Brown says coaches "all over" Heels in Tuesday's practice; looking to cut penalties, excited for primetime kick vs. Miami

He says he'll save his emotions for after Saturday night's game

Mack Brown met with the media after Wednesday's practice for his final update before Saturday's home-opener vs. Miami. 

As for the only injury update, defensive back Trey Morrison practiced on Wednesday, but remains questionable after suffering an injury to an "upper extremity" early in the victory over South Carolna.

Here are the highlights from the conversation.

On this week's practices...

I thought yesterday's practice was OK; I thought today’s practice was really good. They were intense, they got after each other and they had the attitude today that we need on Saturday.

On coaching his team harder after a win as opposed to a loss...

We got all over them yesterday because I thought it was OK. You should be so excited about this weekend’s game, every week that you play that you come out an practice like it’s game-speed. Yesterday, some did and some didn’t. I thought our big guys on offense, they were the worst to me of the group. I thought they’d have so much confidence after Saturday and I didn’t see that yesterday; today I did, they all came out and did a great job.

That’s one of the biggest wins they’ve had in the past couple of years, so you’ve got ot learn how to win. Obviously, losing is losing and it’s different. You’ve got to pick them up after a loss but after a win, you can coach them hard and we’re coaching them really hard. 

On whether he and the staff take a different approach with this game than the first...

Only the goals at the end. This is the first game in the Coastal; obviously to win the Coastal, you don’t need to lose any games in the coastal. Our first priority was to win the first game; we were able to do that, that was our first goal. Secondly, it’s to beat all the in-state team; that doesn’t affect this week. Thirdly, it’s to win the Coastal; that affects this week. They know that’s in their list of goals.

On special teams changes Saturday...

We’ve changed a lot of personnel on special teams because we were so thin with our suspensions and our injuries last week and some guys didn’t play very well and that was their opportunity, so we’re going to put some more different guys —older guys, more experienced guys there.

It’ll be cooler on Saturday night than it was last week so you can also put the Dominique Rosses, the Myles Dorns and Myles Wolfolk, you can put those guys on special teams now that you can more than you could last week, and especially a (Chazz) Surratt and )(Jeremiah) Gemmell because you had no linebackers. We feel like special teams will be a whole lot better this week and they need to be because Miami is so fast.

You’d like for your younger guys to be able to help with it, but this special teams this weekend will be as good as any we see all year, so it’s really important that we pick it up.

On his other focus in practice this week...

Penalties. We had 10 penalties Saturday and you just can have 10 penalties; I cant remember a team that we’ve coached that had 10 penalties. I think South Carolina had nine, so they helped us. We’ve got to play a cleaner game from the standpoint of penalties. We turned a couple in that you always look at that we thought maybe were on the edge, but if they’re called, they’re penalties.

We can’t give up the number of yards and field position in the kicking game that we did and win Saturday and we can’t have 10 penalties and win.

On how coaches are working to clean up penalties...

Oh my gosh, we’ve had ACC officials here. Every day we call out the penalties during practice to try to make them aware that you can’t do that. Every day, we talk about it in the staff meeting; we have the list. We are doing everything that we can do and I asked the coaches, ‘Come on, man. That’s your job. Why do we have a receiver in motion? It makes no sense to me; we have no snap count, so move when the ball moves.’ I think some of them were just anxious the first game.

On the value of players sharing intimate details of their life in preseason meetings...

I really feel like in the preseason meetings where everybody told their life story, it let us all understand better at a faster pace. You can imagine, you’re coming in and so many times when the new coach comes in, they say, ‘It takes two or three years to get everybody to know each other.’ Well, we don’t have two or three years anymore; it’s not fair to the seniors.

We felt like that the only way for us to know each other is for guys to get up, say who they are and what happened in their life and who were the people in their lives that changed their lives and respect (in their) lives. I’m telling you now, there were some wonderful stories, heartbreaking stories, but these kids are incredible kids, some of them to overcome what they’ve overcome. For them to stand up there and say those things to us, it just made us as coaches want to get up there and say things we wouldn’t have told them either.

 I really felt like it’s made a huge difference in communications and trust and respect, because now that I’ve seen what you’ve gone through, I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to coach him differently. I need to pick him up, I need to help him because he’s been beaten down.’

On his relationship with Manny Diaz after Diaz worked for him at Texas...

Yes, I helped Manny with Coach (Mark) Richt when he called for the job. I did a couple of their ballgames, so I sat down with Manny and talked to him and of course I see him all the time and love his wife and he’s got three great children, three young boys. He is perfect for Miami. I mean, he grew up there, he loves Miami, his dad was the mayor; he was there when Miami was the Miami that we all know, and he’ll want to get them back to that.

He knows all the high school coaches there because he coached at Florida State and even recruited Miami when he was at N.C. State with Chuck Amato. I don’t think there can be a better choice to replace Mark Richt than Manny Diaz. I think he’ll be a huge hit there in time.

On whether firing Diaz affected their relationship...

It didn'tbecause it wasn’t about him. We weren’t as good and I had three older coaches in there, and things weren’t working; I could have fired all of them, very honestly. We weren’t playing good defense so it wasn’t him, it was just the timing and he understood that. Manny is a professional and he’s very good, and we’ve moved way beyond that.

His thoughts on Hurricane Dorian's impact on the Bahamas, where he owned a home until recently...

We sold it in early July and I hate it so much. It was Marsh Harbour, Baker's Bay; it was right there where it’s a mess and there’s so many great Bahamian friends that are down there, and Sally and I just pray for them every night that they’re all safe and OK because the communication is not good. We’ve tried to get to some of our friends and it’s just hard right now to get information, so thoughts and prayers. Those things are tough.

On whether coaches have talked with players whose families could be affected by Hurricane Dorian..

We have and I think a lot of the parents will probably leave, evacuate and come over for the game and stay here for the weekend. It sounds like Friday we’re going to get a bunch of rain and Saturday at game-time it’s supposed to be 72 degrees, so it’s should be perfect. The turf will not be wet.

On Saturday night's atmosphere...

Number one, we want everybody in the seats 30 minutes before the game and I think that’s key because our kids can feel that energy and Miami will feel that energy. Every ticket is gone so that’s fun; the students got 7,000 tickets and there’s a waiting list; high school coaches, there’s a waiting list. That’s fun, that ‘s the way it should be.

Secondly, every feeling that I get is there’s a lot of energy and people are pumped about the game and they know when there’s been big games here, they can make a difference and we’re planning on doing that. Bubba (Cunningham) and Clint Gwaltney and Rick Steinbacher and their groups have worked really, really hard to make the experience better. I want to get it so its’ a sellout and people come to see us and enjoy the experience, regardless of who we’re playing. That’s what want to to get it to; it shouldn’t have to be a Miami to fill it up, I want it full all the time and it’s full because of us.

On whether he'll be emotional when he takes the field at Kenan Stadium on Saturday night...

I'll cry after we win. I really don’t think so; it was pretty surreal when Sally and I came back and walked across the field. There were a lot of thoughts and memories, and I didn’t remember the early games; I remembered the late ones, so that was a lot better.

This is not about me; this is about these kids winning and this gives them another chance to take a huge step against a really talented team. I think Miami will be as talented as anybody we play other than Clemson, and in some ways, some positions, they’re as talented as Clemson. This is a real test for us at home just to see if we have a real chance at home or to see if we’re still growing.

On how he plans to utilize Cam'Ron Kelly...

He’s trying to work him in all three. He’ll obviously have an impact on special teams, but he and Don Chapman are both playing safety and corner and we’re moving them around. We just don’t have enough guys back there right now to lock anybody in for just one position, and when Trey (Morrison) got hurt and Patrice (Rene) was already out, that put us in a real bind.

I’ll give Greg Ross a lot of credit. We had Trey Morrison covering (Bryan) Edwards all over the field; Greg had to go do that. Greg was a guy that got picked on some last year and he played really well on Saturday, so credit to him and Surratt and Gemmel and those guys who had never been out there in those positions and a credit that they didn’t panic. I thought that was good; they showed confidence and when somebody got hurt, they just moved on and that’s what you’ve got to do.

On the return of linebacker Dominique Ross...

We’re really working at it because Dominique is such a great pass rusher, too — he’s one of our best — so we’re looking at different packages. Jay (Bateman) does a really good job of getting the best guys on the field at the right time to get the pressure that we need. THey’re working really hard with those guys and hopefully Surratt and Gemmel, without any experience, will just get better and better.

On the Miami linebackers...

Probably the best in the country; it and Clemson’s, again, are the best in the country. It’s so unique; Manny and Coach Richt recruited those two guys and I called their games and I watched them and I said they’re maybe the best combination of linebackers in the country and they are. They’re the spirit, they make plays all over the field, they’re tough and they’re smart. Very uniquely, both of them could have left and gone to the Draft last year and both of them decided to stay. They’re the kingpins of that team, I think, but specifically that defense.