University of North Carolina Athletics
Player Quotes from Tuesday's Press Conference
September 7, 2004 | Football
Sept. 7, 2004
Gerald Sensabaugh on the defense's performance on Saturday against William & Mary
"At times we were over aggressive. Number one, we were too anxious to make plays. We missed quite a few tackles, but we're going to get that straight. I think I was the first one probably just being over anxious. But, I was glad to see that everyone was out there hustling to the ball and excited to be making plays."
Gerald Sensabaugh on defensive mistakes from Saturday's game
"We're going to bounce back from our mistakes. Ray Lewis is one of the best linebackers in the NFL and he misses tackles. Everybody misses tackles. It comes with the game, even with all-out effort. As long as you giving all-out effort and you miss a tackle, you've got ten other guys out there and they should be able to make the play too. You just have to have faith in your teammates. When you make mistakes somebody will be there to back you up."
Gerald Sensabaugh on Virginia's offense
"Virginia seems very well disciplined on tape. They all know their responsibilities well. They run the ball excellently. But, I've only seen one game to take a sample of. It's going to be a good game. They say UVA has the best offensive linemen in the ACC. So, we're going to have to come out and be very disciplined. If we come out disciplined we have a great chance to win this game."
Gerald Sensabaugh on defensive positioning on Saturday
"Our positioning was good. We had a lot of opportunities to make stops in the backfield for five-yard losses. But, like I've said, even when you give an all-out effort, you're going to miss some tackles. It might have been a five-yard loss if we made some of those tackles, but those only turned out to be about a one-yard gain. It's a negative, but it's a positive at the same time."
Gerald Sensabaugh on being recognized on campus
"I don't think people on campus know about me really. I just go to class. I spend most of my day in Kenan. When I go to class I just go, take my notes, and pay attention. Then I come back here (Kenan) and take a nap in the lounge or something. I really don't get much feedback from students."
Gerald Sensabaugh on UNC's streak of losses in Charlottesville
"I don't know anything about the history with UVA. How many have we lost? Eleven or something. It doesn't really matter because we've got another one coming up. I'm just concerned about that next one. It's just another game to me. We're going to have to play our hearts out and do what we can. But I feel very confident in this team."
Darian Durant on Virginia's 3-4 defense
"It's not a defense that you see everyday. They use something similar to what our defense uses in a third down situation. So, it's not something we see all the time. But, we see it sometimes."
Darian Durant on Saturday's offensive performance
"Offensively, we had a lot of missed opportunities. We pretty much scored at will. But, you take away four possessions and that's 28 points. I just think that if we would have held on to the ball. The game wouldn't have been as close because we put the defense in a lot of bad positions.
Darian Durant on how to prevent turnovers
"We should just focus on ball security and playing smart. Turnovers are going to happen sometimes. The main thing you've got to do is limit them."
Darian Durant on Virginia's team this year as compared to previous years
"With their scheme and the things they do they're probably one of the best I've seen. Up front, they've got the most athletic front seven that we've faced in a while. It'll be a good challenge for us."
Darian Durant on the keys to success against Virginia
"Just play. Just play like I know we're capable of playing. On Saturday we had turnovers that caused the game to be kind of close. People's perspective would have been a lot different if the game wasn't as close as it was. But, we know inside this building (Kenan) and as a team, what we're capable of doing. We know what would have happened without those turnovers on Saturday."
Darian Durant on the influence of losing eleven in a row in Charlottesville
"I don't think it influences the game. There's only a handful of guys who went to Charlottesville in 2002. Most of this team has never played them up there and they have nothing to do with the losses Carolina has had up there."
Darian Durant on whether the last game he played in Charlottesville could have been the best of his career without the injury he suffered
"It probably would have ended up being one of them. We were clicking in all cylinders. The running game was going real well. The passing game was going real well. At halftime it all seemed to go down hill. It probably would have been one of the best runs of my career."
Darian Durant on a new optimism after Saturday's win
"I wouldn't say I'm optimistic now. I'd say it's what I expected, especially on the offensive side. If you look past the turnovers, we scored on just about every possession and I felt during preseason that this would be the offensive team we've had. I felt it would be hard for teams to stop us and I still fell like we're a great offensive team that's capable of scoring a ton of points."
Darian Durant on throwing on the run
"The main thing is to have your body facing your target. Don't try to throw across your body. I make sure that my chest and my bellybutton are pointing at the target. I think that's the key. It's taken me a while to get it down. I don't think I've mastered it yet because you tend to lose some fundamentals. But, it's taken me a while to get where I'm at and I'm still learning."
Darian Durant on a career full of records, but lacking wins
"It's been the most frustrating thing to deal with. To put up tremendous stats and still lose is hard. You play the game to win. You don't play for individual awards. I'm a competitor and I love to win. So, it's been the toughest thing."
Darian Durant on whether he'd trade half of his records for more wins
"Definitely"
Darian Durant on the tight end race between Hamlett and Brumett
"I don't think we have a clear cut starter there. Both of our guys have strengths in different areas. Depending on the play call and the situation a different guy can be in. Both guys are capable of starting but it depends on the situation."
Darian Durant on the wide receivers getting older
"I think they've adjusted to how complicated the game it. In high school your offense is not as complicated and you don't have to look at as much. You don't have to read coverages. I think those guys needed to get a year under their belts to understand how the game is played at this level. They've always had the athletic ability and now that they've got the mental aspects things will come easier for them."
Darian Durant on Virginia's vulnerability with a lot of first year players
"I wouldn't say they're vulnerable. It is good to play teams with their not clicking on all cylinders. But, it's tough to play Virginia at any time in the season. I wouldn't say there's a best time to play them, but this isn't a bad time to play them at all."
Darian Durant on the keys to compete against Virginia
"Just play our game. We need to limit turnovers and play smart. I guess it's the same fundamentals that it takes to win any game."
Darian Durant on work in the off-season and how that work was reflected in the first game
"I think the main things were no pre-snap penalties, delay of game, illegal procedures, or anything like that. I like to focus on my game management skills and things like that and I think it showed."
Darian Durant on how he's working to get better
"Looking at film helps you look at things you need to work on to get better. I'm the type of quarterback that if I don't see things I tend to tuck the ball and run a lot instead of taking my check downs. I try to work on things like that. There's a ton of things to work on though. Even the guys who've set league records in the NFL can still work on the basic fundamentals and I feel the same way. "
Darian Durant on whether he's improved significantly in recent years
"I think so. I think I've matured a lot."
Darian Durant on the difference between this Carolina team and last year's team
"Mainly our team comradery. We're closer as a unit. Guys really feed off each other on this team. I think that's the key to having a successful team. You have to have a team that trusts in each other. I think in the past years we had a lot of loners on the team. I think that's the biggest difference."
Darian Durant on Mike Mason's play on Saturday
"I think we have so many good receivers and Mike came in when we were running the ball a lot. We just didn't have a pass play called at the time. There was nothing that they did. We just had so many receivers rotating that Mike just happened to come in at bad times."
Darian Durant on Utah
"I think they're a pretty good team. But, I don't really want to get into Utah right now."
Darian Durant on the atmosphere of Charlottesville
"I'm the type that doesn't really focus on atmosphere. I like to focus on the task at hand. I love playing in hostile environments and it's a very hostile environment. But, it's just another game to me."
Darian Durant on where this team stands after the William & Mary game
"It's hard to say. It's like Coach Bunting says, Saturday was kind of a preseason game for us to see where we're at, see what we need to work on and things like that. We'll get into league play Saturday and really see where we are after Saturday."
