UNC Game Week: Assistant Coach Interviews Ahead of Richmond’s Visit

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — After playing two games separated by five nights, North Carolina has had a standard week of preparation ahead of a Saturday matchup for the first time during this young college football season.

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The Tar Heels (1-1) meet visiting Richmond (1-1) in two days at Kenan Stadium. UNC assistant coaches Garrick McGee (receivers) and Jamie Collins (inside linebackers) met with reporters on Thursday at Kenan Football Center, before heading out to the team’s afternoon practice session. Watch those interviews in their entirety below, and read some noteworthy excerpts from their comments.

McGee has coached in the Big Ten, SEC and ACC across more than two decades of experience as a college assistant coach, including a head-coaching stop at UAB and offensive coordinator jobs at Illinois, Louisville, Arkansas and Northwestern. Meanwhile, the former All-Pro NFL linebacker Collins is beginning his coaching career here with the Tar Heels under Bill Belichick. He won a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots in 2014, and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2015. In total, Collins played 10 seasons in the NFL.

Garrick McGee

“Well, they’re developing. I think we did a we talked about it in training camp, that maybe Jordan (Shipp) had nine or 10 catches, and that was the most out of everyone in the (receiver) room except Kobe (Paysour). So we have a group that has never really been out there and had the pressure on them. And that’s a part of the process that we’re going through now, not just teaching them how to play and the plays and the techniques. But how to take care of your body, week in and week out, and practice in and practice out. How to function and concentrate throughout the week, because they all are so young.”

“I was fortunate. I went up to New England a few years ago and worked up there for about three weeks or so, and got to watch how (Belichick) went about his business, how he ran his organization. And then when this opportunity came up, I just felt there was a really good opportunity for me to go learn how to be a coach. I’ve been in it a long time, but I wanted to learn from Bill things that I’ve learned. He’s taught me a lot since I’ve been here. He’s a teacher. He’s teaching us — not just me, but us — every day on how to go about coaching the game from day in and day out, and practice in and practice out. So really fortunate to be here and be able to learn from him.”

“I think it’s a lot of different guys coming together, and a lot of them are young. And they have to understand that one penalty, one missed assignment, one dropped ball can stop the drive. And understanding how important every single snap of the game is. And this all starts on the practice field. When you get yourself to a point where you’re practicing and you can execute 10 or 12 plays in a row without anyone making a mistake or dropping the ball, that’s when that carries on to the game. So that’s what we’re working on, just trying to put them together snap by snap.”

Jamie Collins

“The only difference is college and the NFL. I mean, he’s still Bill (Belichick), and that’s what you’re going to get with him — consistency. And that’s what I appreciate the most is just being consistent. As long as somebody’s consistent, then you can’t judge him. You can’t say anything about him. He’s going to give you his best every day, all day. He’s always going to be the same dude. So to me, the difference, it’s just really college and the NFL. Just the rules and stuff like that. But he’s still the same dude. He’s still the same guy. He’s going to give you all he’s got, and he’s going to expect you to give him all you’ve got.”

“I thought about it for like, two seconds. But it was a no-brainer. Because he is the greatest coach, and it would have been no ignorant for me to not accept it. So, yeah, it was very easy. It was very quick. Chopped it up with the wife. It was real quick. But it was an opportunity that I just had to take.”

“It’s more detail. Because when I was playing, I let a lot of skills take over. So I didn’t need every single detail when I was playing. But when you’re coaching, you have to slow it down. You have to break it down. And on this level, some of the guys, they don’t understand certain things. So coaching and playing is very different. And now I’m getting better at the details, breaking down every single thing. That’s something that I’ve done tapped into now with coaching versus playing.”