University of North Carolina Athletics
Football Media Day Player Quotes
June 5, 2001 | Football
June 5, 2001
Ryan Sims: 6-4, 285, Senior, Defensive Tackle
Q: How much did you run per week during this past semester?
A: "Every day. We have something to do every day, whether it's concentrating on football, or just running or lifting."
Q: Has the attitude change affected the conditioning program?
A: "Definitely. A lot of people have taken on the responsibility of conditioning themselves. Most of the guys have realized that it's up to us.
"We have to decide ourselves how good we want to be, how hard we want to work.
"When you have a coach like Coach Connors who expects you to perform at a higher level, you tend to step up to that level. That's the biggest difference - we're pushing ourselves and doing the work ourselves."
Q: Were you surprised with Connors' intensity at first?
A: "Oh yes, I was very surprised, but I kind of liked it. He has that fire in his eyes just like the other coaches.
"Everybody's just started to accept it and go with it."
Q: What's your daily routine this summer?
A: "We run first, at 2:50 p.m., usually a couple of 300-yard sprints. Then we do position-specific drills, where we break up by position and do things that are oriented to that position.
"We do a lot of bag drills and heavy sleds. The offensive linemen do a lot of feet and hand drills.
"After that we run more 300's or 100's, whatever he has planned that day. Then we go lift after we run.
"It's mostly building our minds up as well as our bodies.
"Last year after workouts, guys were going out, going to work, whatever. This year, after a workout, most of the guys are in the weight room or the locker room, laying down, wanting to go to sleep.
"He has us doing things we didn't think we could do, and we're doing them every day now.
"For example, the 300-yard sprints were really hard at first, but they're kind of easy now, to tell you the truth.
"You get used to them. Everybody's making their times, everybody's pushing everybody."
Q: Every football team talks about how hard they work during the summer. Is it really different this year?
A: "All you have to do is look at the numbers. There's been dramatic jumps for almost every body on the team, from their bench, their squat, their power clean, our core lifts.
"As for myself, I've increased by forty or fifty pounds in the bench press and almost eighty pounds in the squat.
"The numbers can tell you, and hopefully by the end of August we can show you."
Q: Did you lose games in the fourth quarter last year because of conditioning?
A: "Yes, definitely. For one thing, a lot of guys were playing a lot of snaps. We didn't have the depth in a lot of positions.
"It's a combination of conditioning, plus playing seventy snaps a game. Any human's going to get tired."
Q: How do you like playing for Coach Broadway?
A: "Oh, I love it. He's a great man, and he's obviously a great coach. He's put a lot of guys in the pros.
"He's an excellent teacher and motivator."
Q: Is Peppers going through the same things as everybody else?
A: "Yes. He hasn't missed a workout, he hasn't missed a run. He's right in the boat with us."
Q: Does playing Oklahoma make a statement? The administration here was opposed to it at first before checking with Coach Bunting.
A: "It shows how much pride Coach has in this Carolina team. He didn't even really know us at that point. He thinks that we can compete and actually win it.
"All of our coaches have done great things. Coach Bunting, Coach Webster and Coach Broadway all have ACC Championship rings. Nobody here has one of those. Plus, Coach Bunting has a Super Bowl ring.
"Obviously, this man can teach me some things that I do not know."
Q: Have you gotten to know Coach Bunting much as a person?
A: "I like him, he's a very energetic guy.
"The Super Rams had a dinner at his house recently and we were watching a golf tournament Tiger missed a shot, and he jumped and screamed. I thought, 'Oh wow, this man is intense!'
"He really cares about his players. He walks through the locker room almost every day. He knows everybody. A lot of head coaches aren't like that.
"He comes up and just talks about random stuff. That's a small thing, but a big thing, because you don't see it at a lot of schools.
"He treats every body like a man."
Bosley Allen: 6-1, 210, Junior, Wide Receiver
Q: The strength of the offense is the wide receivers. Will we see more out of you guys this year?
A: "We have basically the same guys as last year, so we're all used to each other. Everyone is working better together now.
"We're more like a machine now. We know how each other runs routes, and how each of us blocks for the other."
Q: Describe the mental attitude of the guys now.
A: "We're just anxious to see how we're going to do at the beginning of the year. The first couple of days of practice kind of set the tone for things.
"We got so much done the first couple of days that it seemed like a couple of weeks. It was a good feeling, not a feeling of 'Will this ever end?'
"It was like building blocks. You learn from the each day, so if you missed any days, you would lose out. You had to stay on your P's and Q's for the most part.
"It was really a feeling of accomplishment.
"I was surprised at how quickly things clicked, because we had a lot of staff come from a lot of different places. Coach Bunting put together a really nice staff.
"At first it was a little tough picking up the new terminology, but after it sank in it was pretty easy."
Q: Coach Tranquill's pretty intense, isn't he?
A: "Oh, yes! He's the intense one. He allows you to think about what you did wrong if you mess up.
"He says you better make your mistakes in practice, not in a game."
Q: What have you gotten to know about Coach Bunting so far?
A: "On a personal level, I've figured out that he's real down to earth. He's very team oriented, he cares about his team, he cares about his players.
"My mom had surgery recently, and I needed to get home to see her. He allowed me to do that and miss some training. Some coaches might not have let you do that, but he did."
Q: Has your forty time gotten faster?
A: "It's about the same, but I've picked up everywhere else. I've picked up 15 pounds since last season. I'm at 210 now. Hopefully that will help me break tackles.
"Coach Connors knows what he's doing in the weight room."
Ronald Curry: 6-2, 200, Senior, Quarterback
Q: How does the basketball situation stand?
A: "I'm just going to play it by ear. I'll make a decision near the end of the football year."
Q: Has your summer routine changed if you indeed are concentrating more on football than you have in past years?
A: "It hasn't changed. I love to play basketball, so I'm going to continue to play whether I play next year or not.
"It's great exercise. You can get two workouts in in one day.
"My routine has changed in that last year I wasn't cleared to work out with the football team during the first summer semester."
Q: Do you think that football may be a better professional career for you?
A: "If I have a great year and the draft status is looking good, maybe basketball is not the right decision. At the same time, if playing basketball is not going to hurt my draft status, than I still might play.
"After the football season I'll talk to some people and see where I stand, then I'll make a decision."
Q: You've been through several offensive coordinators in your career here. Has that been difficult?
A: "It hasn't really been difficult. It's just a matter of learning new terminology. Each system has different wrinkles.
"This system here now is pretty much the best one.
"We're putting a lot of pressure on the offensive line. In the past we were limited in the passing game, some receivers would get double or triple teamed because we were keeping so many players in just to block.
"I think the line is going to come through, but if they don't, you just have to know where your outlets are. We may have to utilize the backs more in the passing game.
"I don't think we threw to the backs but about five times last year. If we utilize the tight ends and the backs more, it will help to open things up."
Q: Have you and Coach Tranquill talked much about you possibly not trying to improvise so much and throw the ball away more?
A: "Not all that much. As for the team as a whole, we don't want the quarterback touched.
"We've watched some tape of the Purdue line and how they treat Drew Brees. (Laughing) He's like the President, he can't be touched, nobody touches the President.
"That's the kind of mentality we've got to have here.
"Even the best lines break down some times, so you go into a game knowing there'll be at least a couple of times you have to get out of the pocket and improvise."
Q: If you had it to do all over again, would you have still play it the same way with basketball and football?
A: "My freshman year I was going to redshirt in football and just play basketball, until Oscar (Davenport) got hurt.
"I think that probably hurt my basketball game more than anything else."
Q: Do you think that if you just played one sport, you would be better in that sport than you are now?
A: "Of course. I think I would be better at whichever sport I chose, regardless of which sport it would have been."
Q: What do you need to improve on the most?
A: "Just being more consistent in my throwing. Sometimes I guided the ball, and that's something Coach Tranquill's really worked on with me.
"It's more throw the ball and don't guide it. Right now I've got a more consistent throwing motion.
"Coach Tranquill told me what I was doing wrong, and I knew it. I could feel what I was doing. It's just a matter of getting it in my head and getting repetitions.
"He's told me just to cut it loose. I threw well on deep routes, but not as well on short routes. When I throw the short pass is when I begin to guide the ball."
Q: Are you feeling any NFL draft pressure going into this season?
A: "No, not at all. It's a team sport. If the team does well, I'm going to do well.
"There's not that much pressure on the offense because of expectations. We're expected to have a great defense, but not an offense.
"We're going to come in and play smart, play hard, play together, and hopefully put up some big numbers."
Adam Metts: 6-0, 270, Senior, Center
Q: You guys have been through a transition period. What are your feelings now?
A: "We've gone through the transition well. We're working real hard this summer, in the weight room especially.
"There's a different attitude about the team now. Everybody's willing to put in more of an effort. Hopefully, all the hard work will pay off for us this season."
Q: Why do you think everybody wants to put in more effort?
A: "We're better than what we've been playing. We're better than a 6-5 team. Plus, this year's schedule is so difficult, it's going to take a greater effort against those teams.
"Our belief is that when you work hard, you gain confidence. We know that we can compete and play against these guys. We'll take them one at a time and try to win each one."
Q: With Coach Connors, it's not like you have the choice of putting in effort, is it?
A: "(Laughing) No, not at all.
"Coach Connors is a very intense coach, he gets a lot out of his players. He sets the tone for the workouts. We run a whole lot.
"We're a more intense team now. We didn't have enough intensity last year. Everybody needs to come to the game excited, ready to attack the opposing team.
"You've got to attack your workouts just like a game. You can't go, 'Oh, I don't want to run today.' You've got to attack it.
"We've got five 300's and four 150's (sprints) today, that's a lot of running. It's really hot out there today.
"We've been doing a lot of speed conditioning combined with heavy weight lifting. We've really gotten into power cleans and squats."
Players Mentioned
