’s basically running like a little drag underneath the linebackers linebackers going to come down the opposite cornet guarding me will most likely drop off you pop up right over the top oh we got a catch right here get up field that’s another freshman that we got another freshman tight end that was a heck of a throw on the Run by by Conor Harold into the wi I mean the wind is crazy today he’s throwing that thing off of one foot running to his right that was a heck of a delivery n these guys can play especially Conor I love how the way he played it towards the end of the last season him being able to step in for Drake and come into the bowl game with that with that starting spot able to make plays so it’s but like I said before it’s been a great competition B uh QB battle between these two and I’m I’m going to enjoy watching it now you’re one of the most veteran guys on this team uh as you mentioned you graduate in May what’s Carolina meant to you over the course of your career it’s really meant everything to me um like Coach Brown says he tells everybody in recruiting it’s not a 4-year decision it’s a 40-year decision and he’s got me con connected with a lot of guys with AC Network like you with Wes um just to be able to pursue life after football because he knows that we all want to play football but one day you’re going to take the shoulder pads helmets off you’re going to untie the cleat and you’re going to have to go into the real world so I really love that this a great program you can get a great education here I love Carolina and uh it’s it’s just like I said it’s just been great to be here just saw Connor Hill get out break contain get up field uh premature whistle a little bit I think he had a little bit more in that run um big question here are you faster than Connor harrold am I faster than Conor harell I believe I’m Coach Brown has said that he’s 44 guy over there he’s 44 I think I’m 4-3 I’m faster than TZ Walker oh let’s go where’s where’s TZ where’s TZ ran away he knows the real answer Alex Taylor with a great catch over there one of those freshmen that you were talking about uh how often is there a debate about the fastest in the locker room oh you hear it every day um especially last year with TZ and we got a younger guy and Chris CER number three receiver who he’s an absolute burner um those two us talk about every day who’s faster but they were always talking about who’s second fastest cuz they already know who the big dog is in the room so yeah at least they know of course U as as a leader in this group what are the what are most off in the tips that you’re giving some of these younger receivers the Jordan ships the island the Alex Taylor what are some of the receiving tips that you’re giving to these guys on a regular basis I say the two biggest thing the first one is just go out there and have fun um I know it’s college football but at the same time you got to have fun if you’re not having fun you’re going to be you’re going be stiff you’re out there play a little bit not as Loose as you want to and number two just just be out there and be physical uh college football is way different than high school and a lot of these guys they didn’t block in high school uh I know I didn’t but when you play at this level these DBS are just as fast just as strong um so being able to be physical in everything you do whether it’s route running or blocking it’s you have to be physical in everything yeah all right JJ it has been an absolute pleasure thank you for hanging out with us thank you for making us smarter about this team and about ball in general after your hopefully for me extremely long NFL career you can jump in our business and take my job all right I’ll take your job and everybody else there you go hey West back to you all right Rody uh no t word spoken there uh when we come back we’ll head for the final turn on our all access spring practice with the Tar Heels it’s a busy day on acc Network we’ll retrace those steps for you as well as maybe a final visit from m brown too after this final stretches of North Carolina’s all access practice here at Keenan Stadium this morning in Chapel Hill it is a huge day on acc Network you want your football fixed well you won’t have to turn the channel all afternoon because coming up next Mark kerer Mark hli Ashley strine standing by Bill O’Brien makes his spring debut as the head coach at Boston College that’ll be live here on acc Network then an hour later Brent key over on accnx and ESPN plus Georgia Tech begins their spring game in midtown Atlanta at Bobby do Stadium an hour later on acc Network we’ll switch from Chestnut Hill to Acure stadium in Pittsburgh patard dozi and the Panthers an hour after that over on ESPN plus and accnx off to blackburg for Brent pry Bill Roth and reeni angolia will be there for coverage of the hokes and then we’ll wrap it up at 4:00 this afternoon our buddy Andre adelon part of the coverage of Miami spring game here this afternoon on acc Network X and also the ESPN app and you see Carolina’s Run game behind am Mari and Hampton getting some reps here as we uh we start in down chip Lindsay’s on the walkie-talkie and I think Rody is uh near the head coach of the Tar Heels yeah let me see if I can grab coach m brown for a second coach we got a little team period it’s got to be one of a coach’s favorites what have you seen from these guys out here competing today well they they’re each trying to raise their value you know we got to play the best players we they’re all equal off the field we want all their lives to be great off the field on the field you and I are going to get over on the field okay okay get with your coaches get with your coaches uh but this is like a game they’re a game so what they do here is what we’re going to see how they’re going to respond at Minnesota and everything either raises their value and trust or low it and it’s on them to do that and we had a great scrimmage on Thursday so easily day because you know excited people get fores they don’t as much so we job of winning games when we don’t play well and we got to be ready to play each week so that was one of the big goals for today is make sure that that we here energy and play well and I think they’ve done that we got a bunch of guys walking I will go wherever you need us to go to get out of the way we’ll go right here but a as you evaluate this team there are some some areas where I think there are question marks obviously the offense one of them we have talked a little bit about it but feel so good about this group that you’re assembling on the offensive line we’ve got more depth than we’ve had it’s a tough group they love to play and um and they’re excited about running the ball and and all that coach Clemens is a tremendous teacher he’s got a hat that says run the damn ball so he doesn’t say hello to him he says run the damn ball so uh we we want to run the ball Better amarian Hampton we’ve seen him take a couple of uh of touches today when you have and you’ve had some great running backs when you have a running back like Amari in Hampton how do you operate with him in the offseason to make sure that he arrives in Minnesota healthy and ready to go well it’s it’s uh as as you remember it it’s difficult he has got to buy in to he will not get hit as much he will not scrimmage full speed as much but he’s going to have to push himself so hard that he’s ready to go with full-time contact when we get there and U and he’s done that so far he’s had a tremendous spring but he knows we got to devel guys behind him cuz he needs a break some and he needs a rest so um practicing full speed being really physical and tackling and keeping people healthy is is what we’re all trying to do we’re trying to go game speed and keep of the head coach and it’s a very difficult job I can imagine it is I I I want to put a punctuation mark on on some things that you’ve accomplished here I mentioned it earlier but the past two guys who have won a quarterback battle for you are either playing in the NFL or about to get drafted top five uh every receiver that started under you here at North Carolina is playing in the NFL obviously the success that you guys have had on the field playing in an Orange Bowl for the first time in in recent memory the games that you’ve won what makes you most proud about your second stint at North Carolina is that when we came in we’d won five games in the last two years and hadn’t been to bowl games and and we weren’t relevant and the stands were empty and and people were down Larry Fedor did a tremendous job here to the end and then the last couple of years it it was a struggle for him uh but for us to to come in here have the excitement back people say well people gripe when you win eight and nine I said yeah at least they care and and and that’s important but I really feel like that we’re so close we are relevant we’ve been the top 10 a couple of times we’re recruiting at a high level uh I love these kids we’ve got a tremendous staff uh and all we got to do is figure out how to finish a little better Coach we’ve enjoyed the access really appreciate apprciate you having us out it’s been great thank you for the great weather and thank you for a little bit of wind to see some adversity for these guys thank you this is fun for them because we we don’t get to control What God Says happens on Saturday and we all always we don’t always get to play indoors so not like basketball we have to handle the elements so this was fun today we love it coach thank you thank you Rody W all right Rody thanks when we come back final word from Chapel Hill closing up session with the tar Hills next well I the elements today at Keenan Stadium a little wind never hurt anybody in April thanks to mik Brown and his staff uh terrific effort here today by everybody involved to help us bring you this all access spring practice all right obligatory takeaway from today by Carolina I got two the first is we didn’t talk a ton about the o line I was a little worried about them coming into last year this year those look like dudes that’s NFL siiz dudes out there my second is next year when we do this let’s just have JJ and Kayon handle the second half of this we’ll go hit top of the hill it’ll be fine there you go great point look Carolina’s going to be better than a lot of people expect I I don’t know how much better but I know they’ll be better and I know that Ma Brown likes to position they’re in they’re not going to be talked a lot about but he feels like he’s got a really good football team I think it’s going to be very interesting to watch the first month with this team you know the three home games that follow the opener at Minnesota I think they’ve got a chance right they’re one of those contenders behind the summer of Florida State and Clemson right and it might be the most wide open at the top of the league we’ve had in a while yeah good point there great to be with David hail Rody Jones now we send you to Chestnut Hill Mark keser Mark herlick Ashley stoline standing by with the Eagles
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