EVERETT WITHERS
Listen to Audio (9:05)
Opening remarks:
“Really proud of this football team and the way they came and played today. Obviously, we won the turnover battle, 5-1, so that was a big emphasis this week of ball security and taking care of the ball. We won the explosive play battle, which was a big part of what we wanted to do. We were able to run the football today – again another emphasis this week. And I think our kids really focused in on this week playing as good as they could play. We talked about commitment to each other on this football team and I think these guys committed to each other and I think the guys committed to each other. We didn’t play a totally clean ballgame today, obviously – I think we’ve got some things we can correct and get better on. I’m really proud of this football team.”
On Bryn Renner’s play:
“He was efficient, he didn’t turn [the ball] over, [and] had his best passing game since he’s been here. He’s able to turn around and hand it off to some pretty good ‘backs and not turn it over. That’s a pretty efficient day for a quarterback.”
On forcing turnovers:
“I think our coaches on defense did a great job of studying their offense – their passing game especially with splits and alignments. I felt like this week our secondary and linebackers had the best week of practice of just knowing what was coming at them. I think our kids are really starting to mature and grow up.”
On early turnovers:
“It’s important always to make turnovers. You want to make plays early in the ballgame so you can gain some momentum. I think the turnovers were big momentum pushes for our team. I really felt like once we got the turnovers, we got into the flow of the game.
“It’s a mindset about creating turnovers, not turning it over and then when you get an opportunity to get a turnover, scoring off of those turnovers. We have 28 points off turnovers and I think that’s huge. That shows to me a step and growth of this football team.”
BRYN RENNER
Listen to Audio (4:23)
On the players only meeting this week:
“I felt like we just need to come together as a team. It really wasn’t just me and Kevin [Reddick] – I think a couple of the seniors said some things that really helped this team grow as a team and that definitely paid off today. I think we’re coming together as a team so that’s good.”
On his performance today:
“I think the offensive line protected, Gio [Bernard] ran the ball great, Ryan [Houston] ran the ball great, A.J. [Blue] ran the ball great, and the receivers made great catches. Ultimately as the quarterback, you just have to get the ball out of your hands be the point guard. And I think that’s what I tried to do today. But [the offense] and the defense played great – we played an all-around great game.”
GIO BERNARD
Listen to Audio (2:39)
On leaving the game with an ankle injury:
“I’m good. It happened in slow motion and that’s kind of something that you don’t really want to happen in a game. It was just the way I fell and it didn’t feel right at first but I started jogging around and got the ankle taped. I’m fine and I’m ready to go. I told the coaches ‘I’m ready, I’m fine’ and I showed them I could still cut on the sidelines.”
On the team’s performance today:
“I think it was a matter of the entire week of practice. I think we had a great week of practice.
“After one of the team meetings we had, Bryn and [Reddick] told all our coaches to get out and it was like a team meeting. I think that at that point there, everybody knew that they had to do their job that day and everybody did a great job today.
“I think everybody had an amazing game. O-line had a great game – put up for Bryn, put up for me, and put up two other scores by running backs. I think it was a great game overall.”
ZACH BROWN
Listen to Audio (5:08)
What was the mindset coming into the game:
“The mindset coming in was to set the tone. Coach said it’s going to be a fight, so we had to come a play on the first drive as a defense and as a team.”
On being on the right side of turnovers:
“It feels good. It was something we were working on in practice and throughout the season. Coach said turnovers were the key to the game.”
DWIGHT JONES
Listen to Audio (2:58)
On taking the pressure off the defense:
“It was finally a change. Throughout the season, the defense has helped us out a lot by trying to get us the ball back. But today, we were able to stay on the field for them and give them a little break. We were fortunate enough to give them a little break.”
On UNC’s success with attacking Wake Forest’s pass defense:
“They have a very good defense. They are very balanced – they can play man or zone [coverage]. We saw that they had a young, red-shirt freshman [cornerback and attacking him] was our goal. Really, whatever they give us, [we were going to take] – if they were going to play deep, we’ll take underneath; if they were going to play underneath, we were going to go deep.”