University of North Carolina Athletics
Bunting Preparing For 2002 Football Season
June 24, 2002 | Football
June 24, 2002
UNC head football coach John Bunting met with the media last Friday at the Kenan Football Center to discuss the upcoming 2002 football season. Bunting and much of his staff will enjoy a short vacation before returning to the gridiron in August, but that didn't stop the second-year head coach from talking about his excitement for the season-opener on August 31 vs. Miami (Ohio).
The following is some of what Coach Bunting had to say:
We are excited. Our football camps are just about over. Our coaches are going to take a short break -- a well deserved break because they have worked really, really hard. They have had a great offseason of spring ball. It's been really exciting being around here and looking forward to the short break and getting back here to start training camp. Obviously, feel good about the way the kids are working with Coach Connors, and feel good about the way guys like Will Chapman are coming back from injury. We feel good about the good players coming back on offense, the development of the defense that took place during the spring. We're excited about Dave Huxable and what he has done with our guys. Hal Hunter is everything I believed he would be as a coach. Jim Fleming has done a great job with our secondary. So we are off and running, we will take a short break here coming up for the next three or four weeks and we will be back to work to start training camp. The first day is August 8th and our young guys will come in the 1st or 2nd of August.
How is the process for evaluating the quarterbacks? How are you going to do that? Are you going to have a heavy role in that or is Gary (Tranquill) going to do that?
unting: It's going to be a decision that Gary and I will come to an agreement on. We are obviously looking at quarterbacks now. It's been fun to sit and chat with Gary about the various quarterbacks that we are looking at -- and I learn more and more each time I talk with the guy. He is really, really sharp obviously. But, just like we did last year, we came to grips with what we were going to do with the quarterback last year. We were both in an agreement with what we did and we will do the same this year.
If you had a similar situation to last year, where you were playing two guys, would that be okay with you?
unting: I don't wish for that to happen. But if it had to happen, it happens. Many people have said to me, most recently too, that that two-headed quarterback system threw some defenses off. I'm not sure why that would happen, because they are two different types of
quarterbacks. In part, that is because Darian is so different. Darian is not the runner that Ronald Curry was. C.J. Stephens has an ability to run. Darian on the other hand is a tremendous run-to-throw guy. I have been around those quarterbacks. Those are probably the most dangerous. He can run, but he runs to throw. That's what really, really hurts defenses. Because they want to come off the coverage. They see a guy starting to bolt, they come of the coverage, and he dumps it over their head.
Last year you had David Thornton. A lot of people came out of nowhere. Are there people that you have to have do that because of the losses on defense? And who are some of the prime candidates?
unting: What we need to do defensively is learn to play with consistency. The whole football team needs to learn how to play with consistency. Last year we talked about playing hard and fast for 60 minutes. And after the third game, we said that we better play a little smarter too. We had to add that. We were lacking that. I think this year with the youth, I think the next step is learning how to win. And that means playing consistently. Our defense needs to learn how to play consistently.
I think we will have playmakers. A guy that is from the same hometown as David Thornton is Malcolm Stewart. He can be a real playmaker for us. The other piece of our defense though is coming together and play with consistency. It will start in the back with the secondary. We have the kind of players back there to play with a tremendous amount of consistency. And that's what they did. They demonstrated that in the spring. Now we have to continue to grow upon that in the summer and hope that they start that way against the University of Miami (OH).
You do not have the experience at linebacker that you had last year, do you think you have the athleticism that you had last year with this group?
unting: I think we have the athleticism. Doug Justice is a very good athlete. Malcolm is as good an athlete as anyone on our football team. Clarence Gaddy is a very fine athlete. The athleticism is equal to, the speed is equal to or better than we had last year. Now, neither David (Thornton) nor Quincy (Monk) had made more than a few starts before last year. There were very few starts among those two players. So that situation is very similar as we start this season. Dave Huxable has done a great job with those kids. He really has.
How will you split up the special teams coaching duties?
unting: Jim Fleming will be our special team's coordinator. Andre' Powell is going to handle our punt team. Jim Fleming is going to handle the punt return team. James Webster, as he did last year, will handle the kickoff team. Gunter Brewer, as he did last year, will
handle the kickoff return. And Hal (Hunter) and Rod Broadway will be involved heavily in their respective units, field goal and field goal block.
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unting: I think he is a lot more focused. It's a lot clearer to him what he needs to do in preparation for this fall. I think perhaps Darian got a little distracted sometimes when he is not playing the game. He loves to play. I think he is a lot more focused, he is a year older, and he has been through this business of being on the edge and being on the fence. I think he is off the fence. And the players are excited about the fact that he is committed to competing and helping us win football games.
With another ambitious early-season schedule, can you talk about what impact last year's season could have on this year?
unting: I think that the players who return obviously can learn from last year's experience. I think they know how consistent we need to be when we start the opener. I think we will be, iin large part because our offense will be that much farther ahead and I think because of our year and spring together, that our players know how important special teams are to me and to our success.
Defensively, we are what we are. We just have to really, really work hard in the summer to become a consistent team. We will have some playmakers. We have to become consistent. We have to give special attention to our incoming freshmen to give them extra rep-time. They are going to have to play. A number of them are going to have to play. We will figure that out as we go along to see how well they adapt to their new environments.
With all of the excitement around this football team and program, do you worry that the fans might not be realistic?
unting: I think fans have high expectations no matter what. We want to continue to improve this football program. We are still building that foundation like I talked about last year. We know where our weaknesses are and we think we can really have a great training camp
and start fast. We think we can be a very good football team this year and if we're not I'm going to be extremely disappointed, along with the fans. My expectations are high.
How is Andre Williams progressing since his surgery?
unting: He is doing quite well. Any time you have a surgery you
are going to have some ups and downs. He has had a few downs, but
mostly he has been very, very up. He is doing quite well. He should be
at full speed when we start training camp.
Did you give any thought at all to holding him out this year
or will you expect him to be ready to go?
unting: I am expecting him to be full throttle when we go to
camp. We will monitor his progress as we get into hitting sessions and
monitor his reps and see how he is doing. I am expecting he may have a
day or two where we have to reduce his reps.
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unting: I think Dexter Reid has done a great job this offseason in terms of his maturation and growth as a person and leadership with our squad. I just spoke with him two days ago and congratulated him on the progress he has made, not only as a football player, but as a person. He has really, really come around. He is going to be a real special player in our program for the next two years.
How important is it to have a conerback like Michael Waddell who you can put out there and essentially not worry about?
unting: You do not win if you are not good up front. But if you are giving up a lot of big plays, you're not going to win either. That is why our secondary is very special this year. I think Michael Waddell can cover anybody in the country. Last year we flopped him, we put him up against the best receiver week in and week out and he performed with a great deal of consistency. My expectations of him are higher. His expectations of himself are very, very high too. He is having a great summer working out. I think we will see a stouter defender. A guy that is stronger, and therefore probably quicker.
You have been in coaching for a long time. What do you know this year, that you did not know this time last year?
unting: The need for our staff to get a little break is something that is even more important to me this year. The need for our players to be completely focused when we start training
camp is more important to me now. I want our staff to get a break and get refreshed and I want our players to get focused and get ready to play when we get to training camp. It is extremely important to have a great camp this year to have success.
For comments from Darian Durant, Michael Wadell, Dexter Reid and C.J. Stephens, CLICK HERE.
