University of North Carolina Athletics
Bunting Press Conference Quotes
November 13, 2001 | Football
Nov. 13, 2001
UNC football coach John Bunting met with the media Tuesday afternoon for his weekly press conference. Here is some of what he had to say:
"I'm not sure how many fighters or boxers we have in this room, but for anybody who's ever been hit in the mouth or hit directly in the nose, it stings, it hurts, it's aggravating, it's frustrating and sometimes you're not able to overcome that in a fight. We started off the season 0-3, and nobody thought we'd win a ball game again until maybe we played Wake Forest. And when we won five in a row, there were a lot of people out there that said we were going to the Orange Bowl. That's just not the nature of football. That's what some people might think about 0-3, that's what some people might think about winning five in a row. But that's not the nature of football. The nature of football is that it's an absolute fight each week. The players and staffs that can get busted in the nose and rally, those are the ones that win championships. Those are the ones that have great foundations.
"I know that if you don't have a solid foundation, if it's not level, if it's not square, if there's possible cracks - you can't do any cost-cutting when you put in the foundation. The foundation of a house takes a long time - the foundation of a football team might take a little longer. I'm not doing any cost-cutting. All I've been saying since Day 1 is that every day I'm trying to build this program and make it better. We've done a lot of good things - there are a lot of good things that can still happen. We're not going to reinvent football this week, but I'm going to go back to what I've said from Day 1 - it's a 12-round fight. We need to answer the bell. That was our theme as a staff. That was our theme when we started training camp - it's a 12-round fight. The seniors chose a theme of 'Take Respect.' To an extent I think they've earned some. I think they'd like to earn some more. It'll be interesting to see how we respond in another big football game here in Kenan Stadium. I'm hopeful that we continue to build and that we continue to build this program. As I've said to a lot of people in May, June and July, the fans of Carolina football would continue to pull for this football team. They would want to pull hard for this team because they would fight. I know that a lot of people have pulled for this football team and have really hurt when we lost the way we did at Georgia Tech and absolutely had their hearts ripped out when we lost the way we did against Wake Forest, but now it's time to fight again. It's Round 11. I will approach this week of practice the same way I've approached every single other week of practice, and that is to get ready to win and to prepare to win."
On the status of QB Ronald Curry:
"I just spoke with Ronald. It was an emotional moment for me. He is a great kid. He's a man. He's a great man is what he is. He's gone through an awful lot. He is anxious to play. I am anxious to play him."
On leadership on defense:
"Leaders are guys who practice and play very hard all the time with a tremendous amount of consistency and sometimes will interact with their teammates in such a way as to get them to try harder and work harder. I think Julius Peppers is one. He has worked extremely hard through the summer and the summer camp and has been a good practice player. David Thornton and Quincy Monk have done a great job of preparing week in and week out. I think having Anthony Perkins back has given us a tremendous lift in terms of the courage that that young man has displayed. Dexter Reid leads through example - he plays hard every single day. He's going to be a very good leader for us is years to come."
On the status to injured receivers Bosley Allen and Chesley Borders:
"Bosley's made great progress over Sunday and Monday. I think he'll be practicing by tomorrow. Chesley will go today."
On the quarterback situation and Darian Durant:
"I think the two-headed quarterback for whatever reason has had success, and Darian Durant has had tremendous success - he is Freshman of the Week again this week. We have not had success in the win column (the past two weeks) because we have not played well in the second half on defense.
"Ronald adds something to our offense when he's in there playing - that's a fact - but I don't know if it would have been true the past two weeks if he would have been in there, I don't know that. There's no way for me to predict that. I do think that Ronald adds something to our team. I think our team is anxious for Ronald to come back, just like they were thrilled when Darian came back last week. They are two fine people.
"He's (Darian) going to make some red-shirt freshman mistakes on occasion, but he makes fewer each week.
On Duke:
"They have talent on offense. They can move the ball. They've hurt themselves at times with turnovers, and we all know what turnovers do to you. But they've got talent there. The quarterback can throw, they've got receivers, the runners can run. The defense is extremely aggressive - a lot of preparation time there for our offense. Their special teams are an absolute nuisance. They will keep us up all night with all the different things they do. They've had the bye week - who knows how many more things they'll have for us. We're going to have to be at our very best. We'll get some things we probably haven't seen from them on special teams. We're just going to have to be ready to hunker down and be alert and be smart."
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