University of North Carolina Athletics
Torbush Discusses Saturday's Season Opener
August 29, 2000 | Football
Aug. 29, 2000
Carolina head coach Carl Torbush met with the media this afternoon at the Kenan Football Center to discuss this weekend's season-opening matcup with Tulsa. The Tar Heels kick off the 2000 season Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kenan Stadium.
On Tulsa:
"We're dealing with a lot of unknowns. Keith Burns is very well respected
in the coaching ranks. He's an enthusiastic coach and I have no doubt that
his team will be very excited and play very hard when they come to Chapel
Hill."
"We know quite a bit about their quarterback, Josh Blankenship. He was freshman of the year in their conference last year. He throws the ball well, and he's got some mobility. For our defense to play well we will have to stop him. They've got a big running back in (Ken) Bohanon, and anytime you've got a running back that weighs 235, you've got to be concerned about him. Their wide receivers have some good quickness and some good speed."
"Their defense, I'm sure, will play with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. Offensively what we're going to have to do is be able to adjust to what we see during the ballgame."
On UNC:
"We're really pleased with where our quarterbacks are right now. Coach (Mike) O'Cain
has done an exceptional job getting Ronald (Curry), Antwon (Black) and
Luke (Huard) ready to play. We're excited that we have some depth at that
position."
"We're excited about the tailback position, but it's still a little bit of a worry because all of them are young. Of the three guys we say are the first, second and third teams, none of them have played in a varsity football game yet. It will be very interesting to see how they respond in front of 60,000 people."
"Defensively, it's going to be fun to see those guys back. We have 10 starters back and all of them are healthy. The linebacking crew is playing well right now and ready to go."
"I think we're where we need to be on both sides of the ball, what we need to do is fine tune the next two days."
NOTE
In today's afternoon practice, red-shirt freshman Willie Parker was limited to non-contact drills because of a back injury suffered last week. Parker, who was also limited in Monday's drills to non-contact practice, will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis and a decision on his playing status will be made later in the week.
