University of North Carolina Athletics
Hilton, Brown Sound Off At Weekly Press Conference
November 5, 2002 | Football
Nov. 5, 2002
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On why the team has not effectively run the ball this season:
We haven't played our best game yet this year. It is definitely all about
execution. All 11 guys out there have to perform their job at 100 percent
every single play for us to be effective. We haven't played up to our full
potential and that is what we are working on.
On the offense's inconsistency:
It is very hard when we have a new mix of people coming in the rotation,
newer, younger guys like Kyle Ralph who lost his red-shirt and C.J. Stephens
who has very little game experience. With these news guys coming into the
rotation it is hard to get a rhythm. It is hard for us to come together as a
cohesive unit.
On the team's attitude after the Maryland loss:
The guys are definitely frustrated and they know that they do not want to
have this feeling again. Sometimes a lot of the guys feel that they played
to their full potential and they shouldn't feel that way, they shouldn't
feel relaxed. There were a few games where I played pretty well, but still I
feel bad because my teammates are down and we have lost. For us to do well
everyone has to play up to his full potential and everybody has to execute.
On offensive line coach Hal Hunter:
Coach Hunter has come in and turned the offensive line around. I firmly
believe that I would not be the offensive lineman that I am right now if it
wasn't for Coach Hunter. He has improved our offensive line by leaps and
bounds. I know that last year we wouldn't be able to look at other teams
such as Miami. We looked at them as great offensive linemen. Now we turn on
the tape and look at Miami and say 'Oh my gosh, he messed up on this play.'
We can do that now because Coach Hunter has raised us to the next level.
On what makes Darian Durant such a valuable quarterback:
He keeps his composure out there whenever things are going so well. He keeps
a positive attitude. You can see that from all the other players, especially
Darian from a leadership standpoint. He led us.
On playing as a true freshman:
I was lucky enough to play last year. Last year, I did not have that much
experience. I was just thrown into the pool and I was told learn how to swim
or you drown - and it was very close. But, we have a lot of younger guys
right now, freshmen Kyle Ralph and Kendall High. I have not talked to them
myself, but I was in their position at one point in time and I know how they
feel.
On what he expects for the rest of the season:
(Winning) is something that we have to do. We have to finish our season with
a sense of pride, and right now it is mostly all about pride. No matter what
our record is we are going to fight to the last down of the last game of the
season.
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On the state of the offense:
We have a lot of new players in there, and not just C.J. We have some young
linemen and a new running back who has been getting a lot of snaps. We are
putting a group of 11 out there that have pretty much not played together
before. Its tough to have chemistry on offense, it means so much just to
know the feel of the players.
On realizing how much of a loss Durant was to the team:
He is such an amazing playmaker and such a good leader; he has so much
charisma out there. It is really tough to lose a guy like that and bounce
back to be the same offense. I am hoping that now that we have played
together a little bit we can get things going in the right direction.
On the inconsistency of the offense:
There have been points in every game this season that we have been able to
do whatever we want to on offense. We have had problems doing it
consistently enough to where our whole game goes well for us. When you see
things like that it is positive at times, but you look back and get
extremely frustrated at that. We have the talent to do it and the ability to
do it, but something out there is keeping us from doing it.
On the offense's need to score more points:
We know that we need to score points to win. Every game we have been in has
been a high scoring game. We have got to put points up to win because our
defense is going to make some mistakes and give some points up.
On how the team's poor record overshadows the performance of Bobby
lizzard and himself:
It definitely takes away from it. You would like to be good players on a
successful team and offense. It makes it a little tougher, but you just have
to try to take anything you can out of a season like this. We both try to go
out there and play as hard as we can every snap and try to lead by example.
