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#UNC special teams coach Billy Miller press conference after one week of spring practice
Apr 7, 2026
#UNC special teams coach Billy Miller press conference after one week of spring practice
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guys we brought in this year in our
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recruiting class in the portal. So
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excited for spring ball uh practice
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number seven today. So ready to get on
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the grass and have a great day.
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>> Brian, go ahead. Uh I don't know if you
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can speak to this, but last year you
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were the assistant special teams coach
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and now the the head special teams
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coach.
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>> Yeah, for me titles uh it is what it is.
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I come to work every day to do my best.
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Um you know, get ready the guys for
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practice or whatever it may be on and
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off the field in the meeting rooms, make
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sure we're teaching stuff. um ready to
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install so we can go out and have a
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great practice.
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>> You're um sorry you're last year you
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obviously had a pretty good punter and
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kicker. Um I think you're replacing both
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of those guys. What have you seen
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particularly a kicking department such
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an important part of the game especially
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you guys play a lot of close games?
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>> Yeah, we brought in a bunch of guys are
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in the room right now. Bunch of
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specialists. Uh they're all working hard
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uh competing every day um to get ready
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to play in the fall. You know, their
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biggest job is to go out there today,
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have a great practice, and then we'll
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take it from there.
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>> Far left here.
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>> Can I ask my question?
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>> Oh, jump. Go ahead, Rob.
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>> Billy, what were kind of your biggest
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learning lessons from last year and then
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going into to year two with this
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program?
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>> Yeah. The biggest thing for me is I came
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from the high school level, right? So,
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the last time I was in college football
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was in 2011. So, the landscape changed a
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lot since since then. So just you know
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getting familiar with that and obviously
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had the new landscape of college
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football and adjusting and um getting
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ready for this year.
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>> Yeah. How have you kind of adjusted that
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approach going into year two and how are
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how's the comfort level so to speak?
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>> Yeah, it's good. I you know just
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learning from last year all the
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experiences obviously watching a lot of
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game tape uh studying different
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opponents um what other people are doing
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you know in college football now with
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their schemes and fundamentals and stuff
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like that. So, just really taking those,
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you know, lessons away and getting ready
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for this year.
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>> Front row, far right. Mike,
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>> uh, Bill is sort of building off Rod's
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question. What did you learn from coach
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Creeper, um, from him being here last
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year? Have you kept some of the things
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that he installed last year as sort of
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continuity coming into spring?
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>> Yeah, Mike had a lot of experience
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obviously coaching special teams in the
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league. Um, so we bounce ideas off each
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other all the time. So, um, learned some
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stuff and definitely will take some of
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the stuff that I did learn, uh, I'm
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going for it.
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back row middle
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people understand how good special teams
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are.
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>> Yeah, I mean we play for coach Bichc. We
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work for coach Bichc. So obviously, you
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know, there's a big emphasis in it.
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Obviously, you know, he coached one of
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the greatest special teams players of
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all time and Slater, right? So, we
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talked to guys about that, adding value
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to themselves no matter what position
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they play, whether they're a receiver, a
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DB, you know, whatever it may be. Uh
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having a role in a kicking game will
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help you uh add value to yourself. Do
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you have a lot of stars constantly on
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the special teams to kind of
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have that reserve possible?
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>> No, we use, you know, we have 105 guys
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on the roster, right? We're going to use
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uh the best players in each position to
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to help the team win and be successful.
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So, you know, whoever that is, um, you
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know, we'll go through the year in
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spring ball and and see who we'll be in
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and different teams and first team,
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second group, doesn't matter. So, it's
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kind of really figuring out who those
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guys will be, having guys compete day in
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and day out, and then we'll plug and
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play.
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>> From row on the right, though,
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>> going off that a little bit, how much
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were you involved in some of the
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transfer potential acquisitions at the
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time and and watching film, seeing how
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they could potentially impact special
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teams as well?
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>> Yeah, so a lot of it is watching, you
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know, what they do offense and
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defensively as well, right? And and and
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in the kicking game. So, you know, being
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able to identify strength and
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weaknesses, how they could correlate to
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the kicking game, you know, so there is
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an emphasis on that when we're
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evaluating players.
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>> Yeah, I guess just kind of following up
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on something um you mentioned earlier
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and um as do you question just um what
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do you learn you feel like you and the
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coaching staff from last season that you
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apply to this season?
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>> Yeah, just really, you know, taking
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advantage of all the you know, the rules
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are different. um from what I learned in
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2011 I was in college but you know
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coming off of last year um getting used
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to college football landscape again and
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then just building off what we did last
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year to help us be more successful this
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year.
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>> Anybody else
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mentioned just how young the team is on
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special teams especially you probably
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have to play a lot of young players.
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Does that change what you can do or or
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how do you get those guys ready to play
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in August when they were in high school
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last year? Yeah, we're going to play the
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best players that, you know, give us the
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best chance to be successful, right?
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Whether they're young or veteran guys,
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you know, our job is to teach them what
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we what we want them to do. Um, and then
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have them go execute it out on the grass
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and then we'll evaluate that. Uh, could
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be a young guy, could be an older guy.
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Again, whoever gives us the best chance
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to be successful
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>> back middle
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special teams is a good place for them
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to remain possibly a starting spot on
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defense. Is that kind of how you
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approach it with some players?
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>> Not really. We kind of just tell them,
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hey, you know, we we need 11 guys on on
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punt or 11 guys on kickoff, whatever it
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may be. Those those best guys that are
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out there, you know, they each have
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different, you know, positive traits
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that will help us be successful, whether
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it's speed, toughness, you know,
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football awareness, situational
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awareness, you know, whatever it may be.
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Those those will be the guys that we put
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out there. Doesn't matter if they're an
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offense or defensive starter.
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>> Thank you all. We'll have players here
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