University of North Carolina Athletics
Torbush Speaks With Media About Entering Week One
August 31, 1999 | Football
Aug. 31, 1999
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina held its weekly football press conference today at the Kenan Football Center as the Tar Heels prepare for Saturday's opening game with Virginia.
The following are some of head coach Carl Torbush's comments to the media:
"Welcome back. I'm glad to be here. I'm glad you're here. It's a lot of fun on Tuesday, (but) I'm not sure I'll be this loose on Saturday. But we're excited about where we are right now. There's no doubt that we're opening up with a big-time opponent in Virginia. Not only is it a very important ACC game, but it's also a very important game for our football team to find out exactly where we are, because in my opinion I do believe that preseason Virginia should be on of the top 25 teams. That will all be determined at the end of the year, but I do know that we're playing a quality opponent and one that's always going to be well coached. We're playing a team that I feel like will always give us trouble offensively because they've always been very balanced and defensively have been very aggressive. I'd say over the past ten years they've probably been one of the top three or four defenses consistently in the conference. That's saying a great deal.
"But right now I feel really good about where we are as a football team. I feel like we made a lot of strides during two-a-days. I feel like our freshmen have come along and right now we will play more freshmen this year than we've played since I've been here. There's a great chance that we could have as many as eight freshmen step on the field this year. That's good and that's bad. That's good in the fact that we feel like they're good football players who are athletic and who will make a contribution. It's not good in the fact that several of them are going to be stepping into very key, critical positions that have the ability to either make you better or get you beat in a hurry. The biggest concern we have right now -- and I've said it time and time again -- is in the cornerback position. And the young cornerbacks, even though they are athletic, they are freshmen and they've made some very nice plays, but at the same time they've gotten beat some. So we're concerned a little bit about that and hopefully we'll give them a chance to grow up slowly but surely and not on the run. That could get us in trouble.
"I feel like we've got a couple of defensive lineman -- Malcolm Stewart and Jeb Terry -- who should make a defensive contribution this year. Jeb for sure in our defensive front because of our lack of depth there and Malcolm Stewart basically because he came out of nowhere and plays with such a high motor that he got himself a position on special teams. We did move him to defensive end because of depth. He's going to make some mistakes, but he's a guy that because of his athletic ability and his strength, will give himself a chance to play this year. I've already talked about the corners and I think all of us know who I'm talking about there. Kevin Knight, Derrick Johnson and Dexter Reid * all three have a chance to get on the field this year and some of them will be a little bit quicker than others, that will depend on special teams. Probably the one right now who will definitely get on the field immediately will be Kevin Knight, which is as much because of special teams as his defensive ability.
"Offensively one guy that really has stood out and has given himself a chance to jump into our rotation is Daniel Davis at running back, a young man who came in here very highly recruited. I don't feel like he's backed down to the competition one bit. I feel like he's practiced very well. He gives great effort. He's very mature for his age, and he's shown some outstanding athletic ability in the last three weeks of practice. He's deserving of an opportunity, and he will definitely play the first game. If he stays healthy I really do believe he'll be a fine football player. A that we really weren't counting on playing this year that look like he has a legitimate chance to get on the field is wide receiver Sam Aiken, who we've been very impressed with. He's a guy that we had no idea that he'd be as mature and ready to play as he has been. He's shown great toughness and great ability to learn and he's made some very nice catches. He's what I call a gamer. He's a guy that looks a lot better in game-type situations than he does in drill-type work. So I do believe he'll play this year. A guy that could play and may not play depending on a couple health situations would be Marcus Wilson. He's got a chance. He's right now listed as our second left guard. If Cam Holland stays healthy this week, which right now it looks like he will, than we would not play Marcus Wilson this week.
"So that's really the eight freshman. It's really amazing from last year to this year the injuries we had last year decimated us in a lot of ways. Right now we have no serious injuries. The only serious injury we have at this point is Justin Browne, who was a freshman cornerback who was operated on who will not play this year. Other than that, knock on wood, if everything goes as planned we should go into the first game completely healthy. And that's really exciting. It's exciting to see this football team completely healthy, ready to go and understanding that we are very young in certain positions defensively. We only have two seniors starting, probably only three seniors in the two-deep. So most of those are freshmen and sophomores so we're about where we were defensively in a lot of ways like we were back in 1995. A lot of those guys are playing young and they will get better and better as the years go along so I'm excited about the possibilities of some of those young men turning into great football players. Only time will tell.
"Offensively we're much better right now than we were at any time last year. You start with the offensive line, if we start today and everybody stays healthy we'll start five seniors on the offensive line, so we should be good at that position. We feel like because of the number of injuries we had last year that we were able to play a lot of guys so a lot of guys have had playing experience. But I do feel like this offensive line has gotten better and better and right now I feel like they've made our running game better. I feel like they've given Ronald Curry a chance to grow up as a quarterback and not have to rely quite as much on his athletic abilities. So that's where we are right now and I really hope they stay healthy because I'd really like to see how good this offensive line could be this year. You know as well as I do that that's where we've been beat up over the last several years because of maybe not doing some things as well as you would expect, but I do feel like they've got a chance to be a good solid group.
"It's great to have Alge Crumpler back. There's no doubt that if you look at where we are right now offensively, a lot of that has to do with Alge Crumpler. We didn't have him last year and that took out a key position on our offensive football team, because Alge gives us not only the ability to have an excellent blocker in the game, he also has the ability to catch and run with the football after the catch. Plus he has the ability to flex out, move out and put some guys in some tough positions. I don't feel like most strong safeties and most linebackers can match up with Alge Crumpler one-on-one.
