University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Syracuse
Larry Fedora Post Spring Game Quotes
April 16, 2016 | Football, Men's Lacrosse
Opening Statement
“It was really good to get the spring game done. We got some good reps today, good things, bad things, as there are in every situation, especially when you're playing yourself. (There were) some good things for us to learn from in every phase except special teams because we didn't really do special teams today. Offensively and defensively, there will be a lot of things we can learn from today that we'll go back teach a lot of guys. We had to run the scrimmage the way we ran it because of some injuries at certain positions, and we weren't deep enough to be able to split into two teams and play a true game. That's why we did it the way we did it, and we still thought we got a lot out of it.”
On what he liked from today's scrimmage
“When you create four turnovers on defense, I like that. We had four picks, but then I don't like it on the other side. There were some good things. There were some young guys that got an opportunity to get out of there in front of a crowd for the first time and get some butterflies out of their stomachs and not really do as well as they had been. They'll learn from that experience. The next time they go out there, if it's on September 3rd, they'll feel a little bit better.”
On what the team has gained defensively this spring
“If you go all the way back to the spring of last year, we put in nothing but base and didn't do anything else, and that's all they did for 15 days. This year, because of where we left off, these guys were able to expand everything and get into seven man fronts, eight man fronts, different blitz packages, a lot of things that we weren't able to do with last year's team. We were just able to elevate it to another level for those guys as far as what was put in. They come out of this spring with a better understanding of all of it.”
On the performance of the newest class
“All those guys that have come in early, those eight guys, have all been able to get a lot of reps. There was not a position where they didn't get a lot of reps. Probably Logan Byrd at the quarterback position had the fewest of all of them. But the rest of them, they were in extensive playing time and meaningful playing time in all of the scrimmages and all the practices. Myles Dorn, Myles Wolfolk, Jonathan Smith, they got a lot of reps over there. Those were guys that it was impressive to see what they were able to handle. You could tell when they started getting into an overload mentally and the smoke was coming out of their ears, making more mistakes in practice. Then you pull back a little bit and let them relax. They just did a nice job this spring.”
On Mitch Trubisky's performance
“I thought he had a pretty good command of the offense. We had one pick there on the sideline. Des (Lawrence) made a great play on that ball. It was a well-thrown ball. He didn't miss many throws. I thought he did a good job.”
On the offensive execution
“Just from standing back there, I'm mad if we don't score every drive. On the other side of it, there were some really good things. I don't want to sit here and say one side was better than the other. I think that both sides benefitted from what we did today. That's the tough thing about a spring game. I thought there were good things in some situations. I thought there were bad things on both sides of the ball. We know as a team that we've got a lot to work on, and we're going to be a lot better because of what we did today. We're going to be a lot better because of what we did this spring, and we really spent a lot of time with a lot of guys getting a lot of reps. We know from experience that those guys who are twos and threes are going to play for you at some time in the fall, and you're going to need them to be able to be successful.”
On his concerns about the team
“You guys know me. I've got a lot of concerns. I don't think that we solved any problem that we had this spring. We still have a long way to go, but I'm happy with the things that we've done so that we can learn from them. There were some series out there that weren't good. There were some series that were really good. That's the thing about spring when you're going against yourself. The objective is not really to see who can win each day. We're competing, but it's not about the winning. It's about making sure we install the things we need to install, make sure our guys really understand it well when we finish spring. I think our guys have a pretty good understanding. Now, we've got to go back and really get detailed with everybody to become a better football team.”
