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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 8, 2010

Butch Davis

MIKE FINN: We welcome North Carolina head coach, Butch Davis, whose Tarheels will have a bye week this week and next be in action Saturday September 18th, when they host 17th ranked Georgia Tech at Kenan Stadium. The game will be a 12:00 noon kickoff and will be originally televised by the ACC Network. That game will be the first conference game of the year for both teams. We'll bring out coach, ask for a brief opening statement and then go to questions. Coach?
COACH DAVIS: Thank you, Mike. Certainly in first ballgames you learn an awful lot about your football team. There were some things that certainly we felt good about when the game was over with. There were some areas that clearly as a football team we've got to improve.
Some kids played in the game for us on Saturday that had never played in any college football games and there was certainly an awful lot of uncertainty by them as well as the coaching staff as to exactly how they would play. And some of those kids played very well, and they were pleased with the way they played.
Kind of the highlights offensively, certainly T.J. Yates and the receivers had a very good game. During the Of course of the game, they kept us in there and fought through some real adversity during the first half where we struggled with some things. Turning the ball over, giving up some bad field position and stuff, but they hung in there and started to make some plays and gained some confidence.
I thought defensively in light of the fact of how many new kids were playing, some starting and some playing collegiately for the very first time, they did a similar type of thing. As the game went on, they got a little into the flow of the game and gained a bit of confidence.
They played much, much better in the second half. Probably the poorest performance that we had in the entire ballgame were certainly some of the things that we did special teams wise. We didn't cover kicks as well -- either as punts or kickoffs as clearly as you need to.
Patrick Peterson's a very talented kid and a very good returner, but we need to do an improved job certainly by the next game against Georgia Tech.
We made some decisions on fielding kicks and stuff that certainly hurt our field position and those are things we can work on and get better.
MIKE FINN: Questions for Coach Davis.

Q. Do you believe that special teams are at least defending the punt return and kick return are any more vulnerable in September generally than they are in November? Is it harder or are you more likely to give up a long one in September than in November?
COACH DAVIS: I've kind of long held the belief that certainly the first couple of games your special teams are one of the scariest propositions of the entire game just simply because of the nature.
Unless you've got a lot of returning starters that have played significantly on special teams and they know all of the pitfalls about getting off of blocks and making live open field tackles, because you justify don't practice as much. You practice it, but you don't do it full speed and live just because of the sheer nature of concussions and injuries and open field tackles and the blow-ups that happen in kicking situations.
Obviously, we got impacted certainly because of the number of kids that we felt like during spring time and maybe even early in training camp that would play the lion's share of some of the responsibilities on special teams. Those guys became the starters for us, and a lot of the positions on defense.
So it really affected an awful lot of the guys that had to play on special teams. So it's an area that this open date comes at a good time that we can learn from some of the things that we did the other day in practice and try to improve in those areas.

Q. To follow-up on the special teams. Matt and Shane are two of your better special teams guys. Were they able to play on special teams because they were playing so much defense?
COACH DAVIS: Not very much.

Q. So that was a trickle down?
COACH DAVIS: That was just a tiny portion of it. A lot of guys started at linebacker like Herman Davidson, and Dion Guy, and a lot of those guys. Because your depth becomes so watered down, you can't play them on special teams. If they're going to play 60, 70 plays on defense, it's awfully difficult to overload them with an additional 12, 15, 20 plays on special teams. It's a tough job to ask somebody to go play 80, 90 plays in a game.

Q. Same for Gene and Mywan?
COACH DAVIS: Every single one of the DBs. Those guys were going to be significant contributors on special teams and stuff. Now all of a sudden they've become starters in the secondary.

Q. Is there an update on Mywan's concussion?
COACH DAVIS: He's improved. I think it's good that it's an open date because it will allow him to fully recover. There is a certain -- our sports medicine people take a certain amount of precautions in the number of days.
I don't think he'll return to practice. He missed practice yesterday and probably will miss practice today, but they're optimistic that there is the possibility that they may return to practice tomorrow.

Q. You mentioned after the game that there were a bunch of players you thought may have been eventually red shirted that you had to play there in the first game. How large was that number?
COACH DAVIS: Well, certainly we played two defensive ends. We played two kids in the secondary. We played one linebacker trying to think of who else actually participated. I think the number that I quoted was probably like six or seven kids.
There were five that actually participated, and some were on the depth charted listed as number two that did not get into the game. I think Sean Tapley was one that was in the game. He was our back-up punt returner behind Todd Harrelson. If anything would have happened to Todd, he would have had to go in.
Again, the likelihood before this season's over with that there will be the possibility of a continued number of some of those guys that will probably get thrust into the situation where they had to. But I think we actually played five.

Q. I know that inexperienced strength and conditioning, all of that, obviously there is a huge difference. But what about talent? Did you notice any dropoff in terms of athletic ability?
COACH DAVIS: Well, you know with those kids, obviously it's mostly experience. It's maturity. It's understanding the pace and the speed of a college game compared to a high school game.
We have high expectations that those five freshmen that played and the others that might potentially get into the game are going to be guys that are going to be good players. But there is going to be a transition period for them. We think that they're really good athletes, but it's going to take a while for them to adjust to everything that they're going to have to the collegiate level.

Q. What are the advantages of having two weeks to prepare for an offense like Georgia Tech's?
COACH DAVIS: Well, as good and as different as their offense is and even their defense, because they've made a schematic change defensively from a year ago going from a four-three to a three-four, any time you get an extra amount of time, it certainly should help you a little bit.
Obviously we've got a lot of things that we've got to improve on in our own football program. It has absolutely zero to do with Georgia Tech. We've got issues that we've got to fundamentally fix and gain some experience and get better prepared with some of these young kids that are going to be put into the roles as far as playing in all three different phases.
One of the most fundamental differences is obviously the execution of the scout team. You know, it's a different scenario for your scout team if they're going to replicate an offense or a defense that is identical or in some phases very similar to yours. The cards may look a little different, but the techniques and the fundamentals and the alignments are schematically the same.
Obviously, we don't run the triple option, so finding a quarterback that can do it, and finding kid that's can go out and execute it. So any time you get a little extra time, it certainly should help a little bit.

Q. I was interested in sort of what you're looking at as far as your running back situation now? Do you think there is a chance you'll have some resolution on Sean or Ryan's situation by the Georgia Tech game. And, if not, would you stay with Johnny White at running back, and what would you be looking for there?
COACH DAVIS: Well, there is no movement whatsoever as we speak today on any of the other players that were not in a position to play last weekend. The availability that we had, we had to move last year's fullback, Anthony Elzy to tailback to be able to try to create a little bit of depth. Then Johnny White and Anthony Elzy both suffered injuries during the course of the game. And that put a little bit of a burden certainly on Hunter Furr who is a first time red shirt freshman playing, and as we speak, it's still those three guys.

Q. What happened to White, what happened to Elzy, can you tell us more about their injuries?
COACH DAVIS: Just ankle injuries, ankle sprains.
MIKE FINN: Thank you for being with us, and we look forward to having you next week.

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