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#UNC special teams coach Billy Miller press conference on the first day of practice
Jul 30, 2026
#UNC special teams coach Billy Miller press conference on the first day of practice
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0:00
I'm going to ask uh great feedback from
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the players. Um they're working
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extremely hard. They did a great job.
0:05
Obviously with Moses and his staff uh
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all all summer. Uh it looked like
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they're in great condition.
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Uh good first day out there. Obviously
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day one, a lot of stuff to work on,
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technique, fundamentals, communication,
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all this stuff that's going to help us
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be successful throughout the year. But
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our you know, great group core uh group
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of guys. Obviously the specialist group
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uh having all return in spring.
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Um so it doesn't really feel like it's a
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brand new day one. It's really a
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continuation from spring ball. So
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excited to work with those guys and
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obviously uh all the units and all the
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phases and the entire team. So uh with
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that, any questions for you guys?
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>> Let me start out on the offensive
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coordinator Billy Napier.
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It looks like a completely new cast of
0:45
faces in the specialist group aside from
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AJ Horvath. Can you kind of just give us
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a a brief introduction to kind of you
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know, all of the faces that that we'll
0:53
be seeing in the specialist group?
0:54
>> Yes, we got uh Aaron Borrell who
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transferred in um from Baton Rouge,
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Louisiana. We got uh David Green who's
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from High Point, so he's a freshman. We
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got Horvath, obviously. Um Adam Gibbs
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who's from Ireland. We got Roman Wozniak
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uh Wozniak from uh Tampa, who's a
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freshman from Berkeley Prep. And then we
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got obviously Gain who was here last
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year. So, you know, good competition
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amongst the guys, right? So you uh you
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know, we're looking for a starter in
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each of the each of the phases, right?
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So whoever who's going to be our punter,
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who's going to be our kickoff guy, our
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field goal kicker, and obviously our our
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short and long snapper. So, those guys
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know what they have to do on a daily
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basis.
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You know, there's there's no
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gray area. They know they got to perform
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and you know, obviously learn our
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techniques and fundamentals and the
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scheme part of it, but um you know,
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field position's always key in the
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special teams aspect of it, right?
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Whatever gives us the best chance, you
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know, to help the team win, right? So
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whether it's a plus 50 sky punt, I mean
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sure we're down the ball inside the 20,
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right? Or backed up punt, we got to flip
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the field, right? So they know that
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their job is to you know, really flip
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the field, put uh put points on the
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Obviously, it all starts with the snap,
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right? So, the consistency and the
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accuracy from Gainer and Roman would be
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key
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to start the play. Obviously, whoever
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our holder will be,
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we use a bunch of guys here in spring
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time and we go through camp as well. So,
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whoever gives us the best chance for the
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operation to be successful. And then
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obviously, if you're a kicker, you got
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to put the ball through the pipes. So,
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whoever gives us those best chances to
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do that will be the guy.
2:30
Yeah, we had a lot of guys obviously
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take reps in the spring time.
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We'll do the same thing here in training
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camp the first couple weeks to really
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dial in who's going to be the guy.
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There's a lot of guys that wanted to do
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it, right? There's a lot of guys that
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are coming in before practice, catching
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them off the jugs, and then staying
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after catching them off the punter. So,
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you know, still taking them off the jugs
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and getting them to warm up. And then
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once you get the live kicks, you're
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dealing with the wind. You know,
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sometimes the jugs can kind of shoot
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through the wind, right? Obviously, you
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know, you'd like every punt to be great
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with the returner's catch.
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But, you know, sometimes they hit a
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short one, sometimes the
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nose of the ball's up, so it's going to
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be a little shorter. Sometimes the nose
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is going to be tilted, so the ball's
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going to curve left and right at like a
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sharper angle. So, getting those guys
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comfortable back there obviously is is
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our job. Securing the ball is having
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great ball security, making sure we give
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the ball to the offense at the end of
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the play.
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But, there's a bunch of guys that are
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back there working and I'm really
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excited to work with those guys, too.
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>> I'm good.
3:53
What is his vibe working with Bill Walsh
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in terms of
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his interest
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and his knowledge
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of special teams?
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I suspect that's probably
4:06
something that
4:07
>> Yeah, it's great, right?
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You know, he talks about it in front of
4:10
the whole team how important the kicking
4:11
game is
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to the team's success, right? But for me
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working with him and his knowledge of it
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and obviously he coached in the league
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for a long time before he was a
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defensive coordinator then a head coach.
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So, like he's heavily involved in it and
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we got a staff meeting
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in a couple minutes and the first thing
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we'll do is we'll watch the kicking
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game, right? The whole staff will be in
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there. We'll go over each guy, each
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play, each rep, right? Every detail and
4:34
fundamental. So, there's no stone left
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unturned with coach. Um so, he's heavily
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involved. For me it's an honor to work
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with him
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in that capacity and learn from him
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every day
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and just take tidbits on how I can get
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better each and every day to be a
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special teams coach better coach myself.
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But it's
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it's really fun.
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>> All right, thanks.
4:55
>> What what does the timeline look like
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for you to want to establish some of
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these starting these different
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positions, whether it's kicking,
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punting, whether even if the return sort
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of position. What does the timeline look
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like? Is the earlier the better so that
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they can establish as many reps as
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possible or do you want to take this to
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the halfway point or close to the TCP?
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>> Yeah, I think I think when it it's going
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to play out whenever it plays out,
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right? I think the competition going
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through camp is going to make them both
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the guys work even harder, right? So, if
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you have a clear-cut guy, maybe one guy
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might relax a little bit, but you know,
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we always want to compete here. Whether
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it's in the kicking game or you know,
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the special itself or who's going to be
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our starting right guard or right tackle
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on punt. Doesn't really matter. We want
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to make sure that we're competing each
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and every day. You know, our foot's on
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the gas and making sure that no one
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feels comfortable like if they have the
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job already won.
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So, it could be leading up to our first
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game, it could be a week, you know, when
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it
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plays itself out, it's going to play
5:46
itself out. But you know, we we we got
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to have options back there. Like a coach
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Pitino just said, like guys get injured,
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right? So, having, you know, your your
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backup ready to go or your second
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returner in certain situations, right?
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You just got to have the ability to have
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multiple guys back there, especially at
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returner, right? So, you know, whenever
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it plays out, it'll play out.
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>> Anything else?
6:09
All right, thank you.
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>> Thank you.
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