University of North Carolina Athletics
A Q&A With Coach Dave Huxtable: Part II
July 11, 2003 | Football
By: Joe Bray
TarHeelBlue: Who do you turn to for leadership on defense other than Dexter Reid?
Coach Huxtable: "Doug Justice is a leader. He's still a young player, but he's a step up and take charge guy. I think he gets a lot of respect from his teammates.
"Issac Mooring will be a leader for us up front. He needs to be. He's a senior.
"We don't have a whole lot of great leadership. I think those three guys are ones we'll have to lean on to provide us some leadership on the field."
TarHeelBlue: Is our lack of leadership on defense directly related to our youth?
Coach Huxtable: "Yes, we're both a young and an inexperienced team, so there's not that confidence to step forward and to lead. Without that confidence it's hard to step forward and be a leader. We do have enough guys now who have been there and played some, so there's no excuse of not having been there and played. We have some guys who got some experience last year.
"We've got to count on a guy like a Chase Page to be a leader. He played for the first time last year on defense. I expect him to provide us with some leadership."
TarHeelBlue: Who's your 'quarterback' at the linebacker position?
Coach Huxtable: "Doug Justice. He's the one I want calling signals back there."
TarHeelBlue: Is it normally the Mike linebacker?
Coach Huxtable: "It varies, it depends more on the personality than the position."
TarHeelBlue: Do you look for different type of athletes for the three linebacker positions?
Coach Huxtable: "Yes. Our Sam linebacker has to be a little bit bigger kid since we're asking him to play over a tight end. You need to have a bigger, rangier, long-armed kid to play over a tight end. He needs to defeat a 265-pound tight end on the line of scrimmage
"Our Mike linebacker needs to be a player who can plug a hole. Our Will linebacker is more athletic, he needs to be able to run from sideline to sideline to make plays. He's our stack linebacker. He's the guy that we cover up and try to free up to go make plays.
"Our Mike linebacker's our bubble linebacker. He's got to plug a B gap, take on a guard. He needs to be a little more physical guy.
TarHeelBlue: How tough was last year on you guys?
Coach Huxtable: "I know it was tough on me. It was the hardest year I've ever experienced in my life. I felt going into the season that it would be tough, but I thought that we would be more competitive than we were.
"The injuries really took a toll on us. We never knew who would be able to play from week to week. When you're asking a guy to go out and play on Saturday after not having practiced on Tuesday and Wednesday, you're not really giving yourself a chance.
"It was hard, but we made it through. We've got a group of kids coming back who experienced the pain and are hopefully anxious to get back out on the field and do something about it.
"We're really excited about the fall. The schedule's tough, we know it's going to be a tough year, but I think we'll be better. We'll be more competitive."
TarHeelBlue: If you had to list the biggest single problem on defense last year, what would it be?
Coach Huxtable: "Probably inexperience. For example, at linebacker we didn't have a single player who had ever played at linebacker before last year. Gaddy, ullard and Longhany were our Sam linebackers and none of them had ever been on the field.
"At Mike linebacker was Doug Justice, a redshirt freshman, backed up by Sean Williams, a walk-on. Neither one had ever been there before.
"At Will linebacker we had Malcolm Stewart, a senior who had never played linebacker. He had been a defensive end. He was backed up by Clay Roberson, another defensive end who had just moved to linebacker.
"Every play was a new experience for our linebackers, each play was a new picture. Up front, when you lose players like Ryan Sims, Julius Peppers, Joey Evans and Anthony Perkins, you lost some really good players and some quality people.
"We lost Eric Davis in the first game, so you're throwing Kendall High in as a true freshman. We asked him to play nose tackle at 250 pounds. He gave his all, but it was just unfair to the kid.
"We're more experienced this year, we're bigger and stronger. We should be more confident and eager to go out and be competitive this fall."
TarHeelBlue: Did losing affect the cohesiveness of the coaching staff at all, or did it make you even tighter?
Coach Huxtable: "I definitely think it brought us closer together. We win together, we lose together. It's no one guy's fault. We're a team, we're a family. Never was there any dissension in the staff.
"We all knew how hard we were working. It was tough Saturday after Saturday."
TarHeelBlue: Do you ever wish you had job where, if you made mistake, basically nobody saw it, instead of 60,000 fans seeing it?
Coach Huxtable: "I never think about it, that's part of the profession. You can't hide, you're exposed every Saturday. You know that when you make the decision to get into this business."
TarHeelBlue: Criticism doesn't bother you?
Coach Huxtable: "Everybody has feelings. It's probably harder on the families than it is yourself. I've got a wife and two kids. They read and hear things. It's much harder on them than it is on me.
"I let criticism roll off my sleeve. I know I'm a good football coach, and I know we've got a good staff here. We work as hard as anybody. We're going to do things right, and we're going to get it right.
"Right now we're going through some growing pains and it's easy for people to be critical. I know that we're going to get it right."
TarHeelBlue: If you were interviewing for a coaching position and were asked what is your greatest strength as a coach, what would be your answer?
Coach Huxtable: "I would answer communications. I think communication is the key to coaching, having a relationship with your players, building a trust with them, having the ability to inspire learning.
"To me, coaching is all about being a teacher and being able to inspire learning in your players, both on the field and off."
