University of North Carolina Athletics
A Q&A With Coach Gunter Brewer: Part I
July 14, 2003 | Football
By: Joe Bray
TarHeelBlue: Let's start with a look at each of your receivers.
Coach Brewer: "At the Z position, Jarwarski Pollock is the most productive and experienced player we have returning. He's a little guy who can make plays and make people miss. His durability is a factor. He'll probably be returning punts this year along with Michael Waddell.
"He's not very big so taking a pounding can be a problem, meaning we've got to find a way to keep him on the field without getting injured."
TarHeelBlue: Does his size in any way affect the routes you have him run?
Coach Brewer: "No, not the routes, probably more so the blocking schemes. When he's in a situation where he's put up against a walk-out backer and we expect him to block that guy consistently, we have to be able to throw the screen and make that guy play into our hands instead of we playing into his.
"His size doesn't affect his routes. Of course he's not a big target, but he has a knack for getting open."
TarHeelBlue: What about your only senior, Brandon Russell?
Coach Brewer: "Brandon's a guy who started out at running back but has been at receiver the last couple of years. He's been a journeyman, he's a core special teams guy, he gets 25 to 30 snaps a game there. He gets a lot of snaps at receiver at different spots.
"We're hopeful that after two seasons he's learned more of what we're looking for and made the adjustment to being a natural receiver. He brings us senior leadership.
"We need some leadership. We're very green, we don't have much experience. He's a guy who can give us some knowledge of what to do when things go well or when they don't go so well.
"Michael Gilmore is another guy we've got at the Z spot. He improved over the spring. He got some time in on special teams last year as well as a couple of snaps during games. He traveled with us to all our games. That's invaluable when you're running out on the field at a Clemson with 80,000 fans cheering.
"You can't imagine how much that helps just making the trips and preparing yourself mentally for getting into the game. We burned a redshirt year on both he and Derrele Mitchell, but we had to since we didn't have anybody else coming in this year.
"Michael is a guy who made a jump in the spring and should push for some playing time. He was recruited as a cornerback/wide receiver, as was Dauntae Fields."
TarHeelBlue: What about the X position?
Coach Brewer: "At the X spot, we're searching right now. Derrele Mitchell is a guy
we need to step up. He made some plays as a true freshman, he has great athletic
ability. We need for him to make the plays of which he is capable. He's
a big target who moves around well and catches the ball over the middle well.
"Derrele needs to learn the complete scheme so he can be an every-down player. We slowly indoctrinated him into the system last year because we knew we needed to play him the next year. Now it's time for him to take that role over. He and Danny Rumley are fighting now for that spot.
"Danny's a big kid who we played a little last year. He broke his foot, but he did get some game experience. He can play all three spots and the slot. He's a big target. We'll see how those two guys progress in fall camp.
"Dauntae Fields is a guy who made a big jump in the spring. He needs to put on some weight, and Coach Connors is doing a good job with him this summer. He's a little inconsistent catching the ball. Dauntae was a scout-team guy last year. He had some flashes in the spring that caught my eye. He needs to learn the offense. He showed some spark, I like the way he's progressing. He's also at the X receiver position.
"Wallace Wright is a walk-on who returned kickoffs for us and saw limited time as a receiver. He's a very tough kid who played on all the special teams. He'll be a slot receiver for us, plus he's also running a little X.
"Linwood Williams and Lance Williams are both walk-on kids. Linwood was hurt, but when he was healthy he did some really nice things. Lance made some plays in the spring game. Those two provide us with some depth."
TarHeelBlue: Do you expect to play any true freshmen this fall?
Coach Brewer: "We've got three guys who we feel like, athletically, could play tomorrow if they know what to do and can adjust to the game of college football. Learning what to do is going to be a challenge for those three guys. It's going to be a challenge, just like it was with our young offensive line two years ago.
"We're going to throw them to the wolves a little bit and play them some. We're going to find a spot for them somewhere and get them on the field. With just one senior, we need to get those gentlemen out there. Athletically, they're as good as anybody we've got.
"I'd like to play all three of them, but I don't know if we will or not. We'll see who adapts to the college game the quickest and who can handle certain positions. They're moving into a pro-style offense that's real wordy. It's like jumping from college to the NFL where everybody is good and the competition is fierce.
"They're all good athletes. What they have to do is make the big jump to more sophisticated and more pass oriented offenses than they were used to in high school. We'll probably start one off at the slot, one at the X and one at the Z.
"We're going to do our best to ease them into things, but some of them are going to have to get thrown into the competition early. They're such good athletes we're cheating ourselves if we don't.
"We'll force feed them, see what they can handle. Then, we'll do what they can handle. It's like with Derrele Mitchell. Last year people saw flashes of brilliance with Derrele, but that's what Derrele could handle. Everybody would like to see more of him, as would we, but we're not going to put a guy in a situation where he's set up for failure. We want to put him where he's set up for success.
"If a guy can learn five plays, then those are the five plays he's going to play. People may say you're wasting a year, but with things like injury and going to the NFL early, you have to have guys who are ready to play.
"I've got a good group, but I've got a green group. I don't have anybody who's ever started a game. That's kind of scary. Hopefully, we can step and do what we need to do.
"We've got a veteran offensive line now, so hopefully the running game will take some of the load off the passing game."
Part II: Tuesday, July 15
