Belichick on team's offseason: There have been really no problems at all
Who's got the uh who's got the balloon concession here
I think I gotta go in there um
Uh thanks
It's um you know it's been a really exciting uh
time here on the um Chapel Hill campus over the
last few uh last couple of weeks
Uh you know we had the super regionals um you
know a great year by a baseball team and um
you know we've had camps we've had over 1000 kids
here at camp uh and we've got several more coming
up in the coming weeks
Uh a lot of have a lot of official visits
and you know our players are working out
Uh as well so um you know a big soccer
match here tonight
So really a lot of a lot of activity on
campus
It's you know exciting exciting place to be and you
know looking forward to the next you know a couple
of weeks here especially as we move forward you know
on the football end of it
Um a lot of new faces um you know since
the end of last season uh it's been a lot
of a lot of turnover almost 2/3 of the roster
From where it was in January you know after those
players whose eligibility expired or like Martin went in the
draft when those guys left so a lot of new
faces but definitely coming together and training has been good
We've made a lot of improvement it's good good team
chemistry a lot of individual improvement and you know obviously
we got a long way to go but we're we're
working hard and making progress and so we're excited about
that so
Looking forward to you know rounding out the the summer
training uh time and then uh you know of course
when camp starts in August then obviously that'll be a
big big month for us too but just want to
connect with everybody here before we roll into the you
know the summer you know July July 4th all that
and so I give everybody a chance to catch up
on um you know UNC football
My coach last time we talked to you
The spring event about quarterback and I'd ask you about
Max Johnson
Uh Max recently put out a video on social media
Looked like he's doing a lot more stuff
You have 4 quarterbacks
He's one of them
How close is he do you anticipate
will be available once 100% once you guys are going
to camp
Uh yeah so Max is doing uh doing very well
Um you know his his rehab has been been long
and I have a lot of admiration for him
I mean it was uh you know a tough injury
but he's nobody's worked harder than he has and um
he certainly is able to do a lot more than
he was last spring
So um we'll see exactly where he is when when
things start but it's a whole lot closer and um
you know we certainly expect to see him out there
so it's been very encouraging
Andrew Jones target today
It's a quick follow-up about uh the quarterback room
What did you guys like in Gino Lopez environment Yeah
uh was really productive at South Alabama
Um you know he's a dual threat quarterback
He's had plenty of you know production yardage both running
game and the passing game experience um you know tough
kid played well against some you know good competition teams
like LSU
So um looks like he's he's definitely ready for you
know for this level and you know we're excited to
work with him as we are with everybody else
So you know we've got some freshmen we've got Max
got some experience and Geo so you know see how
it all plays out
Honestly you know none of them with the exception of
Matt Max for uh a handful of plays last year
that none of them really taking any snaps here uh
so it'll be um you know it'll be good to
see how all that plays out
Uh Rod Baxley Fayetville Observer
Bill what do you like about how you guys have
built out this roster over the last few months going
into the summer and then fall camp Yeah well I
think you know Mike Lombardi and and the scouting staff
have done a you know done a great job um
You know we came in late and so uh that
was uh you know a little bit of a challenge
on the recruiting end because it was after signing day
uh we were active in the portal but kind of
late on that too because a lot of those established
uh relationships that been previously established with uh some of
those portal players
Um but that being said I thought we still were
able to improve the roster and then uh you know
we've had uh you know an addition of some players
this spring who I think will be a factor and
and the 26 recruiting classes uh you know it's gotten
off to a good start
We have a long way to go on that but
Uh we've seen a lot of good players and and
there's a lot of interest uh from those kids in
in coming here
You know we have some commits but again those commits
don't don't really count until until signing day
But you know uh still I think that's a sign
that you know we we're on the right track and
you know from the quarterback position to the skill positions
the offensive line and and a lot of defensive front
seven players and some players in the secondary you know
as well as uh a place kicker
I mean we've got you know a pretty We're off
to a good start
I'll see how it goes
Thank you
Yeah Chip Alexander from Newser just you know you haven't
seen your your team in a game yet but after
spring ball what do you feel like the strength of
your first team Yeah that's a good question
Uh I think we're just gonna have to evaluate that
as we go
We'll have a better idea in training camp
Uh again there were several players that um uh you
know left the team after spring ball and then we
have a lot of of new ones a lot of
new faces uh both incoming freshmen and and players who
came from transfers
Um and so we'll just have to see how all
that plays out
I think where we were then and and honestly where
we are even today
we're in a different spot
So um you know it'll be interesting to see how
how it all comes together
We got a lot of work to do but it's
certainly trending in the right direction
Um we've had good leadership from um against some of
the guys that have come in here some of the
people that you'll hear from later on
uh those guys have done a great job of of
um you know setting the pace um and you know
and encouraging the guys to come along and you know
and you know put in the work and
Uh we've had really good you know results from our
physical training and and the team building as well
So uh long way to go but you know I
feel like we're on the right track
Bill Adam Smith within South Carolina um
Just wanna ask what how did spring practice shape your
impressions of this team since you hadn't coached any of
these guys before and how did it spring practice maybe
influence what you felt like needed to be done with
the roster going into the next portal site Uh yeah
these uh look these these are great kids to work
with
They really are
We've had great buy-in um
There have been really no problems at all and these
guys are on time
They're early
They work hard
They put in the work on the weight room in
the weight room out on the field
They spend time on their own whether it's doing extra
training or coming over and watching film and that type
of thing
Um they've made a ton of improvement and these guys
are a lot better than they were when we started
in January on on every level
Um and so it's exciting to see where that's gonna
take us
I don't know maybe we're close to the peak or
maybe we're you know only a quarter of the way
up the hill
I don't know but we'll we'll see
But the improvements been um been very good and and
I think the players based on the improvement that we
made from you know January to April um I'll let
them speak for it
I don't wanna speak for them but I would say
that based on the improvement that we made during that
time frame uh that that's kind of generated some momentum
to
If we keep working like this we're gonna we're gonna
continue to get better and and you know these guys
have um dreams and aspirations um you know beyond North
Carolina and I think that's realistic for a lot of
players
um and so they're they're working really hard to not
only get the most out of out of their cells
individually but they're great teammates
And um so that's you know that's where we're trending
Back note here and here the Associated Press
You just talked about building out the roster
I'm curious what have you found your biggest challenges of
navigating the transport portal considering so many people call that
what's described as kind of chaos at all times
Well again it it's it's an area that Mike and
I have been very familiar with
We spent a lot of time in that free agency
space over the course of our careers in the NFL
So the biggest difference in college is just the volume
There are just so many players you know the college
portal is you know in the thousands and then you're
looking at a 26 recruiting class and then a 27
recruiting class that we're starting to build relationships with and
even some 28
And so the volume of players between you know a
recruiting class of again several 1000 kids a portal class
similar number and then another class and you know it's
just it's a lot of names
It's it's a lot of names to keep track of
and it's not just the player you're also dealing with
again the recruiting part of it right So you have
families and coaches and agents and people like that
And so in a lot of cases you're you know
you're looking at um You know 4567 people whatever it
is that are connected with that player in addition to
you know actually recruiting him you're you're kind of recruiting
a family
And so I just say the volume of people is
a little bit more than what we've had but um
you know we're adjusting to it and and we have
again a great staff
Our scouting staff's done a really good job of of
sorting those things out and you know and putting this
in uh Mike and I and our respective staffs and
position to you know to be competitive in in terms
of making sure that those players understand what we have
to offer
You know what we're selling is you know to be
a pro to be a pro on the field to
be a pro off the field in terms of life
learning and of course the academics here are you know
outstanding
So um you know we'll get ready players ready to
go to the next level whether that's training scheme fundamentals
preparation film situation football all those things that's what we
do and and that's what we're selling a lot most
kids are interested in that
They really are so we've had great buying
But thank you
Yeah uh Jeremiah Holloway was in South Carolina
Uh one player that we're gonna talk to later is
uh of coursehaus Dixon who Steve coached at Washington had
a spring
watching him in the screen what did you like about
uh some of the things that he was doing and
what do you identify as some of the show Um
yeah like a lot of what that did you know
let's start with just the the person um great leadership
you know first one on the field works hard very
good in preparation um had some individual meetings with that
really you know got to spend some you know quality
time with them
Um he's been great with our recruits probably you know
11 of the best that we have in terms of
um you know helping the the kids that we recruit
come in here and understand what the program's about and
uh how to you know how it can be beneficial
to them
Um but he's got good skills probably could play any
position in the secondary
Uh we'll see how that goes but um you know
he's got a great skill set a good work work
ethic and uh yeah he had an excellent spring so
um you know excited to to see it come together
for him in the fall
In the back of the you know uh Walter from
WREO um there's been so much interest since you got
hired and and you as a coach and also in
your personal life lots of reporting out there
I think is the biggest misconception about you
Um yeah I don't know
Look I'm really focused on you know doing my job
here at Carolina to help our football team and and
that's you know just to get better every day you
know to stack those days together training days preparation days
days out on the field and we've done that and
you know our staff's done a great job of working
hard to do that
So you know that's my big focus
I mean is there noise out there we've always dealt
with that really you know our job is to build
the football team
And for the team to you know help build the
team and also build their individual careers
So uh that's that's really where we're at
Thanks Bill Brier from the WRL
One quick call with a different line um
Interest in your personal life would you come back to
the coaching or like has that taken away from the
experience of you coming back to coaching and then totally
unrelated on the house settlement of the roster limits and
and everything you've got to deal with how have you
sort of had to make decisions based on the cat
and based on the uh the number of scholarships and
the number of
Yeah
Well again some of the noises out there and you
know the book and stuff like that
I mean it is what it is
Those are you know that's a personal venture that that
I uh entered into when I wasn't in coaching last
year and um hopefully that'll be a big purchase on
Father's Day but uh In any case uh the house
settlement uh you know something that we've all kind of
been waiting for and now that that's been handed down
um it's quite lengthy and technical and so you know
we have people on our staff and lawyers and so
forth that are looking at it
So we have a full understanding of exactly what we're
doing
We did that over the weekend and and uh Michael
Lombardi and I will be meeting with with those people
that are advising us on
Uh what exactly it means what we can do what
you know how we need to con uh configure things
a little bit differently than maybe we've done in the
past couple of months again a lot of this was
anticipated but now that it's uh more formalized um you
know we'll have to you know make sure that we're
compliant with every every part of it and uh from
roster size to you know payments and uh fair market
value or reasonable market value terms like that that the
um you know
The Deloitte part of it
I mean there's there's a number of things that that
are kind of interconnected
We just want to make sure that we understand everything
before we you know march too far forward
But um I'm glad that it's out
I'm glad that it's that we have a you know
uh uh uh
Rules and policies and so forth that we can work
with
I think now it's just understanding exactly how the mechanics
of some of those will work and again what we
what we can do and what we can't do and
you know as we identify that as it becomes clear
that'll that'll just help us going forward
I I would just say I would expect that over
the next year there'll be a lot of uh things
that will come up in probably a year from now
some modifications will be made
I who knows what they are but I think that
you know as you get all these schools all these
athletes student athletes
Um and and so many different you know outside NIL
type let's call them deals
Uh we'll see how all that plays out and what
you know what what the um boundaries are or aren't
going forward
Uh Bill uh Michael Code WCHL chapterrow.com
You're bringing in a lot of talent a lot of
experience on the offensive line through the portal in addition
to returning to three guys who've started you on the
line how do you juggle all of that experience when
there are only 5 starting spots Right
Well I I would say in my experience you know
in the NFL and and certainly looking from the NFL
at the college landscape um it's really hard to go
through a season with the same five offensive linemen for
the entire year
Um that that almost you know almost say it never
happens
It it's unusual for that to happen
And um certainly you know we've been in situations and
and as you've seen many teams you know lose multiple
players in the same position
You know for a you know a game or two
or a period
So depth is important at every position
You just never know when you're gonna need it right
And so uh and again it's good competition you know
competition will bring out the best to everybody and I
think that you know we have a very competitive group
Those guys embrace competition and and it makes all of
us better
So I know for me you know coaching against guys
like Andy Reid Kyle Shanahan Sean McVeigh Sean Payton guys
like that that's that's what made me better
I mean it was really hard to coach against those
guys so
Um that's what sharpens your game and I think as
an athlete student athlete that you know good competition both
on your side of the ball and on the other
side of the ball um are are important
But to your point on the you know the uh
amount of veteran players we have competition will be great
I think their experience will be very helpful um but
I think that's also very important that that uh Michael
and I have talked about is the 26th class
You know that we need to be ready to have
some players in there for the guys that you know
won't be returning next year
So you know there's some real team building that we
need to address in the future but again for right
now we'll let the competition play out
But I think it's it's very good very healthy
It's a lot more than what I think we had
back in the spring and
You know look the best players will play
That's the only thing I could tell you
Heidi Kirk WRL News
Given the focus on your personal life how do you
keep your players from getting distracted And do you expect
your girlfriend to be on the sidelines during games um
going forward No she doesn't have any role in the
UNC football program um
But again there's been you know noise out there about
a lot of different things
Again our focus is you know day to day getting
better stacking good days together you know having good rest
recovery you know and training moving forward the next day
and from the coaching staff to focus on you know
how do we help our team get better
That's my job
That's our staff's job is to put a good plan
in place so that they can if they do the
work that they see the improvement and so you know
that's what our job is
Second row up uh Brianon with the very um obviously
still very early but do you have any early questions
on what you you guys sign the offensive loss it
will be and how does that any multiple options that
quarterback kind of change that
Right
Well again uh at the quarterback position um we have
really uh you know of our call it 5 players
there at quarterback um including you know the two freshmen
who are coming in
um Bryce is the only one that was here in
the spring
Max was here but you know wasn't able to participate
much and of course GO is new so I think
you know as we see the offense of all uh
some of it you know
Obviously be in part reflective of how those quarterbacks do
and how that position shapes up
So I think we have good competition there and our
offense is our offense and we'll be able to adapt
to whoever it is
We've certainly had a lot of quarterbacks through the years
with different skill sets and you know we're able to
work with all of them but we'll see how you
know we'll see how it all plays out
So right now that position is
One that we just don't have a lot of on-field
experience with
And again even though Max was here he just wasn't
able to participate in a lot of the team or
any of the team drills
So it kind of also includes him even though he's
a very experienced player
Last one back note uh Jay that to uh Greensboro
coach uh thanks for your time
Sure
I wanted to know uh you spoke on earlier the
fast improvements that your your team has made so far
this spring
What were some of those areas that you were looking
to see your team get better and how close are
you to what are you guys gonna be Well again
always working to continue to improve and and again as
we you know hit our our you know targets then
we just keep raising the bar on those targets and
uh see where it goes
But I think the improvement really was across the board
so better communication better fundamentals better understanding of what we're
trying to do
Uh certainly the conditioning was was you know much better
We practiced at a very high level uh similar to
what we you know have done in the past with
you know Moses Cabrera our strength coach and
Uh our offensive and defensive systems and so forth and
and the players were able to respond to that and
you know and and maintain not only good health but
a high quality performance so we didn't run out of
gas
We were able to uh sustain the workload of those
practices from our off-season training that started back in January
So you know all those were were great signs of
growth
Um again how far can we go How far much
can we improve and how will it all come together
collectively
Um you know we'll just have to see but we're
not gonna stop you know improvement we made we're not
we're not we don't think we're there yet
Uh we're definitely not there
We know we got a long way to go but
I mean I think these guys have a a really
good future in front of them individually and collectively and
it's exciting to see the progress they've made
So um I look forward to working with them every
day
It's really a you know a great group to work
with and you know a great opportunity for me and
our staff to you know to to see the the
satisfaction and the and the growth that that they've had
like I said individually and And collectively as a group
and we have some new players coming in and you
know it's exciting to work with them
We'll see how that how that works out too
So thanks so much for coming
Appreciate it and we'll turn it over here to uh
some of our student athletes here
They've done a great job for all four of these
guys giving us great great leadership throughout the time they've
been here uh in some cases um you know with
uh with Hardy and Shi they've been here you know
their whole career but also that and um Christo coming
in you know those guys think it's great leadership all
the way through
All right thank you