What Mack Brown said after Saturday’s spring game for UNC
The 2023 UNC football spring game is officially in the books. Saturday provided fans the opportunity to check out this year’s team for the final time this spring as they will have months off before hitting the field in the summer.
North Carolina is looking to rebound after a disappointing end to the 2022 season, losing four-straight games including the Holiday Bowl to Oregon.
The Tar Heels will return Drake Maye and other key players on offense but also welcome in receivers Nate McCollum and Devontez Walker. Already, Maye has established some chemistry with the duo, throwing touchdown passes to both in the game.
Defensively, North Carolina is going to need to be better.
Last season was another tough one as they struggled from he start and couldn’t stay consistent when they did figure things out. While the spring game is fun and gives fans a look at the team, a lot will change between now and when they return to the field.
Following the game, UNC head coach Mack Brown met the media to discuss what he saw.
On Drake Maye and new receivers
“What we saw out of Tez today is what we’ve seen every day. And Nate’s really caught more balls in that we didn’t have a game plan. We weren’t trying to get it to him. But I was glad he got the one deep ball so everybody could see what’s out there. He’s really quick. And they’re so much like Josh and Antoine. I mean, it’s really freaky that they fit that same mold as those two.”
via Inside Carolina
On upcoming transfer portal window
“Yeah, that’ll be Monday. We’ll talk about it hard after we look at this. You’re always looking for offensive linemen. It’s the hardest thing, probably quarterback and offensive lineman, the two hardest things to hit on in recruiting. You make more mistakes with both. And it may be a system quarterback that had great receivers, or you’ve got to come here and fit and be able to handle everything, you never know. We’re constantly evaluating who we have at quarterback behind Drake, because we’ve had two great ones. We’ve had two NFL guys. We’ve got to look hard at what we’ve got.”
Via Inside Carolina
On defensive line
“Yes, absolutely. We’re quicker off the ball. We’re playing with lower pads. We’re using our hands better, and we’re penetrating more, we’re being more violent. That’s something you have to do to disrupt an offense and something we haven’t done. So I’m excited. We have really challenged those guys to do it. I thought I saw Jacolbe Cowan today make some plays, and he’s getting better every day. I thought I saw Beau Atkinson make some plays.
“We’re telling them that if you don’t show up, if you aren’t somebody that when we watch the video we can say that guy’s making plays, then we can’t play you. But Kevin Hester’s had his best spring. They’re all just learning to play with lower pads and they’re growing up. There’s been a whole lot of talk about our defensive front seven, especially our defensive line, not penetrating, not getting tackles for loss, not getting sacks and I think they’ve heard it and they’re tired of hearing it. And they’re trying to make sure that they’re rectified.”
Via Inside Carolina
On UNC's injuries
“Yes, that was the other reason we decided to go thud because even Bryson Nesbit is close, but if you’re close in a spring game, and you go out there and you pull something, or hurt a knee … but all of the guys except Malaki Hamrick will be ready to go when we start preseason in the fall.”
via Inside Carolina
On Beau Atkinson
“Yeah, so this will be Monday. We should probably have a meeting after Monday so we can talk about the final decisions. But you’ve got Des Evans back, he wasn’t out there today. He’ll be a power end. You’ve got Jacolbe Cowan and Beau Atkinson working at the power end. You’ve had Jahvaree Ritzie working there this spring, Jahvaree will go back to three technique — he and Myles — so it’ll give you three players there with a chance to get playing time in the fall. Then Kaimon Rucker, who’s one of the best players we’ve got and showed it again today. He shows it every day. He can play both power and he can play jack. So that helps us and we’re really excited about Amari Gainer. He helps us because he gives us another older guy at the jack position. He gets better every day because he hasn’t played that position. And then Jaybron Harvey made some plays today, Tyler Thompson made some plays today. Those guys are good young guys. We feel like they have a year to grow. But when those older guys leave, we have got to have somebody to step up.”
Via Inside Carolina
