University of North Carolina Athletics
A Conversation With Jim Webster: Part II
May 31, 2001 | Football
May 31, 2001
By: Joe Bray
TarHeelBlue: Let's look at your guys, with a recap of how each one did this spring.
Coach Webster: "I am overjoyed with Joey Evans, I really am. Right now, Joey Evans is my best football player, and I say that with no hesitation whatsoever.
"Once Joey understood the demands that I was putting on him, what I expected, which is there will be no loafing, there will be no plays off, you will play hard, you will give great effort, and it will be a matter of life or death every time the football is snapped, then he really rose to those expectations.
"He made tremendous strides from the start of spring practice to the end of spring practice. I am very, very pleased with where he was at the end of spring practice, because he was a force to be dealt with. He was making plays, he was making things happen, he was causing turnovers, he was batting the ball down, he was running all over the field.
"But I wasn't surprised, because that's what I expect my players to do. I'm not going to lower my expectations to players, players have to raise their expectations to mine. I think about the middle of the spring he got the picture, he started to understand that. He started raising his level of play, and I'm just thrilled to death with him.
"I hope that he will get better this summer. I hope he'll get stronger and then come back in the fall with the same attitude to get even better. Right now he's my best football player, and I think he's going to have one heck of a season if he stays healthy.
"I had Will Chapman, but we moved him inside when Anthony Perkins got hurt. He'll probably stay there.
"Jermicus Banks is a typical freshman. He needs more strength, he needs to gain a little weight, he needs to get a little tougher mentally. He needs to understand the speed of the game, which is something he's just learning.
"He needs to get a better understanding of what I expect from him, but I think he improved during the spring. Fortunately, he took a lot of snaps this spring, more than you would normally give a redshirt freshman. There were times he looked at me like he was really, really tired and wanted to come out, but I wouldn't let him come out. We had some injuries, and we had to play him.
"I think that he made a lot of improvement. The thing that I told him is that if there's anybody in the weight room working harder than he is, then he's not working hard enough. His true test is going to be this summer, will he work harder and get stronger?
"I think that with time he will get more mature. I think he has the physical tools that it takes to play the position, but he's just a typical freshman. Now he's got to do all those things over the summer that you must do to get ready to play Division I football as a freshman.
"Unfortunately, he's probably going to have to play this year as a redshirt freshman. I say unfortunately, because you don't want to have to play freshmen, but he's probably going to have to play. He's got to get bigger and stronger.
"I'm not concerned about him being mentally tough, because I'll handle that. I force fed him this spring, I force fed him a lot. There were a lot of things he wasn't ready for yet that he had to deal with, from the standpoint of getting chewed out, from the standpoint of getting pressure, from the standpoint of every play being a life or death situation.
"I'm pleased with Jermicus, but he's still got a lot of work to do to be able to play successfully against the people he'll have to go against, because I don't expect any drop off when a guy goes out there.
"There's no such thing as first team, second team, third team, it's the guy that's out there. If you say, 'Well your second team or third team' then that's the way they'll play. If you're out there, you're on the first string. There's only one team on the field, and as far as I'm concerned, whatever team's on the field is the first team.
"He better be ready to play.
"I thought that Issac Mooring probably made the most improvement of any of my guys this spring. Improvement from the standpoint of from day one he was giving the giving great effort, trying to do the right things. I think that of all the guys, he was the one that understood the most what I expected.
"He wasn't really making many plays at first, but by the end of spring he was making plays. He's got some work to do too this summer in the weight room. He's got to get stronger.
"He's a tough kid, but he's got to get physically stronger to take the pounding, to take the beating. But I really liked his effort, he hustled and he tried, and I was pleased with that.
"Darryl Grant was an inside player that we moved outside when we moved Chapman inside. It was sort of like a trade, because we had more inside people than outside people.
"The jury's still out on Darryl. What I mean by that is there's still a question of how badly he really wants to be a good player, and how hard he's willing to work. I do think that in the last couple of practices he showed improvement to the level that I could say he was improving. There were two or three days where it looked like he was sort of just there.
"We had a meeting one day, and I got on Darryl a little bit in front of the other players at that position. I think from that point on he got a little better understanding, because I think I embarrassed him a little bit.
"If he had continued the way he was going, he wasn't going to get any better. If he didn't get any better, he wasn't going to help us, and we needed help. So he started getting better. If he can continue to improve, then I think he may be able to help us.
"He did respond well to me. I wasn't going to let him pout, I don't have any time for pouting. You can go home to mama to pout."
TarHeelBlue: What about Julius?
"I don't know anything about Julius Peppers. I haven't ever coached him a snap. He's never run a drill of mine, I haven't seem him make a tackle, I haven't seen him take on a block.
"The only thing I know about Julius is what people tell me. I saw him play basketball. He appears to be a good basketball player, but we're not playing basketball.
"I've watched him a little bit on film, not a lot. I've never seen him do a thing in person. I hang my hat on what I see a guy do in person.
"I think he has potential to be a really good football player from what I hear, but he's going to have to earn his position. He's starting from square one with me.
"He's got the potential, he's got the size, and I know he's All-American in this and that, but to me he's another football player. I don't know what Julius Peppers can do. I don't have a clue what he can do. I know what he has the potential to do, but as of this day he hasn't done a thing for me.
"He's going to have to do what everybody else has to do. He's going to have to bust his butt on every snap in practice, he's got to bust his butt this summer and get into shape to play football.
"Now he has worked hard so far in our summer program, he's really working hard. He's probably working harder than he's ever worked in his life, and probably for the first time since he's been here at Carolina, to be honest with you.
"He's working very hard, and that's a tribute to the kid, I will give him that credit. ut then again, we won't let him work any other way. I don't know what Julius Peppers was allowed to do in the off-season in the past, but I do know what we're demanding that he do now, and he's going to have to do those things if he wants to play for us.
"I will say that he is doing it. He is working hard in the weight room, he is running hard, he is really, really trying. I really believe that he's working harder now than he ever has in his life.
"He's off to a great start, but again, we wouldn't expect anything less, and he knows that. He isn't taking a play off, and if he does, he's out of the ball game. When he walks on that field, he's going to play hard on every snap, just like every other player is going to play hard on every snap.
"For me to talk about a player, I've got to see it, I've got to taste it, I've got to feel it. I can tell you he's capable of being a great player, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you he's a great player, because he hasn't done it for me.
"He was at practices in the spring, and he did attend all the meetings, but I would have liked to have seen him put on some pads, I would have. Then, I would be able to sit here and tell you what he can do.
"The good thing about the spring is he sat in on my meetings, and he saw me working guys for not hustling, and he heard what I had to say. I think football is 99% mental anyway, so Julius Peppers is a better mental football player now.
"I really like Julius Peppers as a person, I really do. All my meetings with him have been good. I like Julius Peppers as a football player. I am really encouraged by the effort that he's giving now that he's fully involved with the program again. He's doing what everybody else is doing.
"He gets an A+ for what he's done since he's been fully involved this summer. I really like what he's doing."
Friday's Part III will feature Webster discussing the Oklahoma game, who he thinks are the toughest players on the squad, plus his choice for the top player from spring practice.
