LARRY FEDORA: Our team is excited
about getting back out on the field Saturday and
correcting the mistakes that we made and
hopefully playing a complete game.
Q. Third down efficiency, I know you
said about playing a complete game is what
you're looking forward to. The team has been
up and down in that area through the first three
games. How do you assess the offense at this
point and moving the ball on 3rd down and
what you've seen?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I think we're
somewhere around 45, 46 percent right now on
3rd downs, and we want to be -- we're shooting for
50 percent. We've done a pretty good job on 3rd
and longs and probably one third and short we'd
like to have back, but 3rd and mediums has been
where we need to pick it up. If we get -- I think
we've done a decent job of it, but we can be much
better.
Q. Keeping with the offense, Marquise
(Williams), he's had his moments of turnovers
obviously but has minimized that in the last
couple games. Just where you can say about
where he's at this season and his leadership
role and how he's doing in this year's offense
at this point?
LARRY FEDORA: I think first of all he's
doing a great job of leading the offense and
therefore leading our football team, so I'm proud of
what he's done in that aspect. He's made a few
mistakes there in the first game and then threw a
pick in this last game early but responded very well
to it, didn't let it affect the way he played the next
play or the next series. So proud of that fact. I
think he's doing a good job. He knows that we left
quite a bit out there on the field Saturday and he
knows we can be much better.
Q. Obviously a record-setting day for
Quinshad Davis with a career touchdown
record for you guys last weekend. Could you
just assess a little bit what Quinshad has
meant as a player and as a leader to your
program over his time here?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, Quinshad is a kid
that came in with our first recruiting class and has
been a major contributor to our offense and this
football team since he's stepped on campus and
has performed very well, and he's also just a
tremendous team player. He's a lot of fun to coach
because he practices really hard. He believes in
the things that we're teaching, and just a great
teammate.
Q. Was he hurt last year? I know he
had the major injury at the end of the year, but
it sounds like there were some different things.
He actually had some leg issues that slowed
him down last year throughout the course of
the season?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, we had a lot of
issues with him last year and therefore he was
probably practicing -- probably less than half the
time actually in a week. You know, and it carried
over. Eventually when you can't practice you're
not going to play as well, and it hurt us in the long
run.
Q. Freshman Joe Walker will be
starting his third game at quarterback for
Delaware. I was wondering what your staff's
impressions were of him, and obviously even
though Delaware is over-matched as an FCS
program, wondering what you thought some of
their team strengths were.
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I'll tell you, first of
all, what Walker does is he enables them to run the
football from that position, also, with the zone read
and stuff so he gives you some problems that way.
Watching them, Coach Brock does a really good
job offensively. They're going to the philosophy of
being in 12 personnel and bring the ball downhill
and run the football at you and make you stop the
run. They're definitely going to do that, so they're
going to challenge us up front, and just being
physical on every snap. Defensively they're very sound. They
haven't given up much, and you know, they tend
to -- I mean, they're always in position to make
plays. I think they've done a good job with this
football team.
Q. Talk about the progression of your
defense under Coach Chizik after three games.
LARRY FEDORA: Well, you know, we've
got -- we feel like we've gotten better each and
every week, you know, from the very first game to
where we are now. We think we are making
progress. I think our guys, they are feeling much
more comfortable in the techniques that they're
having to play and this style of defense, and
therefore they're gaining confidence in it. Every
time they make a play in it and they realize and
recognize that what they've been taught will work,
it just makes us a better team. I definitely think
we're better than we were when we started.
Q. Talk about this game coming up
against Delaware. What do you see on film?
What type of coach is Coach (Dave) Brock?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I said early, I
think he's doing a really good job. One, their
philosophy offensively, they're going to be in 12
personnel, they've got big people in the game, and
they're going to pound the ball at you. They're
going to make you be -- they're going to check out
your gap integrity because they're going to bring it
downhill and they're going to be physical up front.
Defensively they're very sound. They haven't
given up very much, and they're in all the right
places at the right times, and they mix in a
multitude of coverages, and then their special
teams are very sound, so I think Coach Brock and
his staff have done a nice job.
Q. Talk about last week's win against
Illinois. What do you see that you want to work
on this week, something to improve on from
last week?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, there's a lot of
things we need to work on. We need to be more
consistent offensively on 3rd downs and in critical
situations. We can't have all the dropped balls that
we had with the passing game. Defensively we've
got to get off the field on 3rd downs better, and I
would say we've got to transition better into our
pass rush, and then special teams wise we've got
a lot to work on. We've got problems with our
fours and fives on our kickoff team, our coverage
on our punt team needs to be better, our kickoff
return team we haven't been able to get anything
going, so we've got to get much better in those
areas.
Q. I wanted to ask about Landon
Turner. He's been the ACC lineman of the
week twice in three weeks. Can you talk about
the job he's doing, and has he really stepped
up his game since last year?
LARRY FEDORA: He really has. It's not
just that he's being solid out there. I mean, he's
really playing well. I mean, we come back in after
grading it meticulously, and all three weeks in a
row, he's been our player of the game. He has
been dominant. He's played really, really well. He
plays hard. You don't have to question that. But
he's been really physical throughout all three
games.
Q. And it's before your time, but Coach
Brock was at Carolina for two years as a
recruiting guy. Does that give him any insight
or edge going into this game, or was it so long
ago it doesn't make a difference?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I think he
probably knows what Chapel Hill is all about. He's
been here, so he -- I don't know what kind of
advantage that gives him or disadvantage. I don't
think it gives him any kind of disadvantage, but
he's going to be familiar with the place. I don't
know what that does for him.
about getting back out on the field Saturday and
correcting the mistakes that we made and
hopefully playing a complete game.
Q. Third down efficiency, I know you
said about playing a complete game is what
you're looking forward to. The team has been
up and down in that area through the first three
games. How do you assess the offense at this
point and moving the ball on 3rd down and
what you've seen?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I think we're
somewhere around 45, 46 percent right now on
3rd downs, and we want to be -- we're shooting for
50 percent. We've done a pretty good job on 3rd
and longs and probably one third and short we'd
like to have back, but 3rd and mediums has been
where we need to pick it up. If we get -- I think
we've done a decent job of it, but we can be much
better.
Q. Keeping with the offense, Marquise
(Williams), he's had his moments of turnovers
obviously but has minimized that in the last
couple games. Just where you can say about
where he's at this season and his leadership
role and how he's doing in this year's offense
at this point?
LARRY FEDORA: I think first of all he's
doing a great job of leading the offense and
therefore leading our football team, so I'm proud of
what he's done in that aspect. He's made a few
mistakes there in the first game and then threw a
pick in this last game early but responded very well
to it, didn't let it affect the way he played the next
play or the next series. So proud of that fact. I
think he's doing a good job. He knows that we left
quite a bit out there on the field Saturday and he
knows we can be much better.
Q. Obviously a record-setting day for
Quinshad Davis with a career touchdown
record for you guys last weekend. Could you
just assess a little bit what Quinshad has
meant as a player and as a leader to your
program over his time here?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, Quinshad is a kid
that came in with our first recruiting class and has
been a major contributor to our offense and this
football team since he's stepped on campus and
has performed very well, and he's also just a
tremendous team player. He's a lot of fun to coach
because he practices really hard. He believes in
the things that we're teaching, and just a great
teammate.
Q. Was he hurt last year? I know he
had the major injury at the end of the year, but
it sounds like there were some different things.
He actually had some leg issues that slowed
him down last year throughout the course of
the season?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, we had a lot of
issues with him last year and therefore he was
probably practicing -- probably less than half the
time actually in a week. You know, and it carried
over. Eventually when you can't practice you're
not going to play as well, and it hurt us in the long
run.
Q. Freshman Joe Walker will be
starting his third game at quarterback for
Delaware. I was wondering what your staff's
impressions were of him, and obviously even
though Delaware is over-matched as an FCS
program, wondering what you thought some of
their team strengths were.
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I'll tell you, first of
all, what Walker does is he enables them to run the
football from that position, also, with the zone read
and stuff so he gives you some problems that way.
Watching them, Coach Brock does a really good
job offensively. They're going to the philosophy of
being in 12 personnel and bring the ball downhill
and run the football at you and make you stop the
run. They're definitely going to do that, so they're
going to challenge us up front, and just being
physical on every snap. Defensively they're very sound. They
haven't given up much, and you know, they tend
to -- I mean, they're always in position to make
plays. I think they've done a good job with this
football team.
Q. Talk about the progression of your
defense under Coach Chizik after three games.
LARRY FEDORA: Well, you know, we've
got -- we feel like we've gotten better each and
every week, you know, from the very first game to
where we are now. We think we are making
progress. I think our guys, they are feeling much
more comfortable in the techniques that they're
having to play and this style of defense, and
therefore they're gaining confidence in it. Every
time they make a play in it and they realize and
recognize that what they've been taught will work,
it just makes us a better team. I definitely think
we're better than we were when we started.
Q. Talk about this game coming up
against Delaware. What do you see on film?
What type of coach is Coach (Dave) Brock?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I said early, I
think he's doing a really good job. One, their
philosophy offensively, they're going to be in 12
personnel, they've got big people in the game, and
they're going to pound the ball at you. They're
going to make you be -- they're going to check out
your gap integrity because they're going to bring it
downhill and they're going to be physical up front.
Defensively they're very sound. They haven't
given up very much, and they're in all the right
places at the right times, and they mix in a
multitude of coverages, and then their special
teams are very sound, so I think Coach Brock and
his staff have done a nice job.
Q. Talk about last week's win against
Illinois. What do you see that you want to work
on this week, something to improve on from
last week?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, there's a lot of
things we need to work on. We need to be more
consistent offensively on 3rd downs and in critical
situations. We can't have all the dropped balls that
we had with the passing game. Defensively we've
got to get off the field on 3rd downs better, and I
would say we've got to transition better into our
pass rush, and then special teams wise we've got
a lot to work on. We've got problems with our
fours and fives on our kickoff team, our coverage
on our punt team needs to be better, our kickoff
return team we haven't been able to get anything
going, so we've got to get much better in those
areas.
Q. I wanted to ask about Landon
Turner. He's been the ACC lineman of the
week twice in three weeks. Can you talk about
the job he's doing, and has he really stepped
up his game since last year?
LARRY FEDORA: He really has. It's not
just that he's being solid out there. I mean, he's
really playing well. I mean, we come back in after
grading it meticulously, and all three weeks in a
row, he's been our player of the game. He has
been dominant. He's played really, really well. He
plays hard. You don't have to question that. But
he's been really physical throughout all three
games.
Q. And it's before your time, but Coach
Brock was at Carolina for two years as a
recruiting guy. Does that give him any insight
or edge going into this game, or was it so long
ago it doesn't make a difference?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, I think he
probably knows what Chapel Hill is all about. He's
been here, so he -- I don't know what kind of
advantage that gives him or disadvantage. I don't
think it gives him any kind of disadvantage, but
he's going to be familiar with the place. I don't
know what that does for him.
