University of North Carolina Athletics
A Q&A With Coach Hal Hunter: Part III
March 18, 2002 | Football
TarHeelBlue: How hard is it for a true freshman to come in and play on the offensive line?
Coach Hunter: "I've shown my guys tape of some of the players I've coached at Indiana and LSU. There's some guys who look like regular guys, but who I like to point out because they're outstanding players.
"One guy in particular who I like to point out is a left tackle I had at LSU. His name is Lewis Williams, and he started for me as a true freshman. He's playing for the Carolina Panthers right now.
"Todd McClure, who's playing for the Falcons now, beat out a two-year starter in the middle of the Alabama-LSU game in the middle of his freshman year. He went on to start for 3 1/2 years.
"A lot of guys think they have to wait their turn. It doesn't matter. I've had true freshmen play and start for me.
"I've had other guys who it has taken four years just to crack the lineup. Whether they play as a freshman or not is more up to them than it is to me, because I'm going to coach them the same way. It's just that some guys develop faster than others.
"I can't tell you how many true freshmen have played or started for me over the years. When I went to Indiana my first year, I started that line with the backup tight end at center, two redshirt freshmen guards, and a scout team defensive tackle at left tackle. Four of my five starters had never taken a college snap in the offensive line.
"What I tell my guys is that every one of them that sits in the offensive line meeting room has a right to one of those five positions. Just because you started before, or you were the backup to a player who has left, doesn't mean that it's automatically your position.
"You don't own that position. Once you win a position, it's not your position. It's like a renter versus a home owner. You don't own that position, you're renting that position, and you can be evicted at any time."
TarHeelBlue: Coach Browning assisted with the offensive line last year. Will he do so this year?
Coach Hunter: "We'll work together with everybody. I'll work with Scott Frazier (graduate assistant) because he's going to be an important part of coaching the offensive line. Kenny Browning's going to be an important part of coaching this group. We're all going to work together to develop these guys, but to say that we're going to split it up guards and centers, tackles and tight ends, no.
"There's going to be a guy who coaches from the left tackle to the right tackle. That's my responsibility, and that's how I've been the most productive. There's an art to coaching five guys, there's a method to it.
"The time I've had the least productive offensive line is the two years at Vanderbilt where I was coaching tackles and tight ends and another guy coached guards and center. That was the least productive situation I've ever been around, because we were never on the same page."
TarHeelBlue: How did you guys arrive at the decision to switch Jonas Seawright to the offensive line?
Coach Hunter: "It wasn't our decision, it was his decision.
"Someone came up to me and told me Jonas was interested in switching to the offensive line. I said you tell him this is what he needs to do. Tell him to go see the head coach and tell him he's interested in switching positions.
"Then I bumped into Jonas downstairs and he told me he was interested in switching. I said 'Jonas, until you see the head coach and talk to him we can't do anything.' One of the worst things you can do to cause problems on a staff is to recruit other players on the team. That will destroy a staff.
"So Jonas went in and saw the head coach. Here's a guy who wants to play and contribute in any way that he can.
"Jonas wants to play. Right now I have him at right tackle behind Willie McNeill. I'm going to get the best five guys on the field, wherever I have to move them, I'm going to get the best five players on the field."
TarHeelBlue: Have you got a feel for your depth chart yet?
Coach Hunter: "No, we'll just have to see what happens. We're not going to be a finished product in 15 days. We'll never be a finished product. When you think you have a finished product is when you're full of yourself, then you need to go take a step backwards.
"It's a six-month project to try to put this offensive line together before next season. There's drills and techniques they learn in the spring that they can work on together during the summer, plus there's their summer conditioning program."
TarHeelBlue: Will it be a big change going from being the coordinator to not being the coordinator?
Coach Hunter: "It's different, but one of the reasons I think it will be good is that I really like Coach Tranquill.
"Like I said at the press conference, what makes a job a good job is the coaches you're with.
"Your job is defined by the people you're around, the head coach, the staff, the players. That's what makes a job great.
"If I'm working with an excited, talented group of guys, I'm going to be happy. If I'm working with a coordinator who's excited and has a lot of knowledge, I'm going to be excited. If the head coach is a good man with whom I have a lot in common, I'm going to be excited about coming to work.
"I like it here because I like Coach Bunting. I like his enthusiasm, I like his energy, he's what I call a regular guy. He's old school, and I was brought up by a regular guy, old-school football coach.
"I like his personality. He's a very smart guy who understands players and has a great feeling for them. I like his excitement and his genuineness. He's not a guy who's always on an interview for his next job. He's not a guy who's trying to decide if he wants to be coaching or working for ESPN.
"Regarding Coach Tranquill, the job of the coordinator is not to make all the decisions and have all the information, the job of the coordinator is to coordinate. Get all the information together and hone it and organize it and decide the best way to do things.
"The good thing that Coach Tranquill does is he allows you to have input in terms of what you're doing, then he makes the final decision.
"I'll have just as much input here as I did when I was the coordinator at Indiana, because I didn't have all the answers when I was there.
"I know that I don't have all the answers. Gary knows that he doesn't have all the answers. Gunter doesn't have all the answers, Andre' doesn't have all the answers, Kenny doesn't have all the answers.
"But as a group, we've got all the answers. We've just got to put it all together, and that's what Gary does."
