University of North Carolina Athletics
Bunting Press Conference Quotes
August 21, 2001 | Football
Aug. 21, 2001
UNC head football coach John Bunting met with the media Tuesday afternoon to discuss Saturday's season-opener at Oklahoma. TarHeelBlue.com will bring you highlights from each Tuesday press conference throughout the season as part of its comprehensive Game Week coverage.
Here's some of what Coach Bunting had to say:
"We're all very excited about opening the 2001 season and we're looking forward to traveling to Norman on Friday. We've had a successful training camp. The season opener will give us an idea of the progress we've made with this football team. That's obviously a measuring stick.
"I'm real excited to see our guys play. They are excited. They feel good about themselves. They feel good about the way we've practiced, about the way we've learned to practice. I think they feel very good right now about the condition they are in. We're very healthy, and I'm particularly excited about that. It's probably as healthy as we've been since the day training camp started."
On Oklahoma QB Nate Hybl: :
"They talk of him in terms of being a drop-back passer, but that's not their style of offense, so I'm sure he has other attributes that we don't know about. He's going to be very strong-armed, a very strong runner, a strong kid, a very accurate deep thrower. I've heard only very good things about this young man. Unlike the quarterback last year who we have seen on tape and was a real playmaker - really made that offense go - this young man is supposed to have every bit of the athleticism that Josh Heupel had last year."
On UNC's depth at quarterback:
"I think Darian Durant has had a very good training camp. We're excited about the way he has played. He's a playmaker. He's done very well. Aaron Leak is our third right now. Aaron has come along. Matt Baker, our true freshman quarterback, is still in the mix and he'll still continue to get some snaps with our varsity."
On the offensive line:
"I think we've made improvement in the offensive line. I think certain individuals have really gotten a lot better. Greg Woofter had a very fine camp. I think Jupiter Wilson's played well. Adam Metts is playing at a top level. Missing some time has hurt Jeb Terry. Marcus Wilson has played well. We've experimented a little bit with our offensive line in the last week, and we'll probably continue to do so. We're trying to get what we perceive to be the best five players out there at the same time."
Have you thought about what you're going to tell the team before the game on Saturday?
"I've thought a lot about that. I've thought about what I'm going to tell them today. I've thought about what I'm going to tell them Thursday when we get ready to go to sleep that night before we board a plane. I've thought about what I'm going to talk to them about when we get out there. I think about that every day - what I'm going to say to them. It's important that I say the right things. I'm going to be very positive with them. We have an opportunity here. We have a great opportunity. I think this is a great team we're playing. This is a No. 1 team.
"I'm going to tell them that there's no place that I'd rather be than right here at this time. I hope they feel the same."
On the atmosphere in Norman:
"I've never been there. I've heard a lot of things. I've watched some games when I was a kid, and I've watched some game when I was older. That's what's neat about the college atmosphere. It's festive.
"I think it's fun to play in a hostile environment. I think it's exciting. It's fun to play in front of your own home fans, but I think it's just as exciting to go out and play in front of a hostile crowd. So I hope it's hostile, and I'm sure it will be."
On matching up with Oklahoma:
"I'm not sure if there's a better defensive line than what we have on our first team. I think it's hard to picture somebody better than Sims and Peppers and Evans and Chapman up front. That's a pretty stout group. I think our offensive line has practiced against a very good group. That's helped our offensive line, but this will be a tremendous challenge. Their defense does an awful lot of things. They are extremely well coached. Everywhere Bob Stoops has coached - and his brother too - they have had great defenses. We know they'll be exceptionally fast and schemed up, so therefore we're going to have to be tremendously alert.
"Other matchups, I like our kicker. From what I hear, their kicker is very, very good. I know our kicker is extremely good.
"I think we have big-play people. They have big-play people. So it could come down to how our big-play people do against their big-play people. They're excellent in the secondary. They will hit you."
On All-America linebacker Rocky Calmus:
"He reminds me a whole lot of what Junior Seau does. He's very active and very quick. They will bring him in any gap. They'll bring him outside, they'll bring him up the middle. He's a real playmaker. He's fast. He runs around blocks, he runs through blocks, he runs over top of people. That's where he makes a lot of plays, he just runs around and makes plays."
