North Carolina
UNC football coach Mack Brown gives spring football update
UNC football head coach Mack Brown updates the quarterback battle and how the defense is growing ahead of the team's spring game on April 20.
Yeah, first, uh, uh, Caman Rucker is such a valuable part of this program. Uh, he is uh tough, he's smart. He's a great leader. He's the fourth leading pass rusher in the country and, uh, he's got to be dominant for us next year. And, um, and, and we're just so excited about him moving forward. Uh, we've been through nine practices and is a, a great competition. A lot of energy, uh, on the field players are having fun. Um, we're, we're kind of like we were two years ago. You, you lose four starters in the offensive line, you lose the number one draft choice at quarterback. A lot of question marks on our team. I got a lot of, uh, the older guys that are out, four receivers are out for spring, two tight ends are out for spring. Uh, some safeties are, are not being able to have contact. So, uh, a lot of young guys are getting work and it's, it's fun to watch them work. Uh, all the practices have been and been pretty good. Uh, they've all competed really well. They've been about even except, uh, last Thursday, the, uh, defense totally dominated and that's good. Uh, especially in the spring that, that, uh, the defense stepped up, but we've had a very, very physical spring, uh, guys are getting after it. They're hitting every day. We had a long scrimmage that was, uh, uh, full speed tackle on Saturday and, and we're working a lot live with the kicking game and we haven't done that much in the past, but we've, we've got to find more depth. Uh, we, we've got to do a better job running the ball. We gotta do a better job stopping the run. We gotta do a better job in special teams. And then we, we said that, uh, we got, um, limit penalties. Uh, we got to force more turnovers. Uh, and at the same time, we, we've got to do a better job of, of continuing to create explosives but stop explosives and, and Jeff went back and looked at every explosive play we gave up last year and most of them are because of missed assignments. So that, that's something that we're working on really, really hard. Uh, fans will be excited. We've got the AC C network coming in for Saturday's practice. We decided to have them do a practice instead of do our spring game because we didn't want everybody on TV C in our spring game. Um, we, we've got some new things going on that we're doing. Um, and, and then we'll have the spring game at three o'clock. Uh, for our fans, uh, on the 20th. Uh, but this, uh, Saturday morning AC C network will be out for all the, uh, the practice sessions. Um, good competition at quarterback. Uh, both guys are playing really, really well. Uh, it's fun. Max is what we hoped he would be. He's, he's big, he's strong. He's, he's been very accurate. Uh, and, and Connor probably had his best day today, so he continues to get better. Um, running back roll. You. We, we're excited about, uh, uh, Darwin Barlow. Uh, he had a really good scrimmage on Saturday and, and looked the best. He has looked, he made a couple of good plays again today. Uh, Dave Young Goss is, uh, a very good freshman. Uh, Caleb Hood we're concerned about. He's, he's still out with his hamstring. So, uh, he's, he's missed, um, most of spring, I think he was out here maybe two days in short. So, uh, that, that bothers us. Uh, young wide receivers are looking really, really good. Uh, so that's been fun. Uh, the older guys are being out, uh, I'm seeing some, uh, um, toughness in the offensive line. Randy's done a good job of, of losing four starters and putting a new bunch together and, and they're competing and we got two new ones coming in at the end. So it's gonna be fun to watch those guys go. Uh, Ted Monno is, is, uh, really bringing along our defensive line Travis Shaw has played by far the best he's ever played since he's been here. So we have had really good practices with him. Um, and, um, Javari Ritzy is, has been very active inside and, and, uh, so both of those guys have stepped up and, and played well and then we're, we're still continuing to, to work at building depth, um, with, uh, Amari Campbell playing with power and, and then we've got four other young linebackers with two coming in that, that, uh, need to step up and they're doing well. Uh, it's a different one every day. So we've got to, uh, come out of spring practice with, uh, with those guys stepping up and, and, um, we're really talented in the secondary. I've been impressed with Shakeem Harris, uh, and, and, uh, stick lane stepped up. Uh, so those guys are, are, uh, along with the guys that we already had and stick, uh, not coming till, uh, June and then having a hamstring pull. He's, he's playing really, really well right now. And, uh, the same thing with, uh, um, Stewart, the, the junior college player that came in, he's doing a good job at corner and Hussy's back at corner. So that helps us as well. Caleb cost has been out a couple of days, uh, but most of the time he's with a baseball team, questions with respect to Max. He's got a ton of experience and grew up with his dad in football. Have you seen a lot of that here? How much does that kind of help Connor being around a guy who is just losing football pretty much his whole life? Yeah, Max, uh, Johnson's thrown over 900 balls in the sec. So he's been in, in, in big arenas. He's been in big games. He's been hit. Uh, he's, um, um, played at, at two of the top sec schools. So he brings a lot of experience and confidence in here and I think it's helped Connor. Connor is really competing. So, as I said, he had his best, he had a good scrimmage on Saturday. He had his best practice today and you see, we're sitting out here late and there's a, uh, quarterbacks down there throwing now. So they, they stay out late and throw. But, uh, uh, we, we've got a, a good player in, uh, Max and Connor is really competing. Uh, so they're, they're both playing at a high level right now as a follow up to Max. When we talk to him back in February, he kind of scoffed a little bit about the notion of being a game manager, being described as a game manager. And he said, there's a lot more to his game. What have you seen from his game that is in above what the game, you know, like Drake and Sam, he runs much better than we thought he did. We thought he could run well, but at 652 30 he can really run. So he's, he's made some plays with, uh scrambles that have really surprised us. So, uh, that, that was a real positive and he's got a real strong arm. So I, I think the, the fact that somebody would call him a game manager is probably because his dad won a Super Bowl and he, he was raised like Drake and, and, and Sam and a quarterback family and, um, everybody knows who they are, but they, they've been studying football since they were little kids. So he's, uh, he, he's, uh, he's been very impressive. He'll be fun for people to watch in the spring game. You said you had, you said you had a long scrimmage the other day and kind of wanted to get into that with you, like, can you give us sort of a, a full breakdown of what you guys came out of there with just in terms of an assessment, like good, bad. What, what, what were the thoughts that you came out of? The first thing, uh is that we, uh, didn't get anybody hurt so, and hit for two hours. So that, that was really good off the ground. We had a game and, and we had, uh, we've had live punt, punt block and return. We had uh two live kickoff Saturday. So we're really trying to get better in our kicking game and we, we've got to develop more depth. We said it every year and we haven't done it. So we've got to, I mean, and that's, that's one thing that Jeff Collins is all into. He's very positive. He's very upbeat. He's very inclusive. But he, he like me, feels like we've got to play too deep and that'll help us where we're not tired at the end of the year and, and, and drop off and, and we are playing our best players on special teams. So we are working really, really hard every day. We're, we're incorporating live special teams into practice. We've never done that. So we're, we're going after it. We're, we, we, that's another area we've just got to step up and, and another area that we've, we've looked at at them is is we, we have too many people hurt. So we're looking at every individual player and his body and we've got our trainer, our nutritionist and our strength coach meeting with the coach every day before practice to look at every guy that's out there and especially somebody who's had a pull and say, what's, what, what's his history? Why? And what can we do to make sure, uh, nutrition has to be different. Uh, hydration has to be different. Maybe the stretching has to be different. What are we missing that? We're having too many pulls. So we're looking at all that, um I thought Saturday, both quarterbacks, we, we had our, our goals, both quarterbacks look good. We didn't run, uh, Omarian very much so, the two running backs that were out there, uh, Darwin really did some good things and he did better Saturday than he had done in the other practices. So that was good in a game setting. Um, and then the offensive lines been impressive. They're, they're getting better, they got a ways to go, but they're, they're getting better and we got those hu two huge tackles. Um, but, uh, um, Austin Blaske, he's done a good job, uh, like, um, what we had with our, our center last year, he's, he's continued to, to grow. Um, and, and then Willie's been tough as nails and he's a good leader. So that's really helped us, uh, still looking at the other guard position. But you, you've got guys, uh, um, uh, like, uh, Aidan Banfield, that, that's a tough young guy that's really stepped up and doing some good things. You've got RJ Grigsby, uh, but you, you've got Adorno and Malik mcgowan and both of them are playing and, and doing some good things. So it's, uh, it's fun to watch them. Um, and, and then you, you've got, um, um, guys that tackle that, that, uh, uh, Trey Green's playing much better than he's played. He stayed healthy number one, but he's lost a lot of weight and he, he's, uh, he's really done a good job. Uh, tight ends. Your, your, um, you know, your two starters are out so it's been really good for Jake Johnson to get a good look and wide receivers. You got a bunch of young ones. Uh, Chris Culliver made one of the best catches I've ever seen in the ends on Saturday is one of those one handed deals and, and, uh, Jordan ship just continues to impress and, um, you start looking at, uh, uh, Alex Taylor is really good and, and, uh, Barry Green's real fast. So those guys are what we thought they were as, as we came in, uh, defensively, we're just better. We're, we're being really aggressive. He's blitzing a lot. He's disguising a lot and blitzing which is surprise. The quarterbacks, um, uh Des Evans has stepped up, he and, and Bo Atkinson both can play where they are. Uh, we've got to find a guy behind Caman, um, at that the, uh, Jack position, uh, inside. Uh, you start looking at guys. Um, we, we know Kevin Hester, but I, I mentioned Travis and, and, uh, Javari Ritzy. Um, and, and also, um, Joel Starlings has made some plays. He stepped up and, and done a good job in some areas we're playing, uh, Jenia Norwood both ways. He played defensive tackle the first eight practices and now today he moved over to offensive tackle, so he'll be, uh, at the end of the spring, we'll look at it and see where he fits the best, but he's really a good athlete and, and we've looked at him. Um, and like I said, the young linebackers are, are making some plays and, uh, so it's, it's fun to watch, watch all these guys play and try to figure out who's going to be out there as far as the passing game. I mean, what was the, I just kind of split up, you know, which quarterback work with, which receivers like they want to have more returning or experienced guys have more. It's a great question and, and, uh, spring practices are going to be different now with the portal, everybody's thinner. So it's, you, you've got to really look at spring games and you gotta look at spring practice. So, what we've done is, is our, our blue offense is the first offense and our white offense is the second offense. We have rotated Connor and, um, max every time. Uh, one of them takes blue, one of them takes white and then we flip it. So they've had exactly the same number of plays with the blue and the white and then we haven't played the younger quarterbacks much. Uh Medinger came in and got a, a 10 play series at the end of the scrimmage the other day. But, uh, we are giving those guys, uh, the same advantage we said, is it bad if they're playing with the white and the whites? Not as, as experienced or not as good right now. And you know what, both of them are playing with the white. So they're, they're both having exactly the same opportunities. And then we got to figure out which one is playing the best. Some of the guys, uh we talked to a few of them about two weeks ago. They college with intensity and he said he apologized to him when we first met with them said I'm gonna apologize now for all the things I'm to say to you over the next six months. What has the difference been hearing a voice like that on the day? Not to criticize Gene, which is different than Gene. But how do you think the guys are responding to the way he goes about things, you know, Gene and, and uh Jay Bateman, we're both really good at what they do and it worked great for us some and it didn't work as well. So, um I would think Jeff's kind of in between the, the two. He's a, uh he's a very upbeat positive. He lifts them up. He's like a kid. You run around and chest bumps him and he, he high fives them and he's cutting up with them and uh he, he's uh uh he's all inclusive with everybody. He knows everybody's name. He, he's uh he's really aggressive but simple. Um So I, I really like what I see and the kids are responding to it. Uh The Thursday practice. I don't think the offense made a first down. I mean, he is the most dominant I've seen since we've been here and then Saturday was more even and today was more even. But, uh, he is, um, he's very confident and gives them confidence, but he's fun. He, he has fun in everything he does. And I think that's, uh, that's something that he, he brings, he just, uh, he's a breath of fresh air when you, you look at every day it's, it's like he's having the most fun he's ever had in his life. He, he cited that Mr Simons last year has been one of the big issues and that there's also a lot of disguising. How do you work in disguising a lot when that's not gonna be part of the assignment with the group that maybe add with Mrs. Uh He um I hired him because he runs a very similar defense to what we've been running for the five years we've been here. So there, there wouldn't be a lot of new teaching for the players. I asked him as much as he could to use a lot of the terminology and he's done that. So there's a, a quick learning curve and what he's doing is he's uh I always loved the fact that you could look complicated and be simple and that's what he's doing. He's simplifying calls, he's not doing as much, but he's being more aggressive with what it is and, and that's, that's been the fun thing for them. But, but just, but just listening to them, they're really buying into it and that's the thing, I go talk to them at lunch or what do you think, what you see different? And, uh, and they're all in that, that when you play coaches all practice seems to be, you kind of got away from going back to that. And, you know, like when you play back in the days, you know, we had so many players and, and everybody just hit all the time and nobody ever worried about it and shoot, if you had a concussion when I played, they said how many fingers and I'd say two and they'd say that's close enough. Get back in there. So, uh, go, yeah. Yeah. And our, and our, our water was in a hose and, and they had salt tablets and those were supposed to help you get through the last part of practice. And, um, and we ran sprints till we dropped after it is over. So, uh, the only thing I can figure is we didn't work near as hard as we all thought we did or we would have died because we didn't, we didn't have nutritionists. We didn't have strength program. So I was at Florida State you'd walk by and they'd say there's a universal gym if it's open, use it some, I mean, that, that was your strength coach. So kids are better taken care of in so many ways now than they were then. We got a GPS to see how much they can run. Um, so what we're trying to do is, is continue to be physical and, and, and the, the, one of the real arts and coaching is how much can you hit? How much can you be game like, and stay healthy? And, and that's just what you do. And, and we're, we're just, we're, we're really pushing the, the limit to make sure that we can get as much physical activity as we can get, uh, continue to grow, to get tougher and, and try to keep everybody healthy. Matthew mentioned, Travis shall, is somebody I think playing better than he ever has. I mean, not to sound too dramatic with this. But do you think like, you know, it's sort of now or never for him or has that been impressed upon him that like, you know, these next steps have to be made in his development? I think it's more, um, it's his time, you know, a lot of the young guys that, uh are, have so much publicity and they're so big and they're so dominant in high school, then they get to college and they're playing against a different group of people and things happen faster for them. And a lot of young ones that are big line, but don't, don't come through. Zach Rice is playing better right now than he's played for two years and those guys get so much publicity. Um, and, and I think Ted sitting down with him and talking to him about the NFL. Um Brian Simmons sitting down with him saying, you know, you, you're, you're uh uh a number one draft choice about to happen. You gotta make it happen though. It, it's uh you, you've been here two years and uh we've some seen some improvement, we've seen some production but it's time, man, it's time. Uh So step up, let's start being who you, who you came here to be. And he's really responded to that. He's been really positive in practice. He's fought through some injuries, the, um, uh, maybe the second day in shorts, he really twisted his knee and I thought he was hurt bad and he laid there for a second and he touched it and got up and went right back into practice and he hadn't done that in the past. So I'm, I'm really, really pleased with what I see with his, uh, his growth, his toughness and, and I think Ted and, and Jimmy Lindsay is, is here to help too. So he's got two really experienced, uh, long time successful defensive line coaches to help him in the past. You might not have seen him the rest of practice. No. And, and that's just who he was. If he got hurt it, it's hard for him and right now he's fighting through it. He got a cramp the other day in practice because he's working so hard. Um, so he's, and he's working some with the blue team. So it's, I'm really encouraged with him for him and, and with him, what surprised you the most about Jeff as a, as a coach. You know, when you, you coached against him, you, you saw the Waffle House and you saw him lifting weights before games and all that and, and what you see when he gets here is he's really smart. He's really driven. He's really nice. He's very thoughtful and I think that was to draw attention to his program. I, I really do and here he didn't do any of that. Here. He, he just, but he's fun. Uh The thing that III I have trouble with people in our building who have low energy that really wears me out because it's a high energy business and he is high energy and I mean, he comes in like, he's on pills in the morning at six and he leaves at, at night like he's hyped and, and, and that's just, he has fun and, and I think he's, he's, he's helped our building by bringing that fun to the building. Ma you got, you mentioned the portal and how do you have two quarterbacks who were fighting for the job? One could still be, uh how do you handle that between what's best for the kid and what's best for you? Yeah. Art. That's a great question. I, I think we're eight days away from the portal, it's the, the 16th. Um and the, the portal will come the 16th and we won't even play our spring game till the 20th. So we could have somebody leave the 16th and not be here for the game. We could have somebody tell somebody they're going in the portal on the the 20th and play in the spring game and walk into my office afterwards and say, man, I'm out of here. I'm, I'm going to the portal. Um, so art is just different. You, you try to, to keep an open, uh, conversation with them and at the same time, we're, we're in the kid business. So we, we want what's best for the kid and like our two quarterbacks, we don't know which one's gonna start. It, it was that way with, uh, um, really Drake and, and, uh, Jacoby, uh Criswell, but it was also that way with those three when Sam got here and you, you wanna watch them go through summer, you wanna watch them compete and lead, uh, to see who really earns the spot at the end of summer and, and end of preseason. So, um, but we have all since I've been here and since the portal came on, we have been dreadfully honest with every young person and trying to tell him here's exactly what we see and where you stand here and if you don't feel good about this and you don't think you can change it then let's help you go somewhere else and, and that's just the, the way we are and, and we'll try to help every young person he can. Um, and that, and that's some tough conversations but it's been good. Well, it's hard to get a third team ready. Usually you're in trouble. Uh, yeah, but we're trying to get a first right now and we're trying to get two that can play till we get to the third. But today it would be Michael Murer Mac. Who do you have, um, who's getting the reps now that Cayman's not practicing it? That's, but I know you said you need to find somebody there. Like, who are you looking at there and who's, who may be the most capable at this point? The guys in that room right now would be Tyler Thompson was in there more today. Uh, Jayron Harvey's got some lower leg things that he's got to get fixed. So I don't know that he'll practice the rest of spring. So he would be in that position. He's had a really good spring to this point. Uh, Malachi Hambrick and, uh, uh, Curtis Simpson. So those would be the guys there. Uh, Jeff's even to a point too that if Ken was out and they were all playing good, you could even move, um, Bo Atkinson over there and let him play some. Uh, so, but those would be the guys right now that are competing in that spot. And with Ken again, you could wait till after spring to get his finger fixed. But this gives him, uh, two more weeks to get ready for weightlifting for the summer. And we've seen enough of him. So you're not gonna play him a lot anyway. So let's let the young ones be in that position and, and have them force them into earning a spot of the young ones. The increase, a little bit of an increase in physicality during the spring. Is it because you have so many new faces, you've got to know when you guys sit down and do the evaluations and the meetings you have in the summertime, you got to know a little bit more about some of these guys throw them into the fire. Yeah. A absolutely. And in special teams we've, we've told them if you, if you don't play on special teams, it's hard for you to get a spot because you gotta get some coaches attention. So we're, we're doing the same with them there and we've told them if you're, if you're not ready to do all this, we got it. You're a fresh, you're, you're young, but if you want to play in the fall, you gotta do it and you gotta do it. Now. Do you anticipate? I'm sorry, follow up to that. Do you anticipate because you had so many freshmen come in that you probably will have a few more that can handle some of those responsibilities in the fall because they will have had eight months here as opposed to someone that comes in June. Yes. They're more like a sophomore because you, you think they, they've been through a college semester, they've had a nutrition program, they've had a strength program. They've had an off season program and they've had a, a spring practice and a lot of meetings with their coaches. So, uh, that's one of the true advantages for coming in early. And, uh, you mentioned Gulf and Salon a little bit earlier, obviously, a lot of, you know, new guys, you know, kinda on that first team and things like that. How have you kind of seen them, uh, you know, come together, I guess, you know, in a sense and, you know, establish, try to establish some continuity and then also like to what extent would, uh, I guess offensive line have like a, a quote unquote chemistry, like, obviously there is an individual blocking assignment but I mean, working cohesively as a group, I kind of see, yeah, the chemistry is a great word. I, I think this team has great chemistry. Like I thought two years ago our team did, they're having fun. They're competing, they're getting along, their coaches are all getting along the, they're, um, the staff's very close, they're trying to do what's best for each other and that doesn't happen. A lot of, a lot of staffs across the country. Um, and and I think that's AAA huge part of this. Um, but, but chemistry with players is, um, you know, that that's gotta be with the coach and each other. And, um, coach Dungy really helped us with some things. He said, he, he, uh, he told the receivers, he said, where, where are the receivers? And they were all sitting back there together and he said good. He said, how much you want to win an AC C championship? They all threw their hands up and he said, how much you want to win a, a national championship? They all threw their hands up and he said, would it be worth it for you to win a national championship if you didn't catch a ball? Not one. And they went, hm. He said, yeah, yeah, you gotta be all in man. And he said, until you can really pull for somebody else on your team, even at your expense, you're not gonna be where you need to be. You're gonna be good. You can't be great, but to be great, you gotta be all in and, and I really feel like that, that's what this team is trying to do. And the, the offensive line which you, you asked about, um, if you think about it, um, Randy's coached all of them except for Blas Blaskie and he's a tough guy at Georgia. He was their sixth guy. We know a lot about him because of Stacy Searles and, and um he's come in and, and really fit in and, and it's, it's been, uh, he's tough. He's smart. He just like the one we, we just had, uh, that came in from Miami because he did a tremendous job for us. Um And, and then you, you think about, um, we feel like that uh Howard Sampson has a chance to be really good. I mean, 68 and 335 coming off the bus. He looks good. You, you put him and, uh Trey Green walk on in first. Sally said we at least look pretty and that's true. We, we do when they walk in and, and Trey is a year older and better, but Randy's had Howard, so he knew exactly what he was. Um, and he's, he's been better than I anticipated. He would be coming in and, and then you've got, uh, Malik mcgowan and Adorno been around here for a long time. Zach Rice is going on his what? Third year? Second, third, maybe it will be start of the third. Um So he's getting better. So a lot of guys have had a lot of snaps and that helps us. I think we'll have more depth in the offensive line this year than we've had. You mentioned Trey Green a couple of times now, like where's his game at right now? How have you seen him develop and just kind of, you know, where do you see him as a player? He's not a guy that, that you just throw out there and he's gonna be great right now. But he has improved so much since last year and he's staying healthy and he's managing his weight that, uh, uh, we feel like he'll be, he's got a chance to be really good. I think that's dramatic. No, I, I really think every year is a big year anymore. It's amazing. We have no patience in, in our country anymore. We have no patience in our lives. I see coaches making more money than I ever dreamed that coaches would make and I see them getting fired fast. They're getting fired in the second year of the third year. Uh, if we win 11 next year, everybody be mad because we didn't win 13. But think we're on our way and then if you go back and win nine the next or they're over there, he's too old. That's, it's easy at my age. Uh, so we don't worry about any of that. We just won't be the best team. We can be back to, uh, who's taking Drake in the NFL draft. I don't know. Um, I'm actually, uh, today I'm, I'm having, uh, uh, Clyde, uh, Freddie and, uh, Clyde Christiansen, Freddie kitchens and Ted Monno and Brian Simmons call all of our pro guys that are going into the NFL this year and sit down with them and explain what the draft really is because nobody knows. I I've been watching this thing 50 years and there's been so many kids disappointed because they thought they heard and I'm gonna go here and then I'm awful and, and so they're gonna tell them what it's like sitting in that draft room. Uh, what happens, uh, what to anticipate. Uh, don't go to parties, stay by yourself. And then, uh when you make a team, you, you get on that team, you gotta make the team. So don't worry about the draft as much, but, but I'm gonna sit down and have each one of them talk to them about that. There's, there's some horrible criticism this time of the year, every year. Uh Some of it may be to, to mask somebody uh because one team wants them more than another one. So they're gonna say some bad things about them. Uh Some may be to get attention from media uh because I watched it when I was in your, your job. Um So we're gonna, we're, I, I just felt today uh I made the decision, I'm gonna tell the staff at o'brien this morning. I think it's really important for all those guys to sit down with, with guys that have that experience in that room and tell them exactly what happens in those rooms. So they don't get excited about something. Somebody said, I've, I've seen pro teams call a guy and say we're gonna draft, you never call him back. And two guys later draft somebody else. So it's a, it's a hard process for these young people. Yeah. What was that? No, I don't believe that. I think, I think, you know, that I want to ask you about how it, you just mentioned a few minutes ago that I guess he's maybe surprised a little bit better than you anticipated at this stage. When we talked to him back in January, he said that he viewed this as being a project, the three years that you didn't expect to come in right away and be a starter. So, what has he done that has surprised you and the staff? And, and how much surprise is Randy maybe from what you see now, as opposed to what he saw before he left. Well, we'll get you guys to talk to Randy because that'd be an interesting question for him. What about North Texas as compared to now? What's different? I'm sure you'd say older and more mature and, and he's so big. I, I mean, when you, you look at, uh, he and, and Trey, I mean, you're 68 on, on both edges. Uh, and that's got great length. Um, we, we've really challenged our, our defensive guys on, uh, uh, fewer penalties. We've challenged our defensive guys on tackles for Lawson sacks. So he's been blocking, um, came and recorder every day. So it'll make you better or make you quit. I mean, because he is, he's hard and, and we're rewarding the defensive players who have forced penalties or sacks. So we've said Travis Shaw is so big and strong, he should force a holding penalty every time or get the sack. So, come on, man, let's do. It came and Rucker and I mean, can they can't block c so you have to have a chip on him if you are. And he's, he's learned enough now when he sees the chip coming, he runs right through their, their middle and runs over him. So he's just so hard to block. So I think that's really helped Howard because he's had to block him every day. And, uh, Kamman came up to me the other day and he said coach offensive line is better, it's harder to get there. So I'm, I'm impressed. So, so that's really, really good. But I think with he and, um, uh, Trayvon Gray being that long, you gotta rush way around them and they, they're just huge and then, um, um, Lew, um, from Georgia, Texas. Same. He's 663, 3335. So we're gonna have three really big tackles that have got linked and, and, uh, I think that'll really help us. What, what sort of challenge or difficulty even is it in grading these quarterbacks with the youth you have just in spring at white out because, I mean, obviously, you know, you need to got to run the right route and separate to be able to put the ball on them? I mean, like that, have you got, have you all found yourselves? Like, look, if that's someone with more experience, that ball is completed in terms of when you're grading these guys out. Adam, we have and it, it's a good question. That's why we felt like we had to make sure that they were, they were throwing to the same people uh all through the practice. So one of them didn't have an advantage over the other one because this receiver is more experienced than this one. And you, you think you're, you've got four receivers out that are really good players and you got two tight ends out that are both starters. Um, so we, we've, we have looked at that and we've told the quarterbacks, uh, don't be frustrated, um, try to handle it when, when things are happening that, that, that's what happened to the offense the other day. They got their head down when things weren't going well and they come, I, I got mad at them but they, they competed, they tried hard, they just didn't flip it and that's what we said, you gotta flip it. You, we, we've had, uh, uh, we've got to do a better job of winning games when we don't play our best. We haven't done very good at that and we've got to do that. We, we can't just say, well, we, we weren't on today. Uh, well, Drake didn't play good. We we can't do that. We've got to figure out ways to win when we're not playing our best because you're not always gonna play your best. And Virginia was a great example. I mean, that's a game. We had to figure out a way to win as coaches and we didn't do that and as players. So that, that's what we're working hard on. So we've told them that these guys may be playing. So don't, don't get mad at them, let's work with them and, and let's just handle it and do it and, and Connor and Max are both mature. They're both real smart. They both like each other. They're both really upbeat and positive. Uh, and they just, you, you wouldn't see any reaction out of them, um, because some of them are working with, uh, like, uh, Andrew Re Rosinski, uh, freshman defensive tackle, I mean, offensive tackle working against Dez Evans, um, it's gonna be a sack and, and they just, I just tell him to run by, they just sit there and handle it and I, I've been very impressed with both quarterbacks looking at that secondary. How beneficial has it been to really have fuzzy back at his, you know, natural position at Corn? He pretty much was, you know, star all last year. How beneficial has it been just happening at, at, I thought it really hurt us last year when he had to move inside. It, it hurt us that, uh, DeAndre Boykins didn't get to play because he's tough and smart and loves football and played a lot of football for us. But it, it was a, a double problem when we moved our best corner inside. He made an outstanding interception today, just broke on the ball from nowhere and, and would have scored with it and he's done that two or three times. So we need him back at corner and then you've got Marcus Allen out for the rest of spring. So that really helps you have to get these other guys ready. So we're having to, we'll be deeper at corner than we've been and we'll be deeper at safety than we've been. And then we look at, we're gonna look at deandre Boykins at safety and star, uh, because we got Caleb Cost and, and then we have moved, uh, uh, Trey Miller into star some, uh, and he's played really well there. So you've got, uh, Caleb cost, Trey Miller and, uh, uh, Ty, uh, so you've got all those guys back now there. And, um, another guy that's really stepped up at corners, Ty Adams, he's intercepted the ball about every day. So he's doing some good things and he had a broken wrist and we didn't know how much he was gonna get to do and he's done a good job. He really is. He is. And, and, um, he's got tackle better. He's quarterback, you know, coming out of high school so, he, he's, uh, but he can just make plays. It is. It's, it's amazing. He gets his and he's got great hands and he's a really good athlete. So he's got some length. Uh, Zion Ferguson, we got some guys now that, that are back there. You got, uh, um, Thompson and Patterson and, and, uh, uh, Malcolm Ziegler, Malcolm intercepted a ball today. Uh, he, uh, he ran down, uh, Connor had a quarterback draw for about 60 yards on Saturday and Malcolm ran him down. So he's, he's, uh, he's got big time ability. So it's fun to watch all these young ones and, and, and see them, uh, improve every day. Tyra Stewart is a little bit different than those guys because he started playing junior college. Is how does he balancing the sense of urgency because he only has two years with also being a very new guy and new at this level. A little bit of like a freshman in some way. Yeah, he's, uh, real quiet. Uh, it's all different. I think there were about 200 people in his hometown, maybe 800. Um, I asked him one day, hey, you like Chapel Hill? He said it's so big and I thought, hm, that's unusual for, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is it 336? Uh, we said, uh, I said, how many in your high school? He said not many. So, I mean, it was small. So he hit the quarterback the other day and we said you can't hit the quarterback and he said, oh, really? We always did. And I thought, yeah, you, you did. Uh, but he, but the kids love him and, uh, his nickname's Dole. And I asked him why. And he said, my grandmother started calling me that and I don't know why. So, yeah, so we call him Dooley. Uh, it's easier than tyrann. So, but, but he's doing a really good job. He's tough. He's smart. He's, uh they're, they're liking to play and when you've got great competition, everybody has to play better because we're, we're grading them every minute of every day. And it was funny, Brian Simmons talked to him and said, um, I used to go as a scout and I'd go into all of the schools and say, uh, does he like football? And he said, every coach always says he loves football and he said, so I learned, I had to watch to see if he loved football. Does he show up early? Is he working extra? Does he hustle ever play? Does he stay on the field and not get hurt? Um, is he going by all the rules? And, and he said, that's what I did. Well, Coach Dungy came in and told him the same thing. He said, if you're late to see me, then I either think you don't respect me or you don't want to play, period. I said, it's, it's easy. I don't, I don't have to ask those questions. I know those questions. And he said the same thing. If, if you're not gonna do, if you're not gonna hustle every day, you don't want to play, you say you wanna play but you don't because show me don't tell me. And that's kind of the attitude we've had with these kids. I don't hear it. Show me, I, I hadn't even thought about asking this but how important is Brian sending his voice to this team and this program in terms of he's so current. I don't mean that as a slight against anyone else, but like you said, you know, he's obviously so good, a tremendous player, but just, you know, he's so current, you know what I mean? Well, he's current and he's been where they want to be and that's why I love having a Ted Mon Aino that I wanna be in the NFL. I love having a Clyde Christiansen. I'm painting, he's coached the best quarterbacks ever. So he's telling quarterbacks what the best quarterbacks ever have heard. Uh Freddie Kitchens, head coach in the NFL, they all wanna be in NFL and then you get Brian Simmons who's a first round draft choice, red shirted here, first round draft choice, uh, plays a long time in the NFL will be in the Hall of Fame and then he comes back and he's a scout for eight years and then he's a high school coach for eight years. So, and, and he, he just, he's really tough and he's very direct. So the other day he said, you know what they, they need to do this, this, this time, why don't you tell them that? Tell him after practice. And he did. And he said, I don't want to be negative all the time. But he said, I've seen guys on, on a plane on a trip for the NFL get cut while they're on the trip. So, come on, man, don't, don't sit around and think this is easy. This isn't easy. And if you're not starting here, you're not gonna play in the NFL. So understand. And so he, but he also helped him with what coach Dungy said about. Here's who you are, here's what you need to see and you're either gonna do this or you're not. Yeah, very relatable and they love him and he's around them all the time, eats lunch with them every day. Uh And I see him, he'll walk over and say so he's, he's got, um, and, and he sat down with Travis and he was one of the ones to say, um, here's the truth, here's where you are, here's what I see. Um And I need to see more and I think he's really helped as well. It just seems like you guys haven't shown Jin too much coming in from, uh from a NC State. Do what? No, he's, he's been really good, but that's the respect you have. That, that wouldn't be fair to him coming in and he's, uh, he's limited. He'll be in the spring game in a, in a yellow, like, uh, I think, uh, Go Biggers was last year. He and, uh, Will Hardy both are back there. Uh, we think he's really good. He's having a good spring and he, he would have made a big hit Saturday if he was live. Um, and he's a happy kid. He's a fun kid. Uh, but we also feel like it put him in a very uncomfortable position if we keep asking about NC state. That's not, that's not why he came.