CHAPEL HILL – UNC football coach Larry Fedora met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference, and this week opened with the topic of his quarterback situation. Here is what the coach had to say about Marquise Williams and Mitch Trubisky:
Fedora: Obviously we have a big divisional game coming up against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Let me go ahead and address the quarterback issue so we don't have to answer 78 questions about the quarterbacks. Marquise Williams is our starter. Yes, I've talked to him. He knows why I did what I did on Saturday. And that's where we're at. He's our starter going into this game and there’s nothing to talk about but I know you’ll still have some questions on it, so we’ll go ahead and answer them.
Q: I (Williams’) hip bothering him?
Fedora: I have no idea, he hasn’t said anything to me about a hip.
Q: The obvious question we didn’t ask the other day is why did you put Mitch in the game at that particular time?
Fedora: I was looking for a spark offensively. I didn’t think we were executing very well and looking for a spark and put him in there at that time. I thought he added a little bit to the offense, and as he got rolling he got hot and thing were moving so I didn’t feel like going back the other way.
Q: Is there any concern about confidence issues with Marquise?
Fedora: No. After our conversation, no, no. I think he has complete confidence. He knows that I have complete confidence in him, and so I don’t think there’s an issue. And there’s not – I don’t want to try to start some type of controversy or anything because there’s not, it’s really not.
Q: Mitch set a school record for efficiency, was his performance really that good?
Fedora: It was pretty dang good. He did some really good things other than put the ball on the ground. He put the ball on the ground the one time, but other than that he was very efficient in everything he did. He went the right way where he was supposed to go like he’d been coached. He did a really nice job.
Q: Did Marquise know what you were going to say, the reasons behind why you took him out?
Fedora: I don’t know, I didn’t ask him. I wasn’t trying to get a feel for what he was thinking. I told him what I thought my expectation level was and he understood, he didn’t question anything.
Q: What specifically bothered you about his decision makin?
Fedora: Just that there were some things done in the game that we weren’t coached to do. For a guy that has a lot of experience in our offense he understands that he’s got to do that.
Q: Was the sack on his last play one of the mistakes he made?
Fedora: No, no, it had nothing to do with that sack.
Q: Can you pin-point a couple of examples?
Fedora: No.
Q: It seemed like when Mitch came in the play calling opened up a bit in terms of going downfield.
Fedora: Yeah, once we started being efficient in what we do you can open it up and start running our offense the way we want to run it. But when you are constantly struggling to stay ahead of the chains that makes it difficult. So, that’s why you have to do what we do and stay within the offense, and if you stay within the offense and just take the ball and go where it’s supposed to go it’ll work itself pretty good.
Q: Marquise has shown an ability to pass downfield, but for some reason it’s been somewhat of an issue through the first 3 or 4 games.
Fedora: I don’t know that it’s been an issue, I don’t know that we’ve probably opened it up as much, and some of it was game-type of situations. There were a couple of games where we started running away with it so here’s no need to do that. I don’t have any issue with the way he’s throwing the ball downfield, I really don’t.
Q: Was your decision based solely on how he played in this game or was there any aggregate from prior performances?
Fedora: No. No. Strictly in that game.
Q: You did the split time thing last year, does Mitch’s success mean are you looking at doing more of that in the future?
Fedora: What it tells me is what we’ve done in the past is good because Mitch is prepared and ready to go. Whether or not we’ll keep going with that, I don’t know. I hadn’t made a decision like that and I don’t know that I will going into the game, it will be more about the flow of the game and what’s going on.
Q: You had a conversation with Marquise, did you also have one with Mitch?
Fedora: I did not. I didn’t feel the need to.
Q: Does Marquise have a shorter leash than he did earlier in the season.
Fedora: No he doesn’t. He’s still our starting quarterback. He knows how I expect him to play, just like everybody else on the team.
Q: With this being Marquise’s senior season, maybe some thoughts about his future, do you feel like maybe he’s put a little pressure on himself?
Fedora: Maybe so and he doesn’t need to do that because when he’s playing care fee and playing he’s a dang good football player, so I hope he’s not putting too much pressure on himself. He doesn’t need to do that. Just stay within the offense, that’s all you gotta do. It’ll all happen if you stay within the offense and do what you’re coached to do.
Q: Do you think some of his decision making is impacted by the rough first game and then going forward do I use my legs or do I use my arm.
Fedora: I really don’t know all the things that go through his mind. I did think the other day when he ran the ball he ran to score. That first score he ran through two tacklers and ran over the safety as he got in the end zone. The other times he pulled it and ran he ran to score. I like the way his attitude and mentality were when he was running the football.
Q: Did you make the call to pull him or was that Coach Littrell?
Fedora: That was me.
Fedora: Obviously we have a big divisional game coming up against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Let me go ahead and address the quarterback issue so we don't have to answer 78 questions about the quarterbacks. Marquise Williams is our starter. Yes, I've talked to him. He knows why I did what I did on Saturday. And that's where we're at. He's our starter going into this game and there’s nothing to talk about but I know you’ll still have some questions on it, so we’ll go ahead and answer them.
Q: I (Williams’) hip bothering him?
Fedora: I have no idea, he hasn’t said anything to me about a hip.
Q: The obvious question we didn’t ask the other day is why did you put Mitch in the game at that particular time?
Fedora: I was looking for a spark offensively. I didn’t think we were executing very well and looking for a spark and put him in there at that time. I thought he added a little bit to the offense, and as he got rolling he got hot and thing were moving so I didn’t feel like going back the other way.
Q: Is there any concern about confidence issues with Marquise?
Fedora: No. After our conversation, no, no. I think he has complete confidence. He knows that I have complete confidence in him, and so I don’t think there’s an issue. And there’s not – I don’t want to try to start some type of controversy or anything because there’s not, it’s really not.
Q: Mitch set a school record for efficiency, was his performance really that good?
Fedora: It was pretty dang good. He did some really good things other than put the ball on the ground. He put the ball on the ground the one time, but other than that he was very efficient in everything he did. He went the right way where he was supposed to go like he’d been coached. He did a really nice job.
Q: Did Marquise know what you were going to say, the reasons behind why you took him out?
Fedora: I don’t know, I didn’t ask him. I wasn’t trying to get a feel for what he was thinking. I told him what I thought my expectation level was and he understood, he didn’t question anything.
Q: What specifically bothered you about his decision makin?
Fedora: Just that there were some things done in the game that we weren’t coached to do. For a guy that has a lot of experience in our offense he understands that he’s got to do that.
Q: Was the sack on his last play one of the mistakes he made?
Fedora: No, no, it had nothing to do with that sack.
Q: Can you pin-point a couple of examples?
Fedora: No.
Q: It seemed like when Mitch came in the play calling opened up a bit in terms of going downfield.
Fedora: Yeah, once we started being efficient in what we do you can open it up and start running our offense the way we want to run it. But when you are constantly struggling to stay ahead of the chains that makes it difficult. So, that’s why you have to do what we do and stay within the offense, and if you stay within the offense and just take the ball and go where it’s supposed to go it’ll work itself pretty good.
Q: Marquise has shown an ability to pass downfield, but for some reason it’s been somewhat of an issue through the first 3 or 4 games.
Fedora: I don’t know that it’s been an issue, I don’t know that we’ve probably opened it up as much, and some of it was game-type of situations. There were a couple of games where we started running away with it so here’s no need to do that. I don’t have any issue with the way he’s throwing the ball downfield, I really don’t.
Q: Was your decision based solely on how he played in this game or was there any aggregate from prior performances?
Fedora: No. No. Strictly in that game.
Q: You did the split time thing last year, does Mitch’s success mean are you looking at doing more of that in the future?
Fedora: What it tells me is what we’ve done in the past is good because Mitch is prepared and ready to go. Whether or not we’ll keep going with that, I don’t know. I hadn’t made a decision like that and I don’t know that I will going into the game, it will be more about the flow of the game and what’s going on.
Q: You had a conversation with Marquise, did you also have one with Mitch?
Fedora: I did not. I didn’t feel the need to.
Q: Does Marquise have a shorter leash than he did earlier in the season.
Fedora: No he doesn’t. He’s still our starting quarterback. He knows how I expect him to play, just like everybody else on the team.
Q: With this being Marquise’s senior season, maybe some thoughts about his future, do you feel like maybe he’s put a little pressure on himself?
Fedora: Maybe so and he doesn’t need to do that because when he’s playing care fee and playing he’s a dang good football player, so I hope he’s not putting too much pressure on himself. He doesn’t need to do that. Just stay within the offense, that’s all you gotta do. It’ll all happen if you stay within the offense and do what you’re coached to do.
Q: Do you think some of his decision making is impacted by the rough first game and then going forward do I use my legs or do I use my arm.
Fedora: I really don’t know all the things that go through his mind. I did think the other day when he ran the ball he ran to score. That first score he ran through two tacklers and ran over the safety as he got in the end zone. The other times he pulled it and ran he ran to score. I like the way his attitude and mentality were when he was running the football.
Q: Did you make the call to pull him or was that Coach Littrell?
Fedora: That was me.
