University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina-Duke Postgame Quotes
November 26, 2011 | Football
Nov. 26, 2011
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North Carolina Head Coach Everett Withers
Opening Statement
"It was good to end the season at home with a victory. With 17 seniors in that locker room, it is really important that you send those guys out at home on a good note. Thirty-one victories for those guys so far. The first team since 1993 to win six home games. These guys are going to their fourth straight bowl game, so they've accomplished a lot. Obviously, guys like Dwight Jones, with his catches today, he becomes the catch leader at Carolina, and Gio Bernard breaks Amos Lawrence's record for rushing as a freshman. That is some pretty impressive stuff. Bryn Renner tied the touchdown record today, so a lot of good things happened today. Probably the most important thing, we are 7-5 with a chance to be 8-5 and we keep that bell. That's huge for this university. "
On allowing Quinton Coples to make more plays on the defensive line:
"Quinton has been a guy since he's been here, who has gotten a lot of slide protection to him in the passing game and a lot of doubles. This week, we felt like moving Quinton inside would give him a chance to make a few more plays. I don't think they knew he was going to be inside, and it is hard to slide protection to a 3-technique. So that enabled him to make some more plays and have some more production today."
On the overall performance of Dwight Jones:
"Dwight, for maybe the last month or so, you could see that he has cherished every day that he has been out there on the field, whether its been the practice field or game field. Every day he has come to work its been, "I know I want to make sure I give everything because this game isn't promised to you," and you could tell that in his eyes. Every day we go in that locker room Dwight has become the guy in that locker room. He doesn't say a whole lot, but when Dwight talks there is a lot of people in that locker room who listen."
On scoring quickly on offensive drives:
"We just needed to get back to running our plays with tempo. We did that on the 91-yard drive. We just got in a rhythm on offense and we've been seeking that a lot this year. Tonight, we got it in a very important time during the ballgame."
On what last year and this year's team has accomplished under the circumstances:
"These kids are tough mentally and physically. They mean an awful lot to me. There are resilient, they work their butt off every day and they do everything we ask them to do."
On what it's been like for Withers' personally this year:
"It's been a blast. It really has. It's been a lot of fun. These kids didn't bat an eye one bit. They came to work from day one. They came to camp and I didn't know how they would react initially. They just came to work and after we got about 3-4 days into it, it was here we go and they were going to respond. I'm as proud of this team as any I've ever been on.
On getting the game ball from the team:
"It was just a moment in the locker room where they wanted to show appreciation for me stepping up and being the head coach. It was really nice. I appreciate it very much."
On Giovani Bernard's performance:
"I knew last week when he got the concussion at halftime, he was hot. He wanted to go back into the game. I knew this week in practice you could see it in him, he was expecting to have a big day. Thirty carries and 165 rushing that's pretty impressive for the young man. You have to credit that offensive line, the tight ends, that offensive coaching staff for devising a game plan to allow him to do the things he did today.
UNC Players
Senior DE Quinton Coples:
(On what motivated him today) "I take every game personal, but I think it was just the rivalry and coming off from Thanksgiving break. I got a chance to go home with my family and get a little stress off of me. I think I was just a little more loose, and into [the game] mentally."
(On his productivity) "I think it's the simple fact that I just studied film and just saw things that I needed to improve on so I stepped up to the plate and things have been working out in my favor."
"It's my last game here at Kenan Stadium, I'm a senior, it's a rivalry, so it's more personal and I think I was just more into it, mentally."
(On being a Tar Heel) "It's a blessing. It's my home state. It's my university. I get this opportunity to be out here and I think everything is just falling into place."
Senior WR Dwight Jones:
(On finding space in the end zone) "Playing football, you can't just be fast. I've been working on my craft since I got here, and Bryn made some really good plays."
"It's beautiful to get that momentum going. We had the momentum earlier."
(On Bryn Renner's performance) "I've been so impressed with Bryn. He's going to be a great quarterback here. He has a long way to go, but I can see him doing very special things."
(On breaking the single-season reception record) "It's special to break a record of Hakeem Nicks'. He was a great receiver. I learned so much from him and to be able to beat a record of his is very special."
(On beating Duke) "We didn't want to be the seniors with the bad legacy left, as the team that lost to Duke. To beat them was very special and we wanted to keep that legacy going."
(On bowl prospects) "We're just happy to go to a bowl after all the adversity we've faced. We're very fortunate."
Freshman RB Giovani Bernard:
"Coach Withers constantly talks about `Run the ball first, run the ball' and it helps. That's the main thing, that we come out to win and we have a great rushing attack, but not just me, Ryan had an amazing run going into the fourth quarter today. Everyone did a good job, hands down, offensive line especially."
(On Duke's mistakes) "They had a guy who was always free and open and as soon as I saw him make the wrong read, I knew it was `touchdown' from there on. It's something that I pride myself on. Sometimes they are going to slip up and you've got to capitalize on their mistakes, and that was one of their mistakes and we got a good touchdown out of it."
(On the win) "Coming off of last week's loss, we all wanted to get that feeling out of us and we really wanted to win this game and especially to keep that bell with us. And for these seniors ... that was today's theme, it was the seniors and what they did for this program. Hands down it goes to those guys, they've done so much for this program and we thank them very much and we're definitely going to miss them."
