Brown: Heading into South Carolina game, the latest on NCAA's ruling on Tez Walker's eligibility :: WRALSportsFan.com

Apr 08, 2024

UNC head coach Mack Brown addresses the media before the Tar Heels' season opener versus South Carolina.

Welcome everybody and, uh, excited about start of football season. It started with zero week last year for us and it was fun watching some of the games late this weekend. But, but now it's, uh, it's time to kick it off. And, uh, I'm very, very proud of our program that we're a top 20 program in preseason. Understanding that postseason is what matters, not, not preseason, uh, but at least people think we have a chance to be good. Uh, we're on, uh, ABC prime time and our opening game on, on Saturday night, uh, against a really good opponent and we've got college game day for the third time in, in the history of our program. So a lot of positive things to kick off the season. Uh, we will, uh, we, we also just finalized a new training room that's 5.5 times bigger than the one we had, uh, previously that's really helped our, our kids and they're excited about it and, and, and got an outdoor area upstairs. So, uh, we're also stepping up in facilities, uh, proud of what these guys have accomplished in the last four years, four straight bowl games, a coastal, um, championship going to a conference championship and, and we, we've been good and we've been better than, we've been around here in a while and, and that's important for us to know we want to be great and, and that's the next step and, and our, our, our thought for the spring was how do you get from good to great. Uh, when you, you've got a, a 40 to 21 lead on a state in the fourth quarter. How do you finish the game? How, how do you do that because it really hurt us last year. Give up state credit. They came back and, and, and made it one of the best games of the year, but it, it, uh, tarnished our defense for the rest of the year because you don't give up 40 points in, in a quarter. Uh, you're, you're sitting there and, and you've got a 17 point lead over Georgia Tech at home and you get beat, how, how do you keep from doing that? You, you, you can't do that and, and get where we want to go. Uh, you lose, NC stayed at home on a last second field goal. You gotta finish, you got a 19 point lead or, or you got a 10 point lead with nine minutes left over Oregon, who's a great team on the road and you've lost coaches, you've lost players, uh, but you get beat with 19 seconds left So those are things that we've got to figure out how to do better. Um, because we're a lot like the other teams in our league, there's a few that, that probably have better talent than anybody. And then a lot of us are a whole lot alike and you've got to play better and coach better, uh, to win the games. And so many of our games came down to the last play or the last series last year. That's kind of what is happening in college football, uh, throughout. So, uh, that's where we are and, and, um, uh, excited about this weekend, uh, for lots of reasons I'll touch on the coaching staff. Uh, I think it's the best one we've ever had. They're all working good together, uh, the, now what they've got to do, they're very knowledgeable. They gotta take that knowledge to the field on Saturday night and, and make sure that we're doing what's best for our players. But, uh, um, I, I feel like we've improved in lots of areas and a lot of that credit is to an older team. Um, and, and more of that credit too is, is to the, the coaches that are all working together and trying to make sure that we keep the, a similar passing game and do better in the running game. Uh, we've got to stop the run and, and cover the deep balls better in, in preseason practice. People want to know how your team looks, you can't tell because when one part of it looks good, the other one looks bad. So, if we have a scrimmage where we ran the ball, well, I'm mad at our defense if we came out and didn't run the ball. Well, I'm mad at the offense for not running the ball. Well, so it's a head coach has trouble being happy in, in preseason when you leave the, the field and some of all of that's happened, there have been days where the defense dominated and there's been days where we ran for 100 and 24 yards. Uh, so all of those things are things that, uh, we will know more about, um, on Saturday, uh, guys who are gonna have more playing time than in the past and, and I'll, uh, if you've got any of these, you want to ask about individually, I will touch them. But, uh, be akin and Jacoby Cowan are doing really well at the power end. So both of them should, should play Saturday night. I'm proud of them. Amari Campbell's done really, really well as a freshman linebacker and he was here this spring and, but he will play on Saturday night. Uh, DJ Jones, uh, one of the most unselfish moves I've ever seen at a, at a time where we talk about, um, transfer portal. Here's a young guy comes in and says coach I wanna play. So if I can play more at safety than running back. I want to move. And I said, what do you want to transfer? And he said, no, I, I'll be on special teams. I wanna do whatever I can do to help this team win. Uh, so he'll get to play Saturday night. Holloway has done a really good job at corner. He's a young guy that came in with two shoulder operations and didn't play last year. He's got length, he can run. He's a really good cover guy. He's got good skills. So we're excited about watching him, uh, four quick transfers and I may forget somebody if I do, you can bring it back up. But Amari Gayner is, is doing a good job at, uh, the outside linebacker position. He played inside linebacker at Florida State. He's come in here and change positions because he thought it was best for him as a graduate to, to help him with his, uh, future, uh, with the NFL. So he will be playing along with, um, Cayman Rucker at the Jack outside linebacker position. Uh, Elijah Huy, he is, uh, he's intercepted three or four balls this preseason, which we haven't been able to do lately. He had 12 last year, I think at East Tennessee State was an all American, but he's got really, really good ball skills and, and I like his game so he's gonna be fun to watch Saturday night. Derek Allen's done a really good job for us, he's improved in, in his tackling, uh, and he'll be a lot on special teams, but he'll play some at safety and stick lane. The young guy that played so well against us last year at Georgia State and forced two fumbles, uh, will also be playing on, on Saturday night. Offensively. Diego Pounds has improved a lot. He and, uh, uh, Travian Green, uh, Travis fight it. He's fighting a couple of injuries, um, but he will be back and ready for the game. It's gotten him behind a little bit, but Diego will play and he'll rotate some with Will Barnes and, um, Spencer Rain. Um, and, and really excited that Spencer Rollin is, has been, uh, nominated for the Campbell Award as the smartest player in college football. I think he had a 38 something grade point average at Harvard. Um, and as a guy that, that should get top consideration at that point, does that bother you all? Does it matter? Ok. I don't have any idea, get a better, better song choice. Um No, no question, Connor Harrell has had AAA great preseason. We're, we're really excited about seeing where he is and, and where he's going. Uh, so, um, he is, he has really stepped up and at, uh, receiver, we've got a lot of young guys that are stepping up of, uh, Andre Green, uh Christian Hamilton, Chris Culliver and, and Doc Chapman have all had really good preseasons and, um, some of them still learning what to do. Uh, but they, they've all done really well. Willie Lampkin, uh, will start in the offensive line. He can play center or guard really. Either guard. Um, he had dislocated fingers in the spring and still practiced and never came out. He's tough. He's smart. Um, he's driven and we're excited about him and then obviously you've got, uh, uh, Nate mccollum and, and Tez Walker, we still haven't heard anything from the NCAA on Tez we're hoping to hear something, uh, at least in the, the process and the timetable today. Uh, but at this point, um it's very difficult for him and for us because we're not sure of his status for Saturday and, and, uh, we're, we're just waiting to see. So your coaches are trying to figure out if he plays, here's a game plan. If he doesn't play, here's a different game plan and, and who would be in there and, and we don't know when we're going to hear that. So, uh, those are things that, that we are looking at, um, throughout the week, um, need all of our fans to show up in Charlotte at game day and have great representation and then come to the game. Sounds like it's gonna be a great crowd and we, uh, we've obviously played South Carolina in this stadium twice. The, the first year was, was fun. The second year. We didn't play well and they, they dominated us and, and this will be the third game and, and that, uh, one on one scheduled the bowl game. Um, so this is, uh, a fun game between the two and, and halfway between where, where a lot of fans can come and enjoy it and it'll be a great time to showcase both, both programs on game day. Um, so that'll, that'll be fun. Uh, Shane Beamer has done a tremendous job, uh at, at South Carolina. Um, he's entering his third season. Uh, he's got a lot of energy. He's, he's, uh, uh, they had a lot of momentum leaving the season last year that we didn't. Uh, and they, they've done a great job recruiting. So, uh, it, uh, as I said, it's a, a very difficult opener. I was looking at the openers across the country and most of them are laughers for Saturday. Um Most of them are scrimmages for the, the teams that are gonna play because they're playing teams that couldn't possibly beat them. Uh We're not, we're jumping in with both feet because we're, we've got a great challenge in South Carolina, especially with their momentum. Uh And at the same time, there's opportunity because everybody's going to get a first impression of this football team and I said, we lost some respect at the end of last year and this is, uh, a very important game for us to try to get our respect back nationally. Um One of the, the buzzes around the game are the two quarterbacks, Spencer Rattlers. A, a great player. Drake May is a great player. It's two of the best quarterbacks in the country. Two NFL guys very similar to our Oregon game with Bo Nix and, and Drake May. Uh, so that will showcase this game and, uh, they've got, always got great skill. Um, juice wells is one of the best receivers in the country. They've got a new offensive coordinator and, uh, Loggins and, and he's an NFL guy. He was at Arkansas last year. So, uh, they're not sure what we're gonna do with the changes with, with, uh, the offensive line coach and, and offensive coordinator here, we're not sure what they're gonna do. So the first quarter is gonna be some filling out with both defensive staffs of trying to figure out what the offensive staffs will do. Um, questions, uh, it really is. He's a great student. He's a tremendous person. He doesn't even care. He obviously wants to play, but he wants to win and it, it's been all about winning and he has never come in and said I'm down the depth chart at safety. Uh, I shouldn't have moved. He, he's, uh, he's an unbelievable young man. So, but it, it is, it, it's, uh, it's a great attitude for our team. Uh, but for college football in general at a time where there's a lot of selfishness. How much are they letting you know, where the, they, uh, our compliance is handling the, the, um, process completely. Uh, they keep us updated daily. Uh, they're in the process of, of trying to get him in contact with them this committee this week. So they can either talk to him or he can present, um, what he feels like is, is, uh, another, uh, reason for him to have an opportunity to play. We don't have any idea when they'll respond to that. Uh So we're just waiting. I remember you talked about this a couple years ago, but Shane is someone who basically wants to grow up because we have a relationship with his dad. That's probably kind of weird to be coaching him. It is, I, I watched Shane as a, a young guy and, and uh love Frank and, and Cheryl Beamer and it was funny on your, your picture roles last night, it popped up that Frank and I was picturing the Hall of Fame together and I thought maybe somebody is taunting me a little bit to throw it out there in front of me. I couldn't figure that out. Uh But I'm, I'm really, really proud of, of Shane and I know we all love our kids and, and I know Frank's gonna really be pulling hard against us on Saturday night. But uh uh how proud Frank must be of, of what Shane's accomplished. And I'm, I'm really proud for Shane the first game against a team that's known to do trip players. Do you worry about that? Yeah, they've done a really good job, especially with trick plays on their special teams. They coach limbo does, uh, as good a job as anybody in the country with those. So what it does, it keeps you from being as aggressive as you want because you got them all over the place and you don't want to be watching for trick plays so much that you're not aggressive on your defense. But they, they've done a really good job of, of making sure that they, they keep you off balance. Uh, we're not sure what they'll continue to do on offense. Uh, like they've got to wonder what we're gonna do, what's gonna change with their defense or with their change in offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. We're not sure what that will mean. We feel like the defense will be similar in structure, uh, but they're special teams. They, they're gonna fake two or three times during the game on Saturday night. That's just who they are. Be very update on you. I'm sorry. Uh, no, we, we will wait and see about him on Saturday back, back to back to, um, like, do you, do you all as a coaching staff this week since you still have no resolution, um, you know, have to say on like, I don't know, Wednesday or Thursday or, or just not gonna happen, like you have to sort of make your own mental deadline, obviously, with the hope that you could have in Friday or, you know, like there's some sort of, I don't know, a drop dead date in you all's mind in terms of preparing and when you say, ok, we might not, we need to be ready not to happen. Yeah, Adam, it's a good question and, and this is something that we're dealing with, we haven't dealt with before. So, um Tez was really down after practice yesterday and he didn't practice with as much confidence as he has been because he's not sure if he's gonna play and, and Lonnie Galloway and I met with him after practice and said, look, man, you, you gotta prepare to play because if they tell you Saturday at 3 30 you're gonna play, you gotta go play and you, you don't wanna be in a position where you're not ready to play and you don't wanna be in a position where you may get hurt because you're not out there, um, in the right mindset. So we've told him, you plan on playing, we're gonna plan on playing you and what we've got to do, Adam is have two game plans. We gotta have a game plan with him and one without him and that makes it difficult because you want your quarterback to be throwing to the guys, he's gonna throw to in the game and we're not sure who he's going to be throwing to. So it's, uh, it's a very difficult situation for us that it, that it's this late and we're still not sure, but he can travel, he can't dress if he's not eligible. Uh, so we're planning on him going, we're, we're, I'm planning on him playing and, and that's the only way we can look at it and if not, we'll just have to make last second adjustments on that same point, obviously has, you know, played a game here. But if you can kind of what would look like without, you know. Yeah, we're, we're not really sure. It's just the other receivers that stepped up when Antoine Green got hurt last year and Josh Downs got hurt or neither one of them played in the bowl game, we've got some other really good guys, uh, JJ Jones and, and Gavin Blackwell and Kobe Peso and, and then the Andre Greens have to step up and some of those young ones, Christian Hamilton's been here through the spring, uh, doc, uh Chapman's playing much better and then you, you, we're using uh George Pettaway summit running back and at slot. So, uh, he's in a position where he can play both. So, uh, we just had to adjust and, and instead of sitting around making excuses and, oh, poor me, you gotta go play like you mentioned, Andrew Green again. Um, he was some, we're talking a lot this time work out for him, but yes, the NCAA made a good rule that guys like Andre could play in the bowl game and it not cost him his red shirt here and he played really, really well against Oregon and then he's still been up and down some in the off season. But he, he's really come on this last week. So we're hoping that, that he will have a great year, the performance last season with it being back in the difference. Yes. Uh, genes, a tremendous coach and, and obviously he, he won a national championship and, and he won two. How many people have ever been in a national championship game? Mu much less 12. And he won one with us as a defensive coordinator. So I've seen what he can do and, and who he is and he's much more confident this year at knowing what's happening in college football, who we are and what we have to do to stop and, and plus there's a, um, um, uh, a real good camaraderie and, and communication in the back end now with Jason Jones and Charlton because they coached together at Indiana and, and Jason was a defense coordinator at two different places. So, um, the, the back end is, is more together, communication is better. Um, Ted Mona has really helped us up front with just watching and, and he can't coach on the field, obviously, but he can tell us, I see this, I see this, this looks good. Um, and and there's no question, we've got to have more tackles for loss. Uh, we, we've got to pressure the quarterbacks better and to do that, you got to stop the run better on first down. So, um, all of those things are things that we all know, um, everything that you all talk about, we talk about and, and everything that, that needs to be fixed from your standpoint, we know needs to be fixed and, and we're not sensitive about it. We, this is, this staff has got less ego than any I've ever been around. And I've asked them, you, you be hard on yourself, you be a hard self evaluator and, and you make sure that uh you get fixed what needs to be fixed. In fact, I told him this morning in our staff meeting when you come in here on Sunday, you know, there, there's things your, your unit, your position has to do to win the game on Saturday night, make sure you know what they are and we went over each one of them at each position. And then when you come in here Sunday, make sure you've done them and you work on them all week. Don't do anything else except the things that are gonna help us win the game. And then you take some pride in your unit on Sunday. And when we sit in here on Sunday, you can say my group did their job and if you can say that we will have won the game and if not, then it's on you man. And, and you should feel really bad. You should feel bad for your players. You should feel bad for the other coaches in the room. You should feel bad for your fan base because you didn't do your job and that's unacceptable. And, and, um, so this, this has been a really good staff to, uh, work with each other, talk to each other. Uh, obviously our, our white team, that's our second team will do some of the South Carolina stuff this week. As compared to in the past, we've just done scouts. So they're all working together really well. Chip it. It's, uh, it's another great question said Gray, uh, his message to our team and the college football is a lot like DJ Jones. He would have been a high draft choice. He would have been second or third probably. Um, I thought he would leave just about every young man here that's had the opportunity to be in that level has left. Uh, we didn't try to talk him into staying. Our job is to make sure we let him know exactly where we feel like he's gonna be drafted and then the family gets the information, they make the decision and he came in and said, I wanna stay and I said, why? And he said, uh, I've never won a conference championship. I haven't won a bowl game. I want to finish my degree and he said, and I can get a whole lot better and I wanna be a first round pick. So that attitude coming back to our team is, uh a great message for everybody. And, uh, I, I do think he can be as good as anybody in, in the league or the country because he's, uh, he, he's that hybrid guy that wasn't highly recruited. He was a safety slot receiver, kind of a tight guy at £210 203 pounds and now he's £233 and, and leading tackler in the country. So, uh, he, he's one that gives us a chance to be really good. He and Cayman Rucker right now are playing really, really at a high level for our defense. Are you pretty comfortable bringing your flight across the board defensively when you go to? Yeah. Yeah, we are. What we've got to do now is, is we've, we got a lot of guys hurt there last year, so we need to stay healthy. Number one, it's important to have a great year. You need to be healthy if, if not very few people have enough depth to overcome a lot of injuries. Um, and the year we won the national championship, I think we had one guy miss one game. Um, so, so that's important. Uh, but secondly, we've got to do what those guys do best uh, Kevin Hester is very different than Tamari Fox. So we've got to do a better job of giving each one of them an equal opportunity to play their best by, uh, playing to their skill set. And, and that's one thing we're doing a much better job of right now and keeping fresh guys in there. You, you get guys as big as Miles Murphy and, and, uh, Kevin Hester, they're gonna get tired and you can't leave them out there. You gotta get, you gotta get them off, get them off the field. And we've told the kids if you can't be 100% every play that you're out there get off, we got somebody else and we can do that and all of those things should help us some on defense. Yes, I, I don't like the rule with, with running the clock after first downs till the last two minutes of the game and, and, and the half, uh, I think it takes away snaps for the fans. We've got 100 and 20 players and we're sitting here trying to get more kids in games and we're taking away, they're saying 9 to 12 snaps in the game watching this weekend too. And, and I remember, and I'm, I'm not exactly sure of the circumstances, but in 2006 they had a similar rule and we were playing Ohio State and they had a lead and they had the ball with eight minutes left and they ran out the clock. Um, so it's much easier now for the team with a lead that can run the ball to kill the clock and we'll see fewer comebacks and, and we'll, we'll just see, um, more teams that the game's over with eight minutes left than before. And, and I don't like any of the above. I, I just, I, I just don't think any of it's best for college football or the kids. Does they get the game over faster? Yeah, who cares? I mean, these kids are, are all wanting to play, uh, and they, they work so hard and now you got less time to get them in and, and what comebacks are one of the great things we have in our sport and, and we're gonna see fewer now because of that rule. But yes, it's harder to substitute on defense than it is offense. And if on a hot day somebody is moving the ball with tempo, you've got guys that may be out there 12th place and you cannot substitute them if somebody's good at it. So they're, they're gonna go fast. Um, and it'll be interesting to see how the officials handle the tempo without stopping the clock on first down. Are they gonna go faster or not? So, we're gonna have to see all that on, on Saturday night last week about the defense and they ready for the season to begin. And he said, well, we're undefeated. Is that when you try to instill in them or is that something that he came up with? No, coaches are never ready for the season to start because there's always something that you need to do. And that's what I told him. If it's not working Tuesday, throw it out, man. You've been working on it since January. So e either you're not coaching it right. Either he's not listening or you've got too much in. So throw it out. I don't, I don't wanna see you fixing things on Tuesday game week, but, uh, coaches are the worst. We're all paranoid and, and all concerned and all look at every problem that could possibly come up in the unknowns. And unlike the NFL, we don't have a preseason game. Now, I've talked to these NFL guys enough. If we had a preseason game, would you play Drake or not? Who would you leave in? Who would you take out? Who would you play? Do you have to win? Well, fans get mad if you lose. Yeah, but it's not important. Well, winning is always important. So there, there'd be question marks, but we do not have a preseason game. So the first game we have is against a great opponent like South Carolina and that's why you just have absolutely no idea what's gonna happen. So somebody says, how are you gonna be? I don't know, you, uh, you never know about your team until you're in a fight in the fourth quarter early in the season and you see how they respond. We do have an older team, but we've got some positions where young players are gonna play critical parts of our game. So you never know how they're gonna respond either. Thank you, Adam. Happy birthday, by the way. Thank you to the question. I mean, this, this is another coach, a lot of seasons when you have a guy like Drake May quarterback Vince young quarterback Paul mccoy Sam, how like when you are going into a year, do you approach it any differently? Knowing that sort of talent and skill you have in that position? Does it excite you more? Do you say, you know, I need to try to make sure I savor this a little bit because, you know, it might not be around much longer. Like just what is your whole approach when you have just that level of to do? Hit that spot? Yeah. Well, number one, when you have a quarterback like that, you got a chance to win every game and this is a quarterback driven game right now and if you, if you don't, you better be coaching them up, man because you got to figure out ways to win and, and Drake gives us a chance to win. That's why we've got to uh be better on defense and, and, and make sure that we protect him better. Those two things, we didn't do very well last year and, and if, if not, we would have been in a different position at, at the end of the, the year. Um Do you look at it indifferently? No, you, you just feel like you, you wanna take your best players and utilize them and, and play to their skill set and he's fun to watch. I don't, I don't like Drake. I love Drake and we're talking about Shane Beamer. I watched Drake grow up from a little bitty kid. Mark was a G A for us when I was here and I love that family and, and they stand for what's right and everything they do. And, and we talk about, um, said Gray, we talk about DJ Jones. Uh, Drake May is unbelievable with what he's done for this team as a leader, uh, as a captain. Uh, he's humble with, with all the national, um, publicity that he's gotten in recognition, uh, with nil, he's taken it and tried to help every other player on the team and that's what he is. He, I look up and he's out on the field doing a commercial with the offensive lineman. He's trying to get a seafood deal for the receivers. Uh, I mean, it's not about him, it's about everybody else on this team. And, um, I, I think to answer your question better, Adam, he makes it fun because he's gonna be there every day. You're gonna get everything he's got every day. He's really competitive. He's smart, he's nice. He's not gonna get in trouble. Um, most of the time he's gonna say the right stuff. Um, most of the time, uh, and if he's not, he's cutting up and he's competitive. Um, so, uh, but yes, it, it gives us a chance to have a special year back on the radio this morning. You said that you were really emphasizing with the team that you only get one chance at a first impression that they're gonna no on national television and college game day in that van sort of prefer these showcase games in league one where you're playing, you know, a program like South Carolina as opposed to opening up, what day in there? Yeah, I, I'd rather have something that we can iron out all of our problems in the opener and have this game. Second. That, that's what we, when we won the national championship, I think we opened up with Louisiana Lafayette at home and then went to Columbus, but it gave us a chance. You don't show anything but you, you end up figuring out who he played better than I thought and he wasn't as good as I thought. And this didn't look as good and we need to lean more toward this with the game plan. Uh, we've got to do all that Saturday night. We, we don't have any chance and, and then we've got a state who's a huge game for us and then we got Minnesota who was nine and four last year and won a bowl game. Uh, and then you go to Pitt, who won the league two years ago. So, uh, we, we've got no breaks. This is the toughest schedule I've ever coached. And I've told the kids that I've said we're not gonna talk about it. We're not gonna gripe about it, but it is what it is. And to win on this schedule, you're gonna have to be really good and you're gonna have to play every week. Uh, we tried to do week zero this week this year and they wouldn't let us, I, I'd like to, I'd like to do it every year. Thank you. ABC has, has the longest time, I think. I think it, well, maybe last year. Staples and the coaches short time out. Yeah, and they said we need money for sponsorship. So, shut up. So, yeah, we, we, we have no input. Art. The, the coaches have less input right now into all of this than ever before, uh, in the history of this game. So it's just, it's, it's, uh, it's just, it's just different. NCAA has to determine whether you play week zero or not. They, they, I, I think I didn't get involved. Compliance does that, but I, I would think so. What does it look like, Tommy? All the guys are good. Uh, it's a, it's a blessing last year. They all got hurt. So this year, it's been different groups that have gotten hurt. So these guys have stayed healthy. Um Marian should be more comfortable in his second year because he had some moments last year that, that were really special. Um And then you start looking at British, the last game British played in was against South Carolina in the bowl game. So, so this will be his first time back and, and British like said, Gray could have been through, wants to coach, um, right after he got hurt this time, last year, comes to me two days afterwards and was just crushed and said, I want to come back and I didn't even know he could come back because I think it's his sixth year. Um, but he had the COVID year and we got with compliance and they said yes and he started coaching and he was in every running back meeting and, and he's just an unbelievable kid. So, uh, you can see why I like this team so much. There are the Grays, the DJ Jones, the Drake Mays and, and, um, you start talking about British, those are guys that make up this team. There's so many of them like that. It's probably the most unselfish team I've been around. Uh, they understand who we are and where we want to be. Um, and they, they understand the progress. We still got some guys that were on the team that won two and they understand the difference and, and where we are and people talk about our bowl games. We played good teams. I wanna play good teams. That's the only way we get better. So, but, but British means so much to our team that, that it's just, uh, it's fun to have him out there from being a little kid to. Now, can you believe that at one point? He was so little now he's about to start a campaign and I think I'm following up on that. What will be your first message to? What will be a huge, yeah, the uh number one, I'm not surprised because look at that family. It, they, they are a pedigree of champions and, and Mark was a great player, a was a great athlete. In fact, they say she's the best athlete in the group and when she, she didn't play much golf, she takes a golf club, walks out there and she can beat them all. So, uh but it's just a, a fun family to watch and their dynamics are fun. And um I, I allowed the AC C network to do all access because I wanted people to see our players. I love our players, I love their personalities. I love that. Uh they, they never get to see football players without a helmet. So that was the reason we did this. I wanted them to know more about the person, especially with nil and, and graduates and, and and getting internships. Uh I want people to know these young people and, and, and that helps us. Uh But what I will say to Drake on Saturday night, he'll, he'll be excited, he'll be confident, he'll be having fun in pregame. I'll, I'll say go have fun. Do your deal, man. That, that, that'll be it because you don't have to say anything to him and, and you've learned if, if you have to motivate your team, uh that's probably not gonna be a great team that they need to be motivated and you need to coach them because there's 100 and 20 of them, they all get motivated differently. And I've told them that if, if we're having to motivate you every week, you're probably gonna be up and down and I want somebody comes every day and this team's practiced hard every day. They, they're, uh I, I said I didn't like the way the team worked in two years ago and I didn't, I like everything this team's done. So I'm, I'm, I'm excited about watching them play earlier. You were talking about as well as kind of, you know, pro pro on when you're looking at them in preparation for this game. What are some of the things they do? Well, and what are some of those challenges they think? You know, they, they've got skill, uh they've got some new offensive linemen so it's really hard for us to tell who they are. Right now. Um, and they've got a new offensive coordinator so I think that so much of that will have to be our defensive staff adjusting to what they do. They opened up early with a, a new quarterback against us in a bowl game. He swung one deep and they hit it for a touchdown. So they really got us on our heels and, and, and we never came back from it. Um, and, and like art said, they, they, they, they'll pull tricks on you to get momentum going. So, uh, they're, they're a really well coached team and then, uh, but, you know, he's one of the best receivers in the country and, and, uh, he, he's, he, he, he's got great catch radius but he can, he can fly, make the, um, oh, what you're talking about the way you did it last season and maybe what you said, losing some respect, maybe action. Um, is that a, is that a card you're trying to play or a talking point you're trying to get on. Maybe motivation for these guys is to remember how we ended it and, and, you know, let's change that going into this. Yes. What? It's not a card I'm playing. It's facts. So we won nine games and got less respect than a lot of people that won less than that because the way we finished and, and two of the games, the teams were better than we were and we had chances to win and didn't, uh, the other two, we were probably a lot alike. Um, and, and didn't finish. So, uh, you gotta win games in this business. That's just, it's a, it's a bottom line business. If you don't win, you don't get credit and, and you don't deserve credit. So that's just, it is what it is. Yeah, I know you, Carolina, but there's so much talk still, uh, coming in is a bigger conference better or do you like the way the conference is? No chip. I don't know, it's really confusing you, you've been around this a long time, I've been around a long time and to see the changes that are happening across the board is, is really unbelievable. Um I still feel like in a couple of years there's probably gonna be separation more and there's gonna be about 50 that play and it's gonna be more like the NFL and I think that's probably where it's all heading. I don't know how it gets there. Uh But money is the driving force period. Um And when we talk about student athlete welfare, uh they don't get a vote and we need to think about them and taking care of them and I know we say we're giving them more money with and all that stuff. Uh We are, but we still have to think about what's best for the, the player, the parent and their travel. Are we gonna start paying parents to travel if we're playing all over the country. Uh And then thirdly, our fans, what's happening to the fans if you, if fans can't afford to go to games? Um Well, are we taking opportunities away from them? So, and, and also, uh with Il, we're asking fans to pay for these facilities, we're asking them to pay money for collectives. When does that stop there? There's uh uh this isn't what we're doing isn't sustainable. So there, there has to be some decisions made here. And I think pretty soon about what's best in, in all cases for those groups. I was talking about if we lose our fans, we lose everything because they're the ones that pay for it. If, if we, uh, aren't taking care of kids, we're not doing what we say we're doing. Uh, and I'm, I, I worry about both right now. Ma you mentioned guys like British were here for the, the ball game in South Carolina a couple of years ago. Are you planning to mention the ball game at all this week? Motivation is just sort of, uh, they, they know they were there. It, it is one of the worst games I've ever seen. So we, we just, we coached poorly and played poorly. It's, it's one I, I threw all my bold stuff away after the game. I, I, and I, I felt awful about that game for North Carolina and for these kids, I felt like we let everybody down and it was one of the more disappointing games I've ever coached. So I think that the, how much is it for the coaches to get players focused on what's important to be great versus how much as an individual player to get it. You don't lose the George? Where's the line? Yeah, Tommy, I think when you, you tell them, don't lose to Georgia Tech when they're ahead, they say, well, yeah, we, we got it, coach, you have to give them things that they can do better. So you don't lose and, and that game was between a rival game and, and a, a rival conference game. I got it. It, it had a chance to be a, a flat game for us. We're up 17 nothing and we still have a 75 yard touchdown call back and drop a touchdown pass with the guy never drops balls. So we, we had our chances there. But, uh, what do you do on a day to day basis to make sure that you're playing at 100% every Saturday you have to get in bed faster. Is it what you're eating? Is it what you're drinking? Um, um, is it not studying enough video? Is it not understanding the concept of if you're the safety, what the linebacker does, if it's not getting your feel because you're not 100% in practice? What, what are those individual things that go from being good to. Great. Uh I think I mentioned it in an earlier press conference but, uh cl Shepherd came in and said, um, we also do the little things, right. But they're so easy and so simple. Most a lot of the times we don't do the little things. Right. And he's so right. So we have made a huge emphasis on mental errors, missed assignments, uh, penalties. And after every practice we put up on the board, how many we had and who they were. And we said if you're gonna have these, you're not gonna play because they lose games and, and if, if you go back and say, um, well, I didn't know what to do. Why didn't you know what to do? And, and these are things that should help us against Georgia tech. Why don't you know what to do? We've been practicing since January. So I tell the coach either you're not coaching him, right. Either he's not focused on paying attention or you've got too much in. It's one of those three things and you gotta figure it out and you need to figure it out now because on Sunday, I don't want the same mistakes that I see on Tuesday because if you do that's when you get beat and, and, and, uh, coach Bowden had one of the greatest quotes of all time. Don't keep practicing something that's not, not right. And coaches do that if you keep making the same mistakes, then you, you ought to be fired because you fix them, fix them and it's our job not to do what we think we know. It's my offense, it's my defense. We need to do what is best for the skill set of our team. That's what coaching is. It's taking the ones you've got and teaching them to do things better than the, the other bunch. That, that's all it is. Uh, I think it was coach Gaither at Florida A and M one time that said, uh, why is coach Bryant such a great coach? He can take his and beat mine and he can take mine and beat his. Uh, that's coaching. Don't gripe about what you don't have, don't gripe about what you have, go do what they do best. And I've, I've told our staff if, if, if, if we play 100% and we have coached them well and we get beat because the other team is better than we are. II, I can handle that. I can't handle, not being 100%. I can't handle guys, not knowing what to do and I can't handle mistakes. I can't handle that. That's, that's our job. So be, be big guys and admit it don't be sensitive. It's facts, it's facts. And if you do your job, you win the game and if they're better than you are, either don't schedule them or recruit better. I mean, this stuff's not complicated. It it's, uh I, I have said football is very simple. People are complicated and what we've got to do is put our guys in the best position to win and that's our job. And if we don't do it and we get criticism, we should, I'm critical of us. I mean, that's, that's who we are. So, um and, and, and that's what I've said, most opening games and, and Brian Anderson I love and he's really smart and I, I'd always say more games are lost than one. So after about the third year, Brian came to me and said, will you explain that to me? I've been hearing that for three years and I don't know what that means. So most people will mess up more stuff Saturday night than we fix. And that's what happens. There's fumbles in first game, there's block kicks in first games because you haven't been able to, to do it all live against somebody else. Uh There's guys going in the wrong place, there's guys that get nervous and, and Miss AAA protection that hits a quarterback that gets a fumble. Most guys are carrying it sloppy because you haven't tackled as much as you're going to tackle Saturday night. So most opening games are like bowl games, they're lost more than their one. So what you have to do is keep from losing the game before you go win it. Now, some fan that hates me anyway is gonna say he just said he's gonna be conservative and try to keep from winning the game. That's not what I said. That's what you heard. But mistakes on Saturday night will probably be what we're talking about after the press conference after the game at the press conference. Um, in, instead of who played great, it'll be who missed too many tackles and, and, and who dropped a touchdown pass and it's about what you didn't do more than what you do. I am still having fun when we win. I don't like losing. I mean, that's it. But I, I do think like I said, if, if we're doing our job and, and our job means that we're taking care of these kids off the field and I really worry about mental health right now more than ever before for all of our Children and grandchildren. And I talk to the kids every day if there was a, if, if I could save a kid's life because he didn't need to be playing football, I would quit my job to save his life 100%. It wouldn't even be in question. So I've told our kids your mental health is the most important thing you do. Then secondly, grow up, learn how to be AAA guy that gets up every morning and, and you're accountable. Uh, and III I left him with this yesterday. This team needs to be really tight on Saturday night, tight together, tight knit and great communicators because it's gonna get tough and, and when the tough stuff comes in, you better hang in there, tough together and fight through it. Uh You better be confident because if you go into a national TV game without confidence, uh you, it's gonna show up fast. Uh So you better be confident. And the third thing is you better be tough, you better be mentally tough and you better be physically tough. If you're those three things, you have a chance to win every game and, and if you're not, then that, that it's not gonna work for you and we're gonna be looking back and, and I don't like regrets and I don't like excuses and if you don't give everything, you've got Saturday night, you're gonna regret it when you're 40 and everybody gonna be talking about it. Uh I will be thinking about the Mayo Bowl, um, when I'm 82 because I, I didn't do my job and I, I hated that game and I, I hate it to this day and I'll hate it the rest of my life. Uh The second one is excuses. If I make excuses that, that, that excuses, give you an opportunity to lose and it's ok and if I make excuses to the staff, then they're gonna make them to the players and it's ok to lose. And there's absolutely no reason to have excuses because they don't work. Sometimes you ask me a question about an injury. And I tell you that guy was hurt and people think it's an excuse. No, it's a fact. Again, I like facts. But, um, the, the so get yourself ready to play, know what to do. Uh, hang in there tight through tough times on Saturday night, be very, very confident and play tough, mentally and physically. And, and if you do all that, then, um, you can walk out there where you head up and I wanna walk out of every stadium after the game being proud that that's what I want. And I've told them all, you do all that then find a way to win. And if you're doing those things, it's easy to find a way to win. If you're not ready. If you're not confident, you, you can't overcome some stuff and, and win, you'll, you'll give into it. You'll have bad body language and, and I've said, don't let anybody ever see you sweat and don't have bad body language. That's why when things are bad on the sideline, I'm being positive because they're all gonna look at me to see if I think we've still got a chance to win. And if I'm doing this with my head down and shaking my head, they know it's over. So I've got to make sure our team knows that I feel like we still have a chance to win regardless of the circumstances. And that's important, then I've got to do a better job. After losses of learning from them and picking it up for the next week because I, I don't do that very well. I think of all the things I do. That's the worst. I just, I, I feel like that I've let everybody down when we lose. And, and II, I do that. I'm horrible at that and I said I was gonna do better when I came back and I lied. So I, I'm not and I, I need, I told the players yesterday hope we don't lose any. But when we do, I'm gonna do a better job of picking us up and getting ready for the next game instead of being so down about this one because that doesn't do any good. And II I say, get your head back up and get back to work. I don't do it very well. So that, that's something I've got to do a better job of. Ok, thank you.