UNC coach Bill Belichick names Gio Lopez as starting QB vs. TCU

Um you know we're all excited for that uh staff

players you know we've got along

A long preseason and um you know it's time to

to focus on on the game that's uh upcoming

So um

Looking forward to the preparations on that you know TCU

um really good program uh you know when uh uh

Coach Franiona came in and then turned over to uh

Coach Patterson you know they really elevated that program with

you know tremendous success like they had back in the

uh you know back in the 30s with uh you

know Dave O'Brien and Sammy Ball and um Dush Meyer

um and then

Of course being in the championship game and and uh

Coach Dykes uh when he took over uh being in

the national championship game you know it's really a strong

program

It's had uh you know a lot of success in

the last two decades um and they're impressive to watch

Um you know we saw last year uh really an

explosive offensive team um a defensive team that's very tough

and aggressive um you know some some good players on

both sides of the ball

And uh you know very competitive uh kicking game group

as well so they um be one of the better

special teams units that we'll see during the year uh

especially from a coverage standpoint so

Um you know a lot to work on um a

lot to get ready for but um you know excited

for the process to start and and uh you know

we'll just take it take it day by day here

um but I'm definitely looking forward to getting out there

on the field and and you know working against ourselves

but really starting to prepare to work against another opponent

which this will be the first major time we've really

done that this year

And Jones are you 24/7

So in the NFL you have a few games

You gotta get a feel for your team going to

What kind of field do you have for this club

See Um Well the opening day is always opening day

I don't care where it is

Um and if you look at the NFL in the

preseason games uh I'd say the average playing time for

the veteran players is around 10%

So not very many snaps um

We've said zero snaps so you know we'll see what

happens there but it really for us it's just a

process

It's preparation it's practice it's rest recovery um and and

build on yesterday and do it again

And so that's where we're at now

We're very specifically geared towards TCU but um

You know each day is its own its own day

of preparation and there's really no looking back

We have things to do in the succeeding days so

we need to make the most out of every day

and we'll see what happens Monday night

I know coaches excuse me coaches are generally not comfortable

with things but how comfortable are you with what you've

learned about

Yeah well again we learn more every day um and

we'll learn more each game so

You know we're definitely you know gaining on the process

and we're growing but uh it's far far from perfect

um both as a coaching staff um Players and our

overall work together like we'll get better as we spend

more time together

Right in the center of front row you know Rob

Baxley they observer

How do you balance the the continued evaluation of your

club and the film from your guys' practices and now

going into the game with preparing and watching my TCU

stuff preparing

Yeah it's pretty much all about preparing for TCU

You know we spent a lot of a lot of

time working on on what we want to do and

building a base for the season and now we'll kind

of pick and choose the things that we feel like

we be best to use against TCU

Once we get into the game I'm sure we'll find

some things that we'll want to continue to use other

things that we'll probably say um you know what they're

doing is really not conducive towards this type of strategy

and we'll move on to something else

That's kind of what opening day is is you know

seeing how how things match up once you actually get

in the game

Pretty much in that

I know you mentioned you guys are prepared for TC

moving on to that

Is there still room to sort of oscillate and evaluate

guys or do you feel pretty comfortable you have of

feeling Yeah um 100%

I think uh you know when I look back at

my time in the NFL uh that month of September

those 1st 4 weeks we're still kind of getting a

feel for You know how things were going to work

out with your team how quickly some of the younger

players developed uh and maybe what the chemistry is between

certain certain players that play together as they get more

time

And so we'll see how that goes

Um certainly there's some specific game planning that's involved so

what we play against one team this week might be

different than what we do next week schematically but putting

all that aside yeah I mean we'll see how players

develop and how they play

And the players who play against TCU have earned that

playtime and the players that uh will have less playtime

will have an opportunity to take advantage of the playtime

they get whether it be in practice or in a

game and change their status

Mhm

Right next to Yeah uh I live in South Carolina

you mentioned obviously CTCU having an explosive offense everything like

that

We looked at them on film of course they bring

back

like that

What particularly stood out to you about their offensive The

number of explosive plays they get is impressive offensively

They can throw the ball down the field uh go

routes post routes seams things like that

They also can throw the ball on some intermediate type

throws like slants and quick in cuts things like that

Uh and then they have plays behind the line of

scrimmage screens and uh hitches and so forth

They make a lot of yardage on with the with

the ball when the receivers get the ball in their

hands

They're very good after the catch

Now some of those guys are gone but they also

brought in some explosive players that we've seen

So we'll see how that goes but it's a it's

a good catch and run team if they if you

let them throw it in front you got to do

a good job of tackling and and they do a

good job throwing over the ball over the top and

and they also have a good intermediate game so

They really make you defend you know all the all

the blades of grass on the field

The sideline to sideline the line of scrimmage to you

know 50 yards down the field

So you've you've got a lot to defend and they

do a good job of attacking all of it and

where you're light that's where they want to throw and

where you're heavy they they go somewhere else

So they're a tough offensive matchup against Coach Briles

Coach Dykes do a good job of putting stress on

the defense and and

You know this is one of those games where defensively

like everybody will have to really do a good job

with their responsibility

You know you can't cover a receiver and stop the

run you know you can't cover a short zone and

still cover the middle zone

Like you've got to do your job and everybody else

has to do theirs and we have to play good

team defense and we have to tackle well

On the left front row

Got it

Adam Smith in South Carolina um with Geo Lopez you

guys have had him out I guess for for 3

months and the process of getting him up to speed

with the playbook running the offense just how would you

evaluate how that has gone from I guess August 2nd

when you got on the field for the first time

till now do you feel do you feel comfortable with

him you know in the whole playbook

Um Well We don't really have a whole playbook

I mean we do but we don't because we wouldn't

do everything against everybody

We have certain things that we do against certain teams

and the way they play and maybe not so much

on something else

So we would find to that based on the game

But yeah Geo's made a ton of progress

Um you know we've evaluated things through um you know

through training camp and you know as now we get

ready for for TCU he'll be our starting quarterback so

we'll give him the majority the reps in practice

Uh and and make sure that we get him you

know as much preparation as possible but everybody needs to

be ready to go

Uh but you know I feel very comfortable with him

and what he's doing but he'll get better as we

go forward because we just well we have a lot

of practices in front of us and a lot of

games in front of us and and we'll all learn

a lot from those

So um

You know I think he's ready but I think he'll

be like everybody more ready as we go forward

Second row

Um and speaking to some folks with the Rael they

say that you've been very

With some You know fundraising events they've had every summer

across the country

I know you've been in Nan's Pet um what of

those conversations with fans as part of those visits Like

and are there any conversations that stick out to you

especially if you something that The Um But it kind

of got me off guard

I thought it was only a TCU questions

um but no no no it's fine um

Uh so it it you know I've done most of

those with Michael but uh not all but uh those

have been honestly they've all been great experiences

Um

Connecting with mostly UNC alumni but not exclusively there are

a lot of UNC football and UNC backers at various

events that we've connected with and the support's been tremendous

They've been very supportive encouraging and in a lot of

cases want to become more involved in the program more

supportive in the program

Um they've asked questions about you know what we're doing

Um certainly there's a new landscape in college football that

we've talked about with you know general manager head coach

kind of model um so we've got a lot of

questions about that a lot of questions about NIL and

you know how that's gonna work and so forth

Um not that we've been able to answer all those

questions because there's still some unknowns here uh particularly up

until uh June or whatever it was when you know

the the judge handed down you know the final paperwork

on it but Um you know a lot a lot

of general questions like that and I'd say you know

Michael and I have talked a lot about bearing the

tradition back to North Carolina and you know doing some

things that uh historically uh were very important in in

uh the school's football history that we want to recognize

and and uh and highlight

So um

Yeah um Nantucket New York a couple of times Chicago

Atlanta Charlotte Raleigh um

So yeah we've kind of you know and then a

few other one-offs besides those so but it's been it's

been great really

Every one of them has been um a good experience

to meet people meet new people and see and hear

about their involvement and their questions um and a couple

here in Chapel Hill too so um and we'll have

you know several more as we have home games here

but also you know travel to places like you know

Carol uh Cal and you know on the West Coast

things like that where we can connect with some of

the people that haven't you know weren't in those areas

Thank you

Mike you've had 8 months now to work with Freddie

Fichens here at Chapel Hill

What does it mean to you to have a former

NFL head coach and a and a veteran on this

campus and in this program to be a part of

your uh coaching staff and what does he bring that's

unique to this office Um well yeah I mean I'm

I feel very fortunate to have the staff that we

have

We have a a really uh a good staff

They're very experienced both in college and and uh from

professional football so it's kind of a good a good

mix there

Uh Freddie said some of both as as you've mentioned

um some of us have been more on the pro

side some on more college side some have that you

know that that kind of mix like uh you know

like Freddie does but yeah he's got a lot of

experience and and has coached a lot of good players

Um you know he's uh you know he brings a

toughness to the offense um and and so I think

that's a good thing and um you know he and

Coach Friend played together at Alabama so there's a great

relationship between you know the offensive line and and and

the coordinator

So that's always an important part of the offense to

have that you know mesh like you know we had

at New England with Josh McDaniels and Dante Scarnecchi

That's that's an important you know dynamic offensively

So um yeah Freddy's been great to work with and

I've really enjoyed being with him but also you know

his expertise from the things that he's brought from Cleveland

or previously that from you know when he was in

Arizona with the Cardinals for a decade plus some of

the experiences in college whether it be you know South

Carolina or here in the last couple of years especially

here because he does is familiar with the program

Some of the things that have happened here in the

last couple of years that help us either move faster

or move slower with some of the things that we're

trying to do

3 we'll go 2 in the back and then finish

up in the yeah with WRL

How much impact have you had on or decisions have

you made about the game day atmosphere what happens inside

the stadium what happens in the pre-games any of that

stuff Are you involved at all and what you wanna

see happening around this game I want to see us

score points and turn the ball over and block kicks

and so uh yeah we'll see if we can get

that into the into the game day uh manual uh

yeah no I've been made aware of some of the

things that are are going on here

I mean that's really uh not my field of expertise

but um we are involved with it you know obviously

to some degree with the team you know coming out

and where we are what we do and so forth

so um but that's primarily been handled by um

By Rick and and um you know Steve to a

degree I'm sure other people in their departments and so

forth

So um but yeah they've talked to us about you

know here's some of the things we do and um

you know Michael and I have met with them and

for the most part you know this is great and

then we you know everybody's throwing out some suggestions

What about this What about that and we kind of

kicked those around

But um I think that the the plan that you

know Rick has is is um very exciting

Um you know I think that they're they've invested a

lot in it both in time and energy and facilities

and so it sounds like a great game day fan

experience that um

I think it'll be well received and hopefully we can

put a good product on the field and you know

make make the nights and type of games that people

want to come to come to the stadium to see

Did you talk to him about the team and all

that stuff

Yeah well I mean it be hard to do a

team walk without the team

So yeah we we we we've been involved yeah so

we've talked about that and

How that's gonna you know the timing on it and

so forth

And yeah so yeah things that we're involved in like

that that's a good example

Things that we're involved in we're involved in things that

we're not involved in the halftime show and other you

know things that go on outside the stadium um yeah

don't really don't really apply to us you know that

that's not something that's you know central to what we're

doing but um things around the start of the game

or in game and so forth that are happening that

affect us then yeah we've talked about those sure

Right next door

In a kick out asking like how who the field

you have for who you what you've got to work

with and uh you said not not a whole lot

at this point

How much more do you feel certain certainty about uh

what you expect to see on the field on Monday

today um just is there a chance you're surprised by

a performance good or bad on on Monday Do you

feel like you have a pretty good feel for what

this team is and and start a small side that

that would you be announcing GO as the

quarterback that I thought oh we just did it

Sorry

Yeah OK um

How these variables line but uh I won't do that

Um but uh Yeah again I've been through a lot

of opening days and everyone is is the same in

that

There's some things you kind of feel good about

There's some other questions that you have and then as

things unfold you find out how good you feel about

the things you feel good about and how good you

feel about the things that you were worried about

And it's not always the same you know I think

when you go out and practice against yourself uh or

even in the NFL with the preseason games it's it's

done at a you know at a low level

All right that's what it is

Well when you get ready to play a team nothing's

held back

Um they game plan you they try to expose your

weaknesses

They try to you know they try to attack you

where they feel like they can cause you problems with

in your scheme or in your personnel whatever it happens

to be

And then next week it's more of the same because

now you put a game on tape and you know

now they can see um you know the next level

of game planning and scheming and then the same thing

the 3rd week

By the time you get to that 3rd or 4th

week

You know you're you're exposed one way or another right

I mean either you're pretty good at these things or

um this is a weakness that we're gonna have to

find some way to minimize whether that's a personnel move

or whether it's a scheme move or whatever and you're

seeing the same thing from those other teams

So I think those 1st 3 or 4 weeks are

really important in the development and evaluation of your team

because what it looks like on the practice field and

what it looks like against another team who plays differently

than you do which certainly TCU does

Um our evaluation of how we play against TCU and

how we play against ourselves in practice could could be

very different or not you know we just don't know

So um but those 1st 3 or 4 games once

teams get a chance to see you on film and

you get a chance to see your own team and

how they perform and where you feel like you can

be effective in attacking your opponent probably you're different from

week 1 to week 4

Last one

The national attention on this team uh it just seems

unavoidable for your players

How would you and your staff navigated that leading into

a game with so much national attention on one Yeah

just we control you know we can control our preparation

um our attitude and our work ethic going into the

game and then how hard we compete in our communication

so um

How many people are here or not here or however

many hours they talk about it on a network show

or don't talk about it it's really not anything in

our control

It's irrelevant to us

We're trying to focus on what we can control and

what helps us win and helps us prepare for the

game

And so the rest of it is you know with

all due respect just noise for us

We have to focus on our job and let you

guys do your job

Thank you

All right

OK thanks

All right thank you

So we'll have 4 players coming out in no particular

order uh Geo Lopez Jordan Ship Thaddeus Dixon and Andrew

Simpson

So I'll be bringing them out shortly

Just um

Yeah So do you wanna know how smart I am

which is obviously stupid

Yeah

I