Game Week Player Interviews: Special Teams Trio

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — After receiving high praise from head coach Bill Belichick in his press conference following Saturday night’s victory at Charlotte, it was the North Carolina specialists’ time to shine in Tuesday afternoon’s press conference from the Kenan Football Center. Senior punter Tom Maginness, redshirt-senior long snapper Spencer Triplett and graduate-transfer kicker Rece Verhoff fielded questions from reporters about a part of the game that’s often overlooked–and what it’s like playing for a coach as detail-obsessed as Belichick.

Watch those complete interviews below and read some noteworthy excerpts … 

Tom Maginness

“He knows the shape of a good punt, the shape of a shank, he knows where to put returners. He’s got so much to worry about in other phases, but he just thinks of everything. It’s really cool…

“He just wants the best out of me and he wants the best out of all the players. We talked and I said ‘I’m really valuable as a roll out guy.’ If he finds that as one of my biggest strengths, he’s gonna set up the formation to allow me to do that…

“He just thinks of everything–practice is set up harder than in the game which is a good thing. They give you the hardest looks, the best rushes, so I know that when I can go out on Saturday, if I see a five- or six-man rush I know what I’ve got to do, just stuff like that. He thinks of every situation, so I know when I go out there on Saturday, I know I’ve faced everything that I’m going to face and it’s not a surprise.”

Spencer Triplett

“With long snapping, I take a huge pride in it, because it’s a really unseen part of the game. Usually, when a punt comes on, and Tom can attest, everybody is usually going to get the concessions. They’re on their phone, no one’s paying attention to it. But for us, it’s a huge part of our game, because that’s all we do. And so I put a lot of passion into what I do, in perfecting what my craft is, whether it’s snapping, blocking and having Tom as the punter, it’s been great because we work with each other to figure out what’s good for each other, where he wants the ball, where he’s standing, where I need to snap it for him. So I take a lot of pride in long snapping as a whole…

“This staff definitely puts a lot more responsibilities on us. They’re treating us like pros, and they’re expecting us to handle ourselves like pros. So they’re encouraging us to always do scouting reports on our own, figure out what our potential match ups are going to be for the week, get an idea of what we’re going to see and move into practice, with that information and trying to prepare the best way. And it’s honestly been a lot more beneficial, because in the past, it really wasn’t encouraged as much. It’s like this is what pros are going to do, so if you want to get to that level, you’ve got to get used to it now.”

Rece Verhoff

“I would say I’m good within like 60 (yards). I’m not saying I’m going to make every kick from 60, but I’m saying it’s like, I’m comfortable through there…

“For a righty kicker, you probably want the left hash because you can stay open a little bit more and get downfield while with the right hash, a kicker is kind of cut off a little bit, so it’s hard to get to your target as much…

“It means a lot because to know that your head coach is thinking about special teams all the time, and that’s a part of the game that some people don’t always look into because it’s just not as looked at. But it’s awesome, because Belichick will talk to me at times, and there would be things I didn’t even think of as special teams on the field. And it’s great, because the knowledge he gives me is amazing.”