Carolina's IMPRESSIVE Roster Retention + Recapping The Portal! | The UNC Football Show

[Music] what is up everybody and welcome back to tarheelillustrated.com I'm Jacob turner He's Andrew Jones and AJ we're here for another edition of the UNC football show been been a while since we've done a UNCC football show I know and I'm going to use the word offseason in air quotes right now because a lot of times when you know basketball ends we a lot of people you know as a fan you're in the offseason of Carolina football and basketball no longer be session but with the portal man it's just completely changed everything to where I even think our offseason dynamic as a as a site that covers you andc has changed so what is the off season for you now do you even have an offseason anymore a I mean well funny story a very very good friend of mine named Brian Hendrickson who used to be in this business we worked together at the star news Brian left the business about maybe seven years ago six years ago uh he was actually teaching a Sports uh journalism Masters program at IUPUI in Indianapolis and um he texted me the morning of the spring game and he said hey man how's the offseason going like come on dude you just laugh come on yeah so the offseason it helps this past week has helped a lot because you get through the draft you get through the football portal it closed Tuesday night basketball portal portal closed Wednesday night then RJ finally makes his DEC his announcement public which we had to be on Q for and trolled the world at 3:00 a.m. we'll get into that in the basketball show that we're gonna do so I'm I'm literally on alert I've been on alert up until two days ago like around the clock essentially and I talked to Adam Smith about it gosh last week after Max press before Max press conference post spring presser and Max like Adam's like we're it's like we're doctors we're always on call and it's really like that now it slows down a little bit I've actually done my walk I started a walk the other day getting my steps before 5:00 pm I had been doing most of my steps during the month of April at like 8 n 10 o'clock at night South because I know you know what nothing's gonna break now I can go get my steps finally yeah so so yeah so the offseason is here now but we still work a lot and that could scale down we have a lot of content in the hopper that's been created and we'll roll a lot of that stuff out we have more than we've ever had before so we're going to be really active on the site absolutely but a lot of this stuff has been done in advance so I can actually be a dad and a father and an yes a human being I watched a movie with my wife the other night and the movie started just after 900 PM so good for you I'm I'm happy for you to be honest with you well actually it was a little bit later because we I I taped the Orioles because I can go through it quicker and I don't feel I don't feel as much pressure to get home by 6:30 and being being there watching them live so we skin right through the Orioles game and um and then I accidentally saw the final score on Twitter thanks to thanks to thanks to Josh Graham that was about right and and so that's when we started the movie kind of early so that was that was sort of an offseason moment there yeah exhale a little bit relax a little bit yeah man it's it's again this is with the portal obviously closing football closing on Tuesday night of this week yeah you can kind of finally exhale a little bit for now and again things will happen during the offseason with commits and everything but again least don't have to worry about anybody entering the portal for a while so AJ we're gonna this will be a little bit quicker of a football show because again I don't know if anybody wants to listen to an hourlong football show in the middle of May maybe I'm wrong about that but I think we with the topics we're going to hit on we're just gonna kind of rifle through these real quick and try to keep this one around about 20 minutes which again I think makes sense in the offseason because we don't want to you know overanalyze too much stuff going on but I want to start with roster retention for me both the football and the basketball program did a great job of that I know you put out we put a drop out on Thursday that you did talking about roster retention from a basketball perspective but we haven't really talked about it from a football perspective but I think when you look at it man I mean Carolina didn't lose a ton of guys I think a lot of the guys that especially important guys on the team that could have maybe gone to the transfer have decided to come back to North Carolina and they we'll talk about some additions in the portal that Carolina got as well a little bit later but I think roster retention in particular has been very good for Carolina football so do do you feel like Carolina's in a pretty good place right now going into their off season before you know fall Camp starts in a couple months I do I think that they have a really good idea who they are and and as far as the guys they lost DJ gu told him before spring practice he was going he didn't participate and then Aiden duncanson who was way down the depth chart went ahead and decided he was going during spring practice so did Legend cavaso Max said going into spring practices was a real big spring for him and the clearly he had to make a move there wasn't really going to be he was G to have to find another place to go if he wanted to play so that happened then of course Tad Hudson Michael mding are pass Tad Hudson the minute he stepped on campus yeah yeah and it's not it's not a criticism of Tad or anything like that murderer's good murderer throws a nice ball he threw the nicest ball I saw spring so that's that anyway again not to be critical of other people in the room yeah you just that's who they lost and Hudson found Hudson landed at Coastal Carolina almost right away the other three have not found Landing spots as of the time that we're recording this that's all they lost they lost nobody that's could affect the dep chart at all they lost nobody that was that the staff had meetings thinking well we got to figure out a way to get this guy in the field field and that again they just weren't ready to help that doesn't mean that they're not good players and can't help somebody else so I don't think that there was any shakeup that that adversely affected the roster at all since uh they got back from the bowl game basically so the stuff about amarian they did what they had to do to keep amarian to his credit he didn't from what I understand didn't pay attention to any outside uh uh programs that or people that were maybe trying to reach out and throw some cash at him Carolina took care of him he was very satisfied with it he actually took part in some of those conversations himself it wasn't just an agent so he's good to go he ain't going anywhere so they're they they know who they are they still got a question at quarterback yeah they got to figure that out and they feel better they feel good about the quarterback room I I'm going to reiterate as what I said last time you and I talked about it I only saw them three times and con looked pretty good twice Max didn't look that great either those three times but that was just three times these people have seen him every day for five months now so my opinion on seeing him three times is just a tiny tiny tiny thing these these people are professionals and Hall of Famers and NFL people and they've seen them every day so I'm going to lean I'm I'm going to lean on what they say and we'll know in time what what their quarterback situation is yeah it'll obviously play out during fall camp and perfect segue into some of the guys that were brought in which is what I want to talk about next with with Carolina start with jacobe Chiswell him being kind of the latest guy and probably the most I don't know if surprising is the right word but I think it's probably the one that people if anybody of the you know handful of guys that they did bring in this in this portal period I think he's the guy that probably surprised people the most obviously because he was at Carolina a couple years ago and obviously lost out to Drake May no shame in that when you just see Drake May getting you know drafted as a third overall to the New England Patriots so completely understand why someone like him would transfer in the first place from Arkansas which is where he went makes sense that he went back home to his you know instate school didn't work out there for different reasons know he had I can't remember the guy who was in front of him but good quarterback in front of him so getting a starting spot down there was always going to be an uphill battle for him but Chiswell coming back and I'm going to direct people to the drop what you did early this week about chriswell because I thought it was absolutely fantastic with the Insight that you gave us in terms of okay why did Criswell choose to come back and I know a big part of that was obviously The Graduate School opportunities here at Carolina but again it also adds another dimension to the quarterback room ma Brown mentioned a couple weeks ago in a press conference that hey we need a fourth quarterback and I thought the question you followed up with to him is do you just want a fourth quarterback to have a fourth quarterback or are you trying to bring someone in that could maybe compete and shake things up with that starting spot between Harold and Johnson and we talked about it in our post spring practice ractice pod so I'm not going to go in depth on it but Matt kind of saying you know well we need a fourth guy but you know if you're you know if you're interested in coming to Carolina holler at us and could potentially start so with the Criswell situation I know graduate school played a big factor in that Carolina's obviously a fantastic University for that but I mean do you see I know you talked about a little in your drop as well but do you see Criswell coming in and maybe competing for that starting spot as well or maybe at least competing for a backup spot because I I do think there is a lot of talent there but you know it just it's a different trajectory with someone leaving and coming back you don't see that very often at least at Carolina I should say I think one of the important things that you can learn through the portal is ultimately how kids view themselves and their Futures in the sport for example Seth Trimble coming back was in part and I I don't mean to I'm not g to speak for him but this is my observation that's him realizing okay because as you know Jacob a sidebar for almost all these guys arrive in college thinking they're going to play in the pros of course yeah but reality gets to quite a few of them during the course of time when they're in school it's a good reality it's a healthy reality because very few are ever going to play in the pros it's better if a kid recognizes that and becomes a program kid and buckles down on his education and gets that and has a program experience and finishes and moves on with his life maybe you get an opportunity to play overseas and basketball or if you're football at least you go to a camp I would imagine just even if you get cut if you go to an NFL training camp it's a hell of an experience you can take with you the rest of your life that very few other people have so I think in C case I think there was a lot of reality about where he is as a player it doesn't mean he can't become an NBA guy or a certainly play overseas but I think that kids come to realizations about themselves I my understanding is jacobe Criswell has done that he he lost out to Drake for whatever reason whatever PE people could believe what they want to believe that Mack oversold it as a competition or anything like that Mack says it was a competition it's hard to imagine that Drake was neck and neck with a guy who was third string at Arkansas yeah so take maybe at the time he was maybe Jacobi got to Arkansas and and whatever people thought was going to come out in his game never came out so the young man that is now going back to North Carolina is going back for the academics is going back to strengthen that room he loved the campus he loved the programming so many of the same people are still there and he's a good fit and I think what Mack achieved here and M I think Mack had a has had a pretty good couple of months to be perfectly honest with you and he's been criticized regularly by people but he set out on arguably the most difficult Mission I've heard yet during the portal era he announc to the world we basically need a fourth string quarterback but didn't reject the notion that if a potential starter were to reach out would would they or not would they or would they not entertain the idea of bringing them in he said it was open-ended I asked him two different times two different press conferences and he gave the same response so it was open-ended they were going to take calls from any quarterback in the country that was interested mhm and what but finding a kid who's leaving a third or fourth string job somewhere else and coming into a new school for the same thing was going to be next to Impossible finding a potential starter to come in who sees two guys one is Max Johnson they brought in right away last November and the other one is a dude who's in his third year in the program a lot of potential start unless you're Arch Manning you're going to look at that and say no way I'm already leaving something like that so Mac was looking for a needle in a hay stack and he found it yeah his name was jacobe Chiswell jacobe gives Carolina exactly what it needs in that room Carolina gives jacobe exactly what he needs at this point in his life it is a perfect match kudos to M kudos to yobi for having for having the uh the fortitude and and the courage to make a move like that because you knew it was going to be criticized by some people just because that's the way the world is now but it is a great pickup because whether or not he competes for a job you've got an older guy who's got his degree and he didn't get his initial degree from Carolina he got it from Arkansas who's in that room and he understands what he's going into so it's not like you have to worry about one of your backups getting an itchy trigger and leaving at any time he's there for the so this is a great move for Carolina agreed no I think you hit the nail on the head with that needle and a hay stack and I think M you he found it it was a bulls eye from him and makes a ton of sense bringing a guy back in that room like you said wants to be there for the right reasons and isn't going anywhere so no I agree it was a little bit of a surprise when it happened just because you don't see you don't see this happen very often at least in Carolina with a guy leaving and kind of coming back especially at the quarterback position but again now I think it's exactly what what the tar Hills needed at that position especially as a backup but let's dive into the other three guys that Carolina landed in the portal start with Joshua Harris I know he's the defensive lineman transfer from Old Miss previously was at state for most of his career as well coming in and again we'll talk about the two other o linemen that Carolina landed in the portal as well but m mck talked about it you know maybe a month or so ago saying you know we're looking for a quarterback we're looking for a running back and we're looking for some linemen on both lines of scrimmage and I think Carolina basically got all that um with what they were looking for so talk to me a little bit about Joshua Harris because again experienced guy played in the ACC for a number of years played in the state of North Carolina for a number of years understand what it takes to play this level played a good amount at Old Miss last year didn't have outstanding numbers by any means but did play a lot at Old Miss last season too so I think bringing a guy like in for at least for me bringing a guy like in like Joshua Harris just a adds some much needed depth down there but it also adds a guy that's played a ton of football and has a ton of experience down there as well so somewhat local guy from rockboro too so makes a ton of sense so I think again Joshua Harris at least in my opinion is a really good addition to that defensive lineman room especially when you look at Who's down there and some of the younger guys that still need to step up at that position and solidify themselves as starters so do you kind of agree with that that you know Harris you know adds depth and probably will be a guy that I would expect to play a good amount as well yeah he's what I call a snap eater he's going to eat up some snaps for him they would love to see Joel star and Rodney Laura become those guys but both of them are kind of ahead of schedule when I talk to some people around the program they did not especially starlings who had a really good fall a really good spring they didn't expect them to be close to being ready just yet but they probably aren't ready just yet so they needed someone that could bridge that Gap now maybe they are at some point next season but they needed a snap eater they didn't need a starter they've got starters they've got some experience up front Kevin Hesters played a lot of football ritzy a lot of football Evans a lot of football now Harris is an inside guy he he's a four technique guy and they needed someone that could do that because as much as Travis Shaw's game has grown and Travis Shaw himself has grown and those two things are going hand inand there until Travis can give them 40 snaps a week and play well and not EB and flow like this they needed to fortify that spot so Joshua Harris does that for him it's he's a snap eater you need snap eaters and you know baseball you got to have that long relief guy every once in a while that in a in a 10-2 game can give you a few Innings without killing the rest of the bullpen I think that a guy like Joshua Harris is sort of like a long relief type guy along the front line he could give them needed snaps that during the course of the game for depth purposes and to give the regulars and the rotation breather and he'll be in the rotation but also if you're in a situation where it's lopsided maybe he gets extra run there so you don't wear down and wear out some of the regular starters because I do believe that this team part of the reason they've collapsed the last few years is because they've worn down yeah they've collapsed three straight years even the team two years Sam's last year was terrible at the end of the year this program has gotten tired that's one of the problems and Mack said again last week you know we always we always talk about building depth and then we never do it yeah I mean he he points the arrow at himself and the staff and that's true getting a Joshua Harris is part of building that depth he's a kid that knows he's not coming in and starting kind of like jacobe Criswell he understands that he has a role coming in and he's embraced the role and by the way it's two former NC State players now and they will both be in the rotation ja Harris might [Music] start lot of experience you know especially bringing any of those guys from State and I like that I mean it's again I think it we talk about it in basketball some but in football too I think it's very important to bring in guys that have played in at the ACC level that for me is incredibly important I think it adds some of that familiarity that maybe isn't there when a guy Elijah H is not a good example because he was so good for Carolina but came from a different level of college football you can definitely go get guys like that and Carolina's done a good job at doing that at times but again when you can bring in guys that have played in the ACC and have a lot of experience in that maybe not necessarily to start like you said maybe they will you never know what happens but just bringing guys to have that backup and that rotation and that experience that's what like you said Carolina's just been majorly lacking they just depth we've talked about a lot just has not been developed so kudos to MA for coming out and saying that because I have talked to a lot of fans and that has always been a major frustrations amongst fans is they tell us every spring that they're going to build depth and they've got all this depth and then by the third fourth Game of the Year it's just the same guys playing over and it comes back to bite them so yeah and part of that and part of that for example after a game if mck gets a question about why didn't such and such play more he doesn't really get that kind of question but sometimes the inference in the question is that he'll say I don't know I have to talk to position coach because ultimately the position coaches the head coaches of those rooms and they determine Play Tops not like Max is hey let's get such and such on the field now now he might say that sometimes and he and he and he's in those conversations in the heads set all the time and he'll suggest plays or generally speaking he'll veto things in or fourth down he may say hey let's go ahead and go for this but the the position coaches put guys out there and position coaches football coaches in general are a are the most paranoid bunch of people I've ever dealt with in my life I mean that's why they are so protective over who sees what and what they talk about and may one of them thinks they're playing the D-Day invasion at all time I love that analogy and and so they're very paranoid so so a lot of times they're not going to put the third best linebacker on the field because they've already got the two best linebackers on the field why would I hurt my job hurt my performance hurt my room by putting the third guy out there and that's something I think that they need to change and that starts at the top Mack has to be more emphatic about them playing as kids I believe that they've made that decision I really do now we'll see if it's back up during the season but I heard more about it this spring that I have in past Springs not just hearing about it but you could see it you could see a lot of the rotation on the field during practice we actually got to see the the when the when the ACC Network showed up they just they just did a practice right yeah we typically Carolina scrimmages on the Saturday we got to see the scrimmage on Thursday so we got to see a lot of stuff and we got to see a lot of how they go about things defensively schematically uh the player rotations and they were playing a lot of guys now of course it's April you can play a lot of guys but a lot of dudes were getting work and they were getting a lot of players on film to see who can help out I do think they are more committed to that we'll see if they don't and they collapse then we know where where where at least one of the fingers can point to exactly no yeah yeah only Tom will tell but the messaging coming out and not just the messaging because that's always been there but the you know the things you can see with your own eyes seem to be pointing towards that direction again I think that's a no-brainer when you look at the last three seasons I mean you know you got to you got to change something in that respect because it is very evident that with the collapses Carolina's had a lot of that does come down to just the same guys playing all the time so we'll see again what happens in the season but positive signs out of the program right now that that is something that that's going to change last two guys we'll talk about before we wrap this pod up again we're going a little bit shorter on this one Zack Greenberg mullenberg College offensive lineman transfer a guy that I think a lot of people expect to come and you know he is the most interesting one to me jaka lewit from Georgia Tech a lot of people and even coming out of the program that he might come in and very well maybe a starter at least a guy that's going to play a ton of reps down there Zack Greenberg may be being more of a project guy when you just consider the level of football he's coming from and maybe some of the intangibles and whatnot that he brings so more question marks about him and how he maybe fits in but again add some depth in there and I think that's important and again jakay left wi I think a guy that a lot of Carolina f should be excited about and I think the coaching staff is exciting about because again a guy that played and started in a Georgia Tech school and has played a ton of minutes down there as well that for me is a a big positive especially when you look at some of the question marks still surrounding that offensive line group something we talked about a lot during the Spring and in our post spring uh football pod so thoughts on those two guys again I I think the number one thing is they need bodies down there and I think at least one of the guys is is ready made to come in and potentially be a big time starter for Carolina well left witch has the SEC he's the second most experienced offensive lineman on the team behind behind Willie lampin who came in from Coastal Carolina so I would never judge a player based on where they come from Jared verse was at Albany went to Florida State and he's a first round pick so good point yeah yeah so as far as left witch goes I think the I think one of the tackle spots is his for the taking it was pretty wild to see Howard Samson out there running with the blue team every time I I I saw the team he's a guy who barely got on the field at North Texas I know he was banged up a little bit but that's North Texas and then you've got Trev young green who is continuing in the process of his full transformation from 410 pounds and being told by m brown we would love to offer you but we can't you have to show us you could be more disciplined and you can get your weight down and he did it and I think he's someone that has a chance to be really really good one day is he there yet I think there was a lot of inconsistency in the spring Samson may have been more consistent in the spring but I think left Witch is probably going to take one of those spots the good thing is is that a guy like Samson got a ton of reps in the spring he got a reps at this level and and he he admittedly was overwhelmed by how much bigger football is at North Carolina terms of the facilities the expectation the regimen everybody that's around you as opposed to North Texas which has a solid program I've been to North Texas I've seen their facilities they got a nice Stadium they've got pretty good facilities but it's a different animal in the ACC and so he was a little overwhelmed by that at first and so he had to kind of work through that but he did pretty well in the spring so I think that left witch will probably be one of the starters I would I would be surprised if he's not as far as Greenberg goes he's a guy that they liked a lot I think that there is a um uh there's an element where there's a a football player here that no one could see previously because he was in division three he just needed to come into this level to be to have his full game massage by people at this level to have this kind of weight program to be in a program where the dedication is essentially 247 unlike at mullenberg college so he's got two years it's unfortunate he couldn't come in the spring I think he really could have used the spring but he had to finish up school before he could make the transition which is the same thing with Leftwich who did finish school by the way and he'll be there in a couple weeks both will so I think mullenberg is a shot in the dark you got a spot open you got a lot of linemen in the room you take a shot in the dark every once in a while at somebody to see what they can give you they did it with Spencer roll and it worked out pretty well yeah Spencer signed a a free agent deal last Sunday so we'll see he's a body he's an experienced guy he's a Col you can never have enough college graduates now that we have we're still in the co era as far as uh fifth year players and I do think NCAA is going to go to a fifth year player the more college graduates you have on your roster the better yeah because because they're just different kids they're different they're not kids anymore they're dudes they're men they're dudes and they kind of know who they are and the more you have guys that know who they are the better your team chemistry is going to be and team chemistry is enormous in both Sports as we've seen in basketball just the last two years and you had a lot of dudes who knew who knew who they were in basketball right I think right now in football they have a roster of guys that know who they are when Max says it reminds them of two years ago when no one was talking about them and they start out nine and one they had a lot of players that knew who they were where they were in that time in their careers and where their careers were headed I think they have a lot of that right now agreed no I completely agree with that and again I think that's a a good place to wrap this one up we can sit here talking about Carolina football for the next hour but again I think this one hitting on Roser retention the guys that have brought in with the portal closing early this week on Tuesday night we'll obviously do more drops related to football in another UNC football show over the next you know a couple weeks as well as things start to develop and things start to change so AJ appreciate it on this one good stuff on the on this quick edition of the UNC football show which I think is good we do a lot of these they're like 45 minutes to an hour offseason content trying to go a little bit shorter quick hitting stuff especially with it drop so I think this one fits in nicely with that I've been Jacob turner He's been Andrew Jones appreciate you guys watching as always make sure you head on over to Tar hr.com 833 a month to sign up links in the description below come join our awesome community over there also helps support everything we do over here including our YouTube channel so if you want to support guys come sign up and you also get a ton of you know extra content and inside or information for doing it so everybody wins in that situation thanks for watching make sure you like the video below subscribe tell your friends about us as well trying to you know continue to grow as an organization and uh we'll see you guys next time thanks thanks