Mack Brown Wednesday Update: Josh Ezeudu to Start, Importance of Victory Bell and Why David Cutcliffe Fits at Duke

Mack Brown met with the media after Wednesday morning's practice to offer a final update before North Carolina plays host to Duke on Saturday at Kenan Stadium.

Here are the highlights from the conversation:

Opening statement

Excited to be back at home for homecoming; we haven’t been here for three weeks and our crowds have been so good for the first three home games. It’s really rallied our guys but it’s also helped our guys with recruiting; it’s made a huge difference and we’ll have probably near 100 recruits again this weekend for the game. We've got a couple of guys coming in officially and then we’ve got a whole bunch of guys that are going to come in, even spend the night. It’s important.

You go back and look at Duke and talking to the guys about the Victory Bell and the history of the Victory Bell and how seldom we’ve had it — I think they’ve won three in a row and five of the last seven — I told them it’s not a rival until we get better. It’s time for us to stand up.

When Duke has played well and not turned the ball over; they’re very well-coached and they’ve got a really good football team. The couple of problems with their losses have been turnovers, but they’re good in the kicking game, they’re very well-coached and they play hard. Since they have been the team to dominate this series lately, I’m sure they’re excited about the game lately.

Are turnovers the key to the game?

I think so. We’ve got to run the ball better; we didn’t’ run the ball very well in the second half, even though we threw it well at Virginia Tech, but you shouldn’t run for 140-something yards in the first half and (27) in the second or whatever it ended up. We’ve got to be more balanced, we’ve got to do a better job up front. We’re going to play (Josh) Ezeudu at left guard, he’s taking Montilus’ place right now and Ed will alternate in and out, but that’s a change in the offensive line for this week. We’ve just got to step up and do a better job up front being physical.

What does David Cutcliffe do that's allowed him to build a solid program at Duke?

David is experienced, he’s smart, he’s tough. He’s the perfect fit at Duke; he loves Duke, he doesn’t want to leave Duke, he won’t ever leave Duke. He’s given them continuity, he knows what he’s doing. To me, he’s the one that sat down with their people and said, ‘Here’s what we have to do to win at Duke, and I want to make this work.’ They decided to keep him, he decided to stay and they all pulled together and they’ve helped their facilities, he knows who he’s recruiting — he’s recruiting a profile for each position because you can tell their guys look really good. Their two defensive ends are as good as anybody — really three — in the country. Their defensive line is very well coached, they're very disciplined in what they do so I just think he’s done a tremendous job there and he’s given Duke football stability, probably, for the first time in many, many years.

Do you have a favorite win over Duke?

We were going over to play Duke and if we won, we were going to the Peach Bowl to play Mississippi State. If we lost, we were going to Hawaii and I’d just met Sally, and she said, ‘We need to lose, man; I’d rather go to Hawaii, wouldn’t that be better?’ I said, ‘No, no; we’re not wanting to lose.’ I think we won the game 31-28, it was really a close game and that’s the one I remember the most.

How do you evaluate your coaches?

You always look at your coaches to see what they’re putting on film. I don’t want to hear them talk; I want to see it. I told them that yesterday, I said, ‘If your guys are doing what you say they’re doing on film, then it’s real; you’re coaching them.’ If you’re saying you’re doing it and they’re not doing it, that’s not coaching — that’s talking. They have to be productive with the guys on video.

The other thing I challenged with the team today, I said, ‘One of the problems is that you guys are on the white team and the gray team aren’t playing consistently well, so we can’t play you and our games are all so close, so we have no depth. So, get worn out during a ballgame because Tomon Fox and Aaron Crawford played, our linebackers are all playing, they’re playing 80 plays. You’re going to be (up and down) if you play 80 plays; you need some rest.’

So, I challenged our coaches and our players, ‘For some of you guys that are on that white team and that gray team, get better, man, and play and help us; get enough with your coach.’ I told the coaches, ‘You’ve got to get him better and the player has to play better so you can trust him and put him in.’

What led to Josh Ezeudu moving from tackle to guard?

He’s the next best guy. He would have been considered the sixth offensive lineman and right now, we don’t have a legit backup center. We don’t have anybody that’s played. When you look at that, he can’t play center, but we felt like he’s the next best guy to go to guard. Kind of like when we had Marcus McKethan early in the season, we said, ‘Who are the best five?’ We thought he would be a better guard — he was the third tackle but he’d be the first guard — so, that’s what we’re trying to do, is put the best guys on the field. Ed’s just been inconsistent; it’s been up and down. He played well early and then it’s just been all over the place, so we’ve got to put E-Z in there and let him have a chance.

Have injuries and a lack of depth caused you to approach practice differently?

We’re doing the same stuff; we’ve cut our times a little bit because guys just get worn down. I could tell this morning, they walked in … they were all there, but I could tell they were walking in a little slow so we had to pick it up today, and I thought they had a really good practice today. They had a lot of energy today.

How is Jonathan Kim handling things since being named starter?

I think he’s doing well. He made all the kicks today and he kicked the ball deep in the end zone again yesterday and today. So far, he’s had a good week.

On the importance of the Victory Bell

You go back and look at the history, Duke is the rival game. It was the last game when I was here, and because the basketball game being the biggest rivalry in, maybe, sports, the football game is important too and it’s really important.

We don’t have many North Carolina guys starting. I told the guys that yesterday, ‘This needs to be really important for you and this university. We didn’t play very well at Wake Forest, we didn’t play well at Appalachian; those are two in-state games that you need to start understanding that, regardless of where you’re from, this game is important to this university. And so is Wake Forest and so is N.C. State and so is Appalachian State.’ So, we need to step up because it’s important to our fans, important to our place and they need to understand that.’

We want to win all the in-state games and that dominates the state in recruiting. So far, we’re 0-2.

Were Noah Ruggles' struggles mostly mental?

I don’t know. He’s done well in practice and that’s why we stayed with him, and I put my arm around him yesterday and said, ‘I’m really sorry. I’m sorry you missed the kick for you, I’m sorry you missed it for us and the fans, but it is what it is. Just make them all in practice and wait for another opportunity. That’s what you do because you still compete every day.’

I even told him, ‘If you need to go talk to somebody about it,’ because it’s a hard thing. It’s a lot of pressure on a young guy to have it down to one kick and miss it. That’s a difficult thing. We’ve told him that we’re going to help him any way he can.

On Garrett Walston's progress

We were impressed with Garrett when we got here; he needed to get stronger. He’s tall, he can run and he’s really got arm-length, so he’s got great ability to get open and catch the ball. We think he has a chance to be even much better; he’s just got to keep getting stronger and keep growing. He’s one of Sam’s favorite targets now, so we’re excited about what Garrett’s done.

Is Duke unique in that they can play an empty backfield and a double slot on consecutive plays?

They can, the two offenses are very similar. David’s got a five-year quarterback that knows what he’s doing — give the credit, he stayed; a lot of them transfer now and he didn’t — he’s made it work and he can run, he can throw. David does a tremendous job offensively, he can keep you off balance, so it’ll be fun to watch he and Jay to go back and forth with each other with the battle on Saturday.

What's the role of Dominique Ross in the defense?

He’s playing SAM more now and we like that because he’s a really good pass-rusher and we’ve got to get more pressure on the passer. That’s one thing we’re doing with him more, is trying to get him in positions where he can play in space and come from out there.

Add us as a preferred source on Google