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#UNC coach Bill Belichick press conference ahead of Saturday's ACC opener at Clemson
Sep 14, 2026
#UNC coach Bill Belichick press conference ahead of Saturday's ACC opener at Clemson
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0:00
All right. So, um, into the ACC and, uh,
0:04
you know, we're hope know we're heading
0:05
into a real, uh, hostile environment
0:07
down there at, uh, Clemson. Um, you
0:10
know, as usual, they, uh, have really
0:13
good football team, a lot of good
0:14
players. Uh, well coached. Um, you know,
0:17
I've known Coach Sweeney a long time. He
0:19
does a really good job with, uh, you
0:20
know, his team, with his players. Uh,
0:23
Coach Allen, Coach Morris, you know, on
0:25
offense and defense. Two very, very
0:27
experienced guys.
0:29
um a lot of experienced coaches on their
0:31
staff that have been at Clemson for um a
0:34
number of years and very familiar either
0:36
played there or you know coach there
0:38
like in coach Morris's case come back uh
0:41
to coach there and so forth. So, um, you
0:44
know, pretty, uh, experienced team. Um,
0:47
couple transfers, but, you know, a lot
0:48
of experienced guys, you know,
0:51
offensively, um, you know, it starts
0:53
with two receivers. Um, you know, Wesco
0:56
More, those guys are really good, as
0:57
good as anybody we'll see all year. Um,
1:00
they're big, they're fast, they're
1:01
really physical. Um, they're hard to
1:03
handle. Um,
1:06
you know, Tate, uh, is, you know, guy
1:09
we, uh, spent some time on last year in
1:11
the recruiting process. Um, really
1:14
athletic kid. Uh, very, very productive.
1:17
Uh, you know, in some of the high
1:19
school, uh, tape that we saw. Um,
1:23
uh, but, you know, I'm sure that he's
1:24
going to be a really good quarterback in
1:26
in the ACC and college football. Um, and
1:30
he's very athletic. Um, hard guy to
1:32
tackle. um has a good arm, can make a
1:34
lot of throws. Um and they're a well
1:37
balanced team. They they mix up the runs
1:40
and the passes pretty good. Um same
1:42
thing on defense. They do a good job
1:44
mixing their fronts, uh pressure. Uh
1:47
they keep you off balance. Um really
1:50
good in the kicking game. Probably one
1:51
of the strongest uh kicking games in the
1:53
AFC ACC. uh with their um you know
1:57
experienced
1:59
um place kickers, punters um and you
2:03
know returners like they just have a lot
2:05
of um you know a lot of experience there
2:08
and so uh we'll have to you know do a
2:11
good job in handling their their kicking
2:14
game. Um you know so big challenge to go
2:18
down to uh go down to Clemson. Um but
2:21
we're excited looking forward to it.
2:22
look forward to getting ready to, you
2:24
know, get on the field and and um, you
2:26
know, turn the page, but um, you know,
2:29
ACC is, you know, start of the ACC
2:32
season for us. So, you know, we'll we'll
2:34
be ready to go.
2:36
>> We start on the white coach, Michael.
2:39
>> Bill, the executive always had another
2:41
pretty good game against East Tennessee.
2:43
When you were recruiting him out of
2:44
Roseville, he didn't have a whole lot of
2:46
big time offers. What did you see in
2:47
him? Um, and what has sort of sparked
2:50
his improvement from last year to this
2:51
year?
2:53
Yeah. Um, you know, he was, uh, a player
2:55
that, uh, you know, coach Rack kind of
2:57
told me about and, um, um, that was a
3:00
great tip. Um, you're right, he didn't
3:02
have a whole lot going on. And I think
3:04
when we came into the picture, you know,
3:05
we didn't have a lot going on either.
3:07
Um, there was very few people in our
3:09
recruiting class that were uh, committed
3:12
to UNCC. And so, we were kind of
3:14
starting after most of the commitments
3:15
had already um,
3:18
um, you know, gone somewhere else. And
3:21
so, um, picking up on players like X.
3:24
Um, but he, you know, was a was a good
3:27
player. Um, a little bit undersized on
3:29
the defensive line. We tried linebacker.
3:31
Um, but ultimately realized that his
3:34
best position was playing with his hand
3:36
down and he's he's very good at it. So,
3:39
he's explosive, he's quick, got a good
3:41
motor, and very instinctive, finds the
3:43
ball, strong tackler. So, you know, he's
3:46
he's been one of our best players. from
3:49
space. Uh when the quarterback switch to
3:52
Tate, how does that impact preparation
3:55
side of the ball?
3:57
>> Um you know, I think in a way they're
3:58
there's they're both similar. Um they
4:00
both uh can run the ball um and have
4:04
they have quarterback runs incorporated
4:06
into their offense. You know, Binu did
4:08
against uh LSU, so we know that they
4:11
will do it with both guys. Um
4:14
um you know, I think that the offense is
4:15
going to be the offense. Um, you know,
4:18
but again, I'm sure that, um, you know,
4:20
whoever they feel most confident with. I
4:22
guess Tate in this case, um, you know,
4:24
that's who we're going to have to be
4:25
ready for. But I I don't think the
4:27
offense is going to change too
4:28
dramatically um, with either player. I'd
4:30
say their skills are, you know, within a
4:33
range of similarity.
4:35
>> Right next to
4:37
>> when you face a young quarterback, what
4:40
are some things you can do to kind of
4:41
make him feel like it and know that
4:43
they're quarterback defensively? play
4:46
good.
4:48
Play good. Look, the big thing with
4:50
Clemson is going to be um obviously
4:52
tackling. Um you know, their runbacks
4:55
run hard, but you know, Moore and Wesco
4:57
get a lot of yards uh after the catch.
4:59
Obviously, Wesco is a returner as well.
5:01
So, um we got to do a good job of
5:03
tackling those guys. They've had some
5:05
explosive plays. Um and um really all
5:09
their skilled players are are pretty
5:10
good. You know, they play a couple of
5:11
different slot receivers. Uh they play a
5:14
couple different running backs. They
5:15
play a couple tight ends, so they have
5:16
multiple people, multiple skilled
5:18
players uh that are that are active and
5:21
roll into their um rotation and I mean
5:25
they're all pretty good and you know
5:26
they wouldn't put them on the field. So
5:28
um but look, West Moore stand out.
5:30
There's no question about that. But I
5:32
think you know tackling will be really
5:33
important for us and you know not giving
5:35
up big plays you know on the home run
5:37
balls to those two guys. Although I
5:39
wouldn't uh slight the other receivers
5:41
like they also have um really a good
5:43
core of of receivers but those two guys
5:45
are you know particularly good
5:48
>> TV in the back
5:51
is facing a quarterback tendency to try
5:54
and get a little more complex on defense
5:56
or secret
6:01
>> yeah again it's it's hard with Clemson
6:04
um they u like kind of similar to TCU
6:08
who, you know, they they attack across
6:10
the field on every play. So, uh, the
6:13
ball could get handed off, the
6:14
quarterback could keep it. Um, or if he
6:17
sees an advantage outside, he can just
6:19
raise up and throw the ball out to the
6:20
perimeter. So, you know, you have to
6:22
defend from sideline to sideline and you
6:24
don't know who's going to get the ball.
6:26
Um, it's a version of a triple option uh
6:28
on a lot of plays. Um, then they run
6:31
some play action where they'll try to
6:32
get the ball down the field. They will
6:34
have a lot of vertical passes, you know,
6:35
seam routes, go routes, double moves,
6:38
things like that. So, they force you to
6:39
defend from the line of scrimmage to the
6:41
goal line, and they force you to defend
6:43
from sideline to sideline a lot of
6:45
plays, or at least from, you know, an
6:47
offtackle type of play over here to the
6:50
sideline over there. So, it's a lot of
6:52
space. So, um it's more than just the
6:54
quarterback. You know, honestly, you
6:55
don't know who's going to get the ball.
6:57
Uh the guy who's going to get it is the
6:58
guy who has the best chance. And if you
7:00
have a lot of guys over here, then it's
7:03
going over there. And if you don't take
7:05
care of the quarterback, he'll pull the
7:06
ball and and run it. So, it's really
7:09
comes down to team defense. Uh,
7:11
everybody kind of doing their job making
7:13
sure that we handle each of the areas
7:15
cuz if we if we don't, then then that's
7:17
where the ball is going to go. And, you
7:19
know, you can shut down one guy, but
7:20
you're not going to be able to shut down
7:22
uh the other ones unless you play good
7:24
team defense across the board.
7:26
>> Right. Hey, but when you're facing a
7:29
quarterback that hasn't put a lot on
7:32
historically, how you know your research
7:33
and prep?
7:36
>> Well, in in this case, I think there's
7:38
plenty of evidence of in the first two
7:40
games, you know, against LSU and Georgia
7:41
Southern. Um, you know, it wasn't a
7:43
situation like uh we had at TCU, we were
7:46
going back to watching Connecticut film,
7:48
you know, on Craig. um we can actually
7:50
see him running and that's the hard
7:51
thing is when you see a guy run at a
7:53
different offense,
7:55
how much of the offense is going to be
7:57
uh car go with that quarterback and how
7:58
much of it isn't. In this case, um I
8:01
think that you know he's going to
8:03
continue to run and improve uh his
8:05
execution on the Clemson offense. That's
8:07
why they got him in there and you know
8:09
what what we can see is what they've
8:11
done. I'm sure they'll add new things.
8:13
I'm sure that they'll put some wrinkles
8:15
in for us, but you can't predict those.
8:17
Um, but what we have seen him do I think
8:19
is there's there's plenty on tape to
8:21
see.
8:22
>> No, I'll go ahead.
8:22
>> Hey, Adrian Manfield played 16 snaps in
8:25
a decency state. How would you assess
8:26
just where he's at right now?
8:29
>> You know, I thought he played well. Um,
8:30
you know, we ended up getting Alvarez in
8:32
there for, you know, a few snaps, but,
8:34
you know, I think that's a really, you
8:36
know, healthy situation on the offensive
8:38
line. Um, we've got to continue to build
8:40
our depth there. And, um, so, you know,
8:42
Aiden will he'll he'll play a lot for us
8:44
and, you know, he's one of our better
8:46
players. So, um, you know, but we need
8:47
to try to build that depth, um, across
8:50
the board. So, we got a little bit of a
8:51
chance to do that with with Alvarez, uh,
8:53
last week.
8:54
>> On the left side, coach, Bill, Clemson
8:57
was the class of this league for for a
8:59
long stretch. You've led an organization
9:01
that's been at the top for a long time.
9:04
What are the key factors in getting a
9:06
program or an organization to be good
9:09
and stay good for the long haul as
9:10
opposed to company?
9:14
>> Yeah. Well, again, my perspective on
9:16
Clemson has come from, you know, from
9:18
the NFL. Uh, and I spent many, uh, many
9:21
spring days at Clemson, uh, looking at,
9:24
you know, at their at their great
9:25
players, the great players that have
9:26
come out of there in that program. So,
9:28
you know, I think David does a great job
9:30
of of building the program, caring for
9:32
his players. Uh, they have um a great
9:35
tradition, you know, going going all the
9:37
way back. I mean, they the Frank Howard
9:40
and um
9:42
uh you know, I mean, back, you know, a
9:45
long time uh at the Giants. I've coached
9:48
a lot of players from Clemson. Um you
9:50
know, guys like Terry Canard, Andy
9:52
Hayden, guys like that. So, I'm pretty
9:54
familiar with that whole, you know, how
9:56
important football is at Clemson and how
9:58
important it is, um you know, to more
10:00
recent players, guys like Christian
10:02
Wilkins and, uh guys like that that have
10:04
come out of there that have been, you
10:05
know, really good players. So, um, you
10:08
know, Coach Sweeny's done a great job.
10:10
Like I said, I've known him a long time.
10:11
I think he's one of the, um, the guy
10:14
really cares about the game, cares about
10:15
his players, uh, and, you know, cares
10:18
about doing the right thing. I mean,
10:19
obviously winning at the top of the
10:21
list, but doing it the right way and
10:23
making sure that his players get a good
10:24
education that they're ready to go into
10:27
the next step, whether it's in the NFL
10:29
or in life. And, um,
10:32
you know, all the kids have come out of
10:34
there, I've been really impressed with
10:35
it. So I think that speaks a lot of the
10:36
way he runs the program.
10:38
>> On the right corner Bill, um Clemson's,
10:42
you know, one of the signature
10:43
environments in in college football, you
10:45
know, how excited are you with kind of
10:48
experience that and how are you also
10:49
preparing your players to play that kind
10:51
of environment?
10:54
>> Um yeah, I mean we've, you know, that's
10:56
what it is when you go on the road. You
10:57
got to be ready for, you know, a hostile
10:59
environment. Um I'm sure we'll get
11:02
plenty of it. Um, we've experienced it
11:04
before. I've experienced it before. Um,
11:07
you know, there's crowd noise situations
11:09
on offense you have to be ready for and
11:11
you got to bring your own energy and
11:13
they're going to have us outnumbered in
11:14
the stands. Pretty sure of that.
11:17
>> On the left, coach second, Billy Edwards
11:21
completed passes eight different past on
11:23
Saturday. Were there signs during camp
11:25
that he had done a good job over the
11:27
summer?
11:32
Um, yeah, and and more honestly, you
11:35
know, I mean, we we had a lot of uh
11:37
competition at the receiver, tight end,
11:39
and running back position. So, you know,
11:41
the quarterback's had an opportunity to
11:42
throw to a lot of guys, but, you know,
11:44
his his job is to throw the ball to the
11:45
guy that's open and the guy that is the
11:48
proper read on the play for him to go
11:49
to. It's not, you know, you know, pick
11:51
out one guy and throw the ball to him,
11:53
you know, even though there's four guys
11:54
on him. I I mean, that's not what we're
11:56
trying to do. So, a lot of times the D
11:58
the defense dictates uh where the
12:00
quarterback should where his eye should
12:02
go, what part of the field it should go,
12:04
and then you know what combinations he's
12:06
reading. Now, sometimes in man-to-man
12:08
coverage um you know, you have two or
12:10
three matchups in man-to-man coverage,
12:12
and quarterback would take the best one
12:14
based on the the play and the leverage
12:16
of the defender and the matchup and so
12:18
forth. But um you know otherwise
12:21
especially in zone coverages you know
12:22
the quarterback's reading the the
12:24
pattern and how it how it matches up
12:26
against uh different different zones and
12:29
you know want to try to attack the area
12:30
of the field that's most vulnerable.
12:32
>> He's done a good job then the right
12:37
areas you see the offensive line
12:38
progress against East Tennessee and are
12:40
they coming along together? All these
12:42
new guys have come together here. they
12:43
come along the chemistry about like you
12:46
want to see two games in.
12:48
>> Well, every game's different. Um so
12:50
it's, you know, we'll see how we do this
12:53
week against Clemson. I mean, they
12:55
they're very good defensively. Um they
12:57
have some different looks. Obviously,
12:58
we're going to be blocking different
12:59
guys. We'll see how we do against them.
13:01
You know, we were able to get the ball
13:02
outside against East Tennessee. Um
13:05
several times, you know, for some pretty
13:07
clean plays, pretty clean yardage out
13:09
there. Um, some of it was running,
13:12
couple of times it was in the passing
13:13
game, you know, like we hit Hall down
13:16
the sideline for that first touchdown
13:18
when they were caught him in a blitz.
13:19
So, it just, you know, if those players
13:23
are available, we'll run them. If
13:24
they're not, then, you know, we'll we'll
13:26
run something else. So, we'll just have
13:28
to see how it goes. But again, it's a
13:29
new week, a new new challenge. And, you
13:33
know, we're going to have try to have
13:34
our guys ready to go. But the East
13:36
Tennessee game is not going to carry
13:37
over to the Clemson game, you know, any
13:39
more than the TCU game carried over to
13:40
the East Tennessee game. It's it's
13:42
different players. It's different scheme
13:44
and the game plan will be a little bit
13:45
different.
13:46
>> Follow. Do you have a Are you getting a
13:48
good feel about what you have up there
13:50
about?
13:52
>> Yeah, I mean those guys have played a
13:53
lot of snaps together. Um, you know,
13:56
Alvarez played a little bit more uh last
13:58
week, but we, you know, we need to
14:00
continue to build our depth there. Um,
14:02
you know, I'd love to be able to play
14:03
the same five linemen, you know,
14:05
throughout the entire year for every
14:06
snap. Um, I don't know how realistic
14:10
that is. Uh, you know, you don't see
14:12
that happen, um, hardly at all in the
14:14
NFL and probably not too much in college
14:16
football either. You know, sooner or
14:18
later you need to have other guys um,
14:20
step in and fill those roles. So, you
14:22
know, we want to make sure we're ready
14:23
for that. But if we can keep the same
14:25
group together out there as much as
14:26
possible, that would be great.
14:28
>> Right behind you, Brian.
14:30
>> Hey, Bill. I just wonder if you had an
14:31
update on Steve's status or the timeline
14:33
for when he might come back.
14:35
>> Again, I think Brandon already covered
14:36
that.
14:36
>> Um, and I want to ask you, you obviously
14:38
had a lot to deal with in the offseason
14:41
with the investigation, Michael, your
14:43
son, and then also the trip to to
14:45
Ireland and coming back. It feels like
14:47
the team has has, you know, played well
14:49
obviously in Ireland, played well that
14:51
year. How do you think that the team has
14:52
sort of handled everything including,
14:54
you know, a long trip overseas to start
14:56
the season?
15:01
Um,
15:03
yeah. I mean, look, every day is, you
15:05
know, has its own challenges and every
15:06
day is an opportunity. So, we try to
15:08
make the most of that every day, whether
15:10
it's a a game day, a practice day, a
15:12
training day, uh, weightlifting day, a
15:15
conditioning day, uh, whatever it is.
15:17
So, there's been a lot of days that have
15:20
been through that process. They've
15:22
looked differently and we've been in
15:24
different gear for different practice
15:26
sessions and we've met and we've walked
15:29
through and we've lifted and we've run
15:31
and we've played and so just try to take
15:34
advantage of every opportunity that
15:35
comes along. Like I don't know what else
15:37
to say. It's not one thing but you know
15:40
each day is is an opportunity and you
15:44
know fans are only out there for one
15:46
day. You know, there's six other days in
15:49
the training camp and and a lot of
15:51
spring practices, a lot of training days
15:52
in June and PRP sessions and all that
15:55
that, you know, nobody's out there for
15:56
except the guys that are doing it. So,
15:58
you know, that's where you make the most
15:59
progress progress.
16:01
>> Second ruin right here.
16:04
Clemson's opener was at LSU in a really
16:06
difficult situation and they were, you
16:08
know, they lost in a lot of last year.
16:11
Their second game, lightning delay,
16:13
quarterback gets hurt. hasn't really
16:15
been the smoothest of what I also been.
16:16
I'm curious when you come up there there
16:18
is film on quarterback in general when
16:20
you're scouting Clemson and they've had
16:22
this kind of odd start to new offensive
16:25
coordinator. Is it a trickier process to
16:27
kind of get that hand on what they are?
16:28
It's not like they had two just
16:30
straightforward games to start the
16:31
season.
16:33
>> All right. Well, I mean the information
16:35
is what it is. We can't do anything
16:36
about it. Um, we have what we have and
16:39
we'll, you know, do the best we can to
16:40
try to figure out what what we think
16:42
they'll do against us and how we need to
16:44
play against them. So, we can't we can't
16:46
change the information.
16:48
>> The last one here, Spencer, what has
16:50
Jaylen McGill what kind of look has he
16:52
offered that's allowed him to to earn as
16:53
much playing time as he has two games?
16:57
>> Um, you know, Jax's been really
16:58
consistent. Um, he's he's a tough
17:02
player. He's hard-nosed. Um, he's tough.
17:04
He's got good ball security. Um, I he
17:07
plays with a lot of passion. He's he's
17:08
hard guy to bring down. Um, he's young
17:11
and he continues to get better. There's,
17:13
you know, he's learned how to, I think,
17:14
use his his speed and his power, um, you
17:19
know, more to his advantage. Um, you
17:21
know, I think he just was able to outrun
17:23
and overpower a lot of guys, you know,
17:25
in high school. Um, here, you know,
17:27
playing fields a little bit more level
17:28
and he's learned how to, you know, set
17:30
up his blockers, um, how to run with
17:33
more consistency. Um, but he's very
17:36
focused. Um, he's a hardworking kid. I
17:38
really like him. I mean, he's he doesn't
17:40
say a lot, but you know, he's he's all
17:43
business. You know, he comes to work
17:44
every day and um I've been very
17:46
impressed with that. You know, for his
17:48
age, he's he's a mature football player,
17:51
and um that's it's been really
17:53
impressive.
17:55
>> Thanks, everybody. Okay.
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