Mack Brown talks about team's challenges during the open date between Craft's death & losses. #UNC

welcome everybody it's been a u it's been a um very interesting and and

trying couple of weeks uh we went to um Sumpter high school yesterday and and

had the funeral of U Ty craft uh the team and and staff went and it was a a

wonderful funeral with a a huge crowd and it just shows you the impact that that young guy had on on so many

people's lives and I think all of us are here to to have an impact on something

and somebody and uh whether you're here 73 years or 23 um your impact is is

shown by the influence that you have on people's lives more than the amount of

time you spent here um and yesterday it was very very obvious that um he changed

so many lives um I'm proud of the University we have named the um Nutrition Center across from the locker

room the Ty craft Nutrition Center and there is a picture or there is the

naming is up already so Jeremy can get that to you or you can walk back there and and take a picture of it uh the

players ask that we put tyly strong keep swinging signs up going into the stadium

uh for the game home and away so we will carry a sign that says Ty strong keep swinging

um to Virginia this weekend and each player will touch it on the way out to the uh Stadium uh to make sure that his

legacy is one that's remembered much longer than just the players on this team we have a commemorative plaque uh

that explains who he was and and what he went through that will be up at the nutrition center for future players to

look at uh there will be a logo go on the field um with Tyle strong for the

last two home games uh that have been approved by not only the university but

the ACC and then one of the receivers will wear his jersey every day at practice

and then they will decide one player will wear one of the receivers will wear his jersey during uh each of the the

remaining five ball games and it'll be a different player each week and they haven't decided yet how they're going to

determine that but um we talked a lot yesterday about handling grief and

everybody handles it differently and I I think the first thing I'd like to say is it's the second time in my career that

we've lost a player and they were totally different one was in the spring to a a truck accident this one was over

two and a half years and and we didn't get to say goodbye to Cole Pitman and it was very different it was shocking and

it was the day before spring practice and and um just out of out of the blue

and and and then here we are we had 2 and 1/2 years uh and thought Ty would make it and then the last probably 3

weeks um three weeks just he just went downhill so fast it was unbelievable to

see where he was uh walking to a cane to to a wheelchair to bed and and um so

players got to tell him goodbye uh but also the the fact that you're handling

watching your friend um go down at the same time of of trying to be uplifting

for him and he was in every meeting and then he wasn't he was at every practice and then he couldn't come and then they

had a a drive by they had a birthday party and he was good he was in a wheelchair but he was happy and and good

cutting up with the guys and then a week later they had a drive by with a bunch of cars and took a picture with him and

he fell asleep while he was talking to the players so they could tell that it just wasn't good uh so for for them to

handle this emotionally uh over the last month is is something that is really eye

openening and it's a life lesson for sure and then we talked about grieving

yesterday and and that it uh you don't throw it out and you just don't forget

it uh because he was very very important to so many people but what you do is you

um you you it gets lighter as you appreciate the moments and learn from him and um I asked the father in in 2001

why you think we lose great young people and he said maybe if uh when you're

losing great young people it gets our attention and helps us change parts of our lives that need to be changed maybe

we are happier maybe we appreciate things more maybe we know we realize now we don't get to control how much time we

have and that we better enjoy the time we have and they said yesterday that uh

as you grieve for a long period of time it does get lighter because you have great memories more than the hurt and

the pain that you have with the loss I've also heard from so many people that lost their children uh over the last uh

week and it's um I I will say thoughts and prayers to you that have lost a

child I can't imagine uh I hope and pray every day that I'm buried before Sally

uh before my children or my grandchildren I I do not want to put them down and watching that casket

closed yesterday was really hard I just I can't

imagine so we'll U

um so we're dealing with mental health with players and coaches uh we're dealing with um um

life's lessons for sure I feel like our programs as good as any in the country

off the field now we got to go back and start winning football games and and that's that's part of this this is um uh

we don't talk about Ty to distract that we haven't played well the the last few weeks so um when we start looking at our

our football team it's been the strangest year I think of my career we we start without an offensive line coach

um during the season with four guys that have never started a game before in the offensive line and then all of them get

hurt and then you you get some rhythm with Max Johnson at Minnesota a third quarter and he gets hurt and then you're

playing a third quarterback who didn't go through spring practice that you didn't think you would play until

spring uh but you still get off and and win the first three um and you feel like

you're going pretty well and and then you just have an awful uh day um against James Madison's just unexplainable and

then you come back and you're in four games but you lo you blow a 20o point lead then you you come back and you got a chance at pit in the fourth quarter

and you don't finish and then just an absolutely devastating loss the other day cuz we had it down to at least we we

we dropped touchdown pass to win a game um we we get hit at quarterback when uh

Bryson's beating his guy and he's got a he's 10 yards open in The End Zone on first down on that drive uh they've got

a backup quarterback they're going to have to throw it if if we um take them into to the last Drive of the game um

and then they hand it off probably killing the clock and and score so I mean it's just been a an

unbelievable um string of events here over the last four weekends and and then you um you're walking off the field and

Sally says come here T just died uh and you you take a devastating loss and and

turn it into a discussion about a player that's lost his life and and then Mom asked us to come and and tell you guys

um so so much has been happening uh that we as coaches have to do uh a better job

of making sure that we put them in positions to win at the end and then the players have to help us by making the

plays to win and that's what we've got to do we got to start over um we we've had we had uh the players have been

unbelievable their attitude's been great they practiced like they were undefeated over over the the week as they were

preparing for Ty's funeral um they're they're disciplined we had very few

penalties during the game as few as we've had uh the kicking game was really good we return a punt for a touchdown

kickoffs are better than they've been since we've been here um a say stepped in for Lim Boyd he's kicking off really

really well now and the Ping's gotten better um so there's so many great

things that are happening we've just got to figure out ways to win you you look at Oklahoma State scores with what a minute 14 left and buram yum scores with

10 seconds left you just start looking at games across the country and they're coming down to who makes the plays at

the end and that's what we haven't done for the last three weeks and we've got to do that that that's it we can either

win the last five games or we can lose the last five games and and it's on coaching it's on me we got good enough

we got better coaches than results the last four weeks and we got better players than results the last four weeks

so that's my job to to get us uh not only in positions to win those games but to win those games um as we get uh uh

down here at the end of the season offensively om Marian's got 91 yards Rush in so 99 short of a th000 he's

maybe a couple hundred ahead of where he was last year he had 700 and something about 130 130 ahead of where

he was this time last year uh so he has a chance to finish above the 1500 that

he had last year um so we've got a finish strong um and we've got all of

the offensive linen are healthy for the first time all year uh so everybody should be back and and ready to go um

and and ry's been here now for 3 or 4 weeks so uh we can move forward in the offensive line our protection's better

we're still getting jacobe hit too much but he gets the ball out of his hands quickly we haven't had the sacks we've

had but he's been hit he is doing a better job he's getting better each week and he's doing a better job with his

feet because he made some plays down the stretch against Georgia Tech to to really help us um and then Jordan ship's

gotten better so he's going to start being a bigger Factor and Playmore he's healthy and and and doing a lot of

really good things right now uh defensively we've just got to stop the run we did against Minnesota and and

we've been inconsistent since the first three wins we haven't stopped the Run

consistently um since that point so we've got to do a better job and the other day we had we lost two turnovers

but at the same time we didn't force any we're not forcing turnovers and the teams that are winning are forcing

turnovers and we're staying this close in ball games without forcing turnovers so we've got to stop the run better and

we've got to start forcing turnovers and and protect the ball better as we continue to work through like we said

special teams was the best we've had the other day penalties were the fewest we've had so there's a lot of great

things that are happening but it doesn't show up until it shows up on the scoreboard so we've got to turn it

around and and um players understand it coaches understand it everybody knows exactly where we are and what we're

doing um and and we we've got to get it fixed and we're with a new start this is like a

new start to the season and the guys had they were all Friday Saturday Sunday um

and today so they they've had four days off and Thursday afternoon so really four and a half days off and that's the

most anybody's ever had during a season so it should give them a chance to to

clear their mind uh we're not going to move we're not going to forget about Ty for sure but we are going to move

forward and and um grow with his legacy uh but make sure that that we um we

continue to grow as a team uh Virginia Tony Elliot's done an outstanding job in it's third year they're four and three

they had chances against Clemson the other day uh they've won some really tight games and and done a good job I

love their Young quarterback kandria uh Anthony's a handful he can run it he can throw it he's he's he's spunky he's

confident um but we haven't tackled quarterbacks well that they're athletic and that's what he does does so we're

we're going to have to continue to improve and they've got one of the best receivers in the country with Malachi Fields he's a big 6'4 guy that can uh

he's really a tough matchup uh when you look at it and Jonah sanker a a great

safety he's their leading tackler and he's been a problem for us the the last few years and the last thing I'd like to

say before and I and I have great respect for Virginia and for um for

Coach coach Elliott I me Tony's an outstanding person and they just went

through tragedy handling the loss of three guys and and did it with class and and handled it really well so um going

through what we've been through you just appreciate even more uh somebody that that handled uh the loss of of of young

lives on a team and and worked with the families and their team and and all the

mental health they had to go through I've got a daughter that's a a teacher at Virginia and she was so impressed

with with the with the way Tony handled his his entire thing and the last thing before we open it up for questions uh uh

I want to congratulate Mike Houston on all his success I was sorry to see him leave uh East Carolina yesterday they

made a change actually called him talked to him last night I have great respect for him uh as a as a person and as a

coach he's won everywhere he's been and um he'll go somewhere else and he'll win he's just a great coach and and um I

admire him so much and and want to congratulate him on all of his success and and wish him good luck in his next

venture because we need him in coaching we need we need guys like him around kids

questions open given everything that you guys have been dealing

with Andrew it's a great thought I I haven't thought about it but the open week came at a perfect time if you

obviously um you you don't know um timing I mean we've been I've

been worried about Tye leaving us for the last three weeks because we knew it

it wasn't going to be long and then they got down to two days to two weeks that

that they felt like he would be able to to live um so you're thinking about what

happens if it's Tuesday what do you do do you have to cancel a game do you do you practice do

you not practice when do you have a funeral uh what happens if it's Friday night

we we got a text at 1:30 on on Friday night before the Georgia Tech game that

said he's really having trouble breathing uh we're worried about him making it so I didn't sleep and then I

get up Saturday morning thinking about what if he passes this morning do you tell the team it's going

to be on social media do you not tell the team what's fair do you do you call

Georgia Tech and cancel the game is it safe to have young people playing in a game you so we're talking to our mental

health people and saying what should we do and and then it it um um I think it

was best for everybody involved that he passed during the game so the kids

didn't know it uh and they were told right afterwards with their family and friends and in that locker room where

they could share and talk and and feel things um and then the fact that we

could have the funeral mom was a superstar I mean she she knew what was best and and she set the funeral for

Sunday where we could all go so the guys JP jump on a bus guys that were home for

fall break and it was blessing it was fall break they didn't have class on uh Thursday or Friday so they could go home

and and see their parents um so it it it and then from a football standpoint we

were so banged up it gave us a chance to get healthy um I don't know that clear your mind is

the right term but at at least um grief and and talk to your family

about loss and and loss of life um and then start over so uh I I do think it

it's probably perfect timing I'm not sure we wanted two in the last five games I've never seen that before uh but

this one uh I think in looking back was was the absolute perfect timing and and

again I you you're not supposed to worry about things until they happen when you're trying to figure out when you

know a young person's going to pass and you're trying to figure out all the scenarios that that you got a lot on

your mind you got a lot of thinking about what if this happens what if this happens and you're talking I'm not an

expert in in handling death especially with young people uh so you have to talk

to your mental health people and them to explain to you don't tell them before the game don't do this don't do this do

it this way don't say that word u it's a it's a load so um I do think uh for a

tragic situation um the timing worked out the best that it possibly could with your

experiences and everything you have would you say that it made it more challenging to prepare for the task at

hand the last few weeks not I'm not saying that it got in the way of it but it did it make it more challenging

because it's football then you have this real life thing that's all going on yeah yes there there's no question that uh my

job is to to lead and usually you need leadership when things are tough um

things have been tough for us off the field for four weeks so I need to step up and be a better leader and then you

add the addition of a a tragic loss of a young life losing a person's bad enough

but when you lose a young person and like I said I've been coaching 47 years it's twice that I've been involved in in

losing a child so I never did as an assistant so twice as a head coach um

and I think about the one in 2001 all the time I mean it it that doesn't go away you you can't and when uh I

remember coach Royal um the national championship coach at at Texas he lost

two children and he lost them I think three years apart both in Austin and he

only had three and when Cole pitman's dad walked up and he saw him Coach Royal

said most people don't understand I do I've lost two children and I I thought

and one thing I've learned that I think can help everybody here is that don't go

up to somebody who's lost a child and say I know how you feel if you haven't lost a

child I don't know how you would feel losing a child and I don't want to so

unless you've done it I don't think we're qualified to say that we've done it so um um with

everybody handling things so differently and you worry so much about mental health in our our current state of affairs in our in in America and in our

world um yeah you you worry every day about what's appropriate you you want to

to make sure that you're handling uh this young sick person well like we had

to tell them that he was moving to hospice and we had to tell them what hospice meant and we had to tell them

here's where he is right now and here's where is moving and if and it it's a very difficult thing to say but if you

if you've got something to say to him you probably need to go say it so all those things are very heavy and and you

want to make sure we most of you have children I mean you you want to make sure that you're your young people

um are are being taken care of and at the same time we we had mental health

people upstairs all the time for meetings that they could have with them we uh I talk to the coaches about have

more individual meetings than ever before and talk about football talk about winning talk about the things we

got to get done to do better uh but at the same time uh talk about Ty and talk

about the situation and and talk about uh things that we've got to learn from this and and move

forward that number 13 obviously JJ already had it uh I guess to your understanding how are they going

about gets and all that right now I I don't know um

I think they're just kind of doing it I'll get it tomorrow um I'm trying to see I don't know that Lonnie can talk to

you all about it uh I've talked to Jeremy about the possibility of him talking to you uh because he he is the

closest to the family and the closest to Ty and and it's it's been so hard for

him and he's got young kids I mean so uh one thing I've learned that they uh the

mental health people said that U this triggers death uh triggers different

things for all of us in our minds and uh it goes back to me seeing my brother and

my mother lay there with cancer I mean and I can see it it pops up and and I

remember the last words I said to them and um so it's um uh like I said I had

some calls the other day from people who had lost children that just started crying and said I I know how this Mom

feels you take care of her and um so I I think it's it's just all different so

now the players are trying to um make sure that that we hold his

legacy in place and move forward with it uh but they also have to move on with

their lives and one of the things we have to do I appreciate so much those that gave money to the you fundme for

the Ty craft you few fun because mom had so many bills and this will help her and

and one of the hardest things in in in a loss is that we all talk about it now

and it's fresh and we just had so much attention at the funeral then everybody goes back to

work and then she's by herself so we've all got to make sure

that we move forward with our lives but we don't forget and we make sure that that we take care of her um I didn't JJ

was his closest friend they kind of grew up on seven on seven teams together and they they played against each other in

high school and so they they were buddies so it was an easy um thought for

him to wear the Jersey during the game that wasn't in question and now different guys have worn it during

practice I don't know and we'll let you know uh when we know uh who will wear it

on Saturday uh and JJ tried to speak yesterday and he did okay but it's hard

uh for him to

elaborate that on that specifically and um who are some of the Consultants that you're speaking with and just resources

available to the players yes we um the athletics department does a great job

with uh having mental health support the numbers around all the time it's it's very confidential a young player can go

to mental health and not tell us obviously the conversations are confidential even away from their

parents uh so I I think it's great we are so lucky that Dwight haer runs the

mental health for the Athletics program and he was a two-time captain for me and and he worked with mental health in the

U uh in the NFL uh we have a young guy named Brandon Kennedy who is head of our

our Player Development uh he has had u a lot of work in mental health that he

works with we have a young lady named Simone and she has a staff that works she's an athlete in college and she has

she's working for Dwight um and they're at practice about every day in fact they

were from the time we knew we were going to lose tyly until um they'll they'll be

there tomorrow um they're available at all times and we keep that we have a

thing called Teamworks that we can reach out to the team at every time and we're constantly sending that number out just

so if you if you need it because um these young people have enough pressure anyway then you add

losing four football games on top of it and you lose the negativity you add the negativity and the noise on top of that

with losing a teammate they got a load right now so that's why all of us have to do a great job of staying strong and

stepping up and being fair and being factual still coaching them hard still

discipline them uh uh still being real about we lost somebody and and

uh here's what happens when when that happens moving forward uh but we we want to win football games too we're not

we're sure not saying we are losing because we lost a young person that's that's not that's not the fair way to to

handle life yes in fact uh one of our staff

members said the other day let's be real here now we we all people we got about 30 people in the staff room I

think and somebody said the other day U don't you start ducking meaning the

staff don't don't start ducking grief and and pressure and problems so it's

available too so and and they um it it's good that the the offices are not in

this building so nobody's going to see somebody walking in or walking out and saying what are you doing in there um so

it it's really um uh mental health modern day concerns you every day anyway

but I do think that that uh everybody here is handling everything as well as

we can to make sure that that the mind is healthy moving

forward he still struggling I think so he um he had a check up two weeks

ago I think and and um had to miss some time

uh I think uh chip and and we'd have well we have to ask him I think he has a

procedure in the spring that he's going to have to do and we're kind of getting him through the fall um until we get to

that point but he but he has uh he's missed some meetings because he has to go to appointments but he he's uh he is

one tough sucker now I'm I'm we worry about him and and poly his wife has not

missed practice CU she's going to be out there making sure he acts right um but he's um he never complains

they just had a grandson with uh his young son Jay who left here to go to Mississippi State as

an analyst um but he's um he is he is tough and he is not going to make an

excuse about anything I hear you using this point in

the schedule to to start over to hit the reset button come off the bu um but as

if you as you have mentioned the adversity this team is faced from Randy and Max the tra

Ty um I mean do you in addition to the four game losing streak on the field do

you think this team is equipped to be able to start over given the stuff that

is sort of piled up on top of yeah I do Adam it's a um you know I've said since

the beginning I thought this would be a team that would get better at the end of the year because Coach Collins has come

in with a new defense again um and and I just it's it's obvious she got so many

new pieces on on offense that they'll get better and better and they are getting better it's it's obvious we're

better on offense than we were um three and four weeks ago uh the other thing

that's that's interesting about our lives is uh this team will come out of

this season with more life lessons than probably any team I've ever

had so will that help them more when they're 40 than than winning two more games I don't know you'd like to do both

but they're having to learn how to handle um

injuries inexperience uh death a third

quarterback um trying to figure out coaches are having to figure out how which offense are we now uh how are we

handling this why aren't we stopping the run better why do we get to the end and not finish I mean it's it's uh uh it

it's really um it it it that it's probably a hard

way to say this and make it sound decent but um it's good for all of us to have

to learn how to handle tough stuff and move forward in our lives because we're going to have it and that's what we've told them you'd rather win all the games

but our national championship team probably learned fewer lessons all they did is brag on each other and came out

during the third quarter because they were so good good job that's great oh that's good well that was fun boy

beating them was good yeah I like beating them uh this team's the they're they're really having to dig deep

they're having to learn don't make excuses uh don't point at other people um don't don't um get mad and not try um

they're having to handle real life tough stuff step up and and and go um overcome

negatives and turn them into positives and that's what we say all the time we say in your life to be successful you

got to take negatives and turn them into positives that's absolutely true but

easy to say and hard to do this team's going to have to do that as coaches we have to flip this thing as players we

have to flip this thing and we're close that's the other thing we're close

but as as you you watch college football and I think it'll be this way going forward there's so many teams that are a

lot alike all these games are coming down to the end so the one the coaches

and the players that can figure out how to win the tight games at the end or the ones that are going to be the most

successful and I don't think it'll happen this year but but in our lifetimes I bet you're going to see an

8- win team in the playoffs because people are going to

start losing games it's where everything's getting more like the NFL and coaching does matter that's what

I've told our coaches we it is our responsibility to help our guys get to

the point where we can win the close games and we've done that a lot around here and it's their responsibility to

make the plays when we get them there that that's facts that's just the way it is you get I don't want to put words in

your guys mouth I mean is the team dedicating to finish to Tha like is that

what the season's about now you know it's another great question and

you you got 120 of them some of them didn't know him I mean they got here two

months ago uh so some of them really close to him so I would think everybody's got their own their own

thing and the fact that you touch a a sign that says tyly strong keep swinging

before you go out means that uh you would dedicate it to to him but again

some probably will do it stronger than others because of their relationship with him and I think that's important

his uh he was he was so smart he was a great student uh he wasn't loud uh but

was confident and and there would be things like he'd just say keep swinging

uh and that he wouldn't get in the conversation he'd say if things are bad I keep swinging you're good um and there

would be days he'd have his chemo and he'd be over in the corner throwing up or radiation and he'd be out at practice

and he'd I'd see him slip off and he'd throw up in a corner and I'd say why don't you go back to your room and he'd say no I need to I need to be here and

then he would put his arm around me and say how are you I'm I'm I'm worried about you you okay and I'm thinking are

you kidding me but that was Ty that that's why kids liked him so much and he

he had a a real Knack of making everybody feel like that they were his

best friend cuz he would talk to you and when he was talking to you he would talk to nobody

else so that that would be what he was doing he said his his girlfriend was he was chewing on a ball

and she told him to quit chewing and it wasn't food and he's kind of a smart elic like me he said all he all he would

say and this would be Ty he would say point and then pitch the ball down and

go somewhere else but that that so everybody has a little different story

and and feel with him they've got uh uh his uh favorite food truck is coming

today uh this afternoon in his honor uh so the players can uh eat some food in

his honor out of his food truck so T slappers tongue

slappers and Freddy kitchens had special Donuts he ate with him so I mean he was

just that unique guy that made all of us feel like that we were special Sally adopted him um so and the the you can

imagine when you're that sick the nutritionist just fell in love with him because they had to make sure every

little thing he ate was healthy and so there I mean they feel like they adopted him

and it's funny the U and I I don't hope I don't get in trouble for this but if don't put it out there if I do um the

nutritionist didn't want the kids eating cereal because it had the certain cereals had a lot of sugar and tle liked

cereal so now there's a bunch of cereal up there because T talked Amber our

nutritionist into cereal so when I said I thought you didn't like cereal she said Tyle likes cereal I said okay so

now she'll probably get rid of the cereal yeah we're we're going to keep

his locker and and um I said uh chip we're we're going to um we're going to

keep his presence as much as we can without being awkward so whatever a presence in a

meeting whatever a presence in in the locker room the traveling um that's where the jersey

fits I think think when we lost our our um our young man Cole Pitman at Texas he

was a sophomore we kept his locker uh alive till he graduated till he would

have graduated and we gave the Rings to his his parents um when he graduated um

with with his legacy so and and like you get special shoes and stuff we gave those to mom the other day uh and the

the funeral was just just wonderful I mean it it was some of you were there it's just it it it it grabs your heart

as you're leaving M do you have going to game week

when you talk to the coaches how do get them to find line between being tough enough

to get ready to play this game but also understanding what they do you coaching

yeah we are are and that's where I had the mental health people come in and talk to our staff they talked to they gave uh notes

about what to say and how to say it they sat and answered questions to our staff

uh about and this was when he got really sick how do we handle this how do you

push and and and hug at the same time with this and and where do you go so uh

and we're so direct with our team and these kids are so bright I mean it's a it's a shame that nobody cares they got

the best academics in the ACC and the third best in the country but they're really bright kids so that makes it better for us that

they're smart and they they've got good families and and we send an email to the

families and told the parents that uh on Friday before the Georgia Tech game that

we could lose tily at any time so make sure that you're reaching out to your sons and make sure you see them before

and after the game and make sure that you're you're aware of all this so um

our coaches are trying their best to balance um being themselves I said

coaches you don't change who you are because that's going to look weird for your players so you you go coach them

hard and and then go hug them afterwards and make sure they understand uh because

some are going to be more emotional others it's um one of the hardest thing I've ever had to do is tell them they lost their teammate in that locker room

right after a devastating fourth loss in a row I

mean you know how you're going to tell them to be tough enough with the kids so

they'll play with yeah we meet every day and and and we we do it and I've told

them that that um one thing that I've I've learned in my life is you be honest with people and you tell them exactly

what you think and if they disagree then it's their right to to say I disagree and here's why and I said don't disagree

unless you've put thought into it unless you've researched it unless you've got a better idea I don't I don't want you to

waste my time talking to me unless you've put thought into it I hate somebody saying well I haven't thought about this but well then don't talk to

me about it go think about it I don't want to hear what you hadn't thought about so um so with this AR those are

all great thoughts but that's what we've done as a staff I've said you got to be you um I mean we've got coaches that are

emotional that that maybe have have lost brothers or or lost somebody and that's that's tough for them right now and I

said okay guys we we uh we're balancing a lot of stuff here but it it's U um it is a time for for

I've told our staff uh we are uh the leaders of this football

team so it's on us to step up and make sure that that we do what's right to

help these young people and at the same time we have to win football games so we can't act like that's not

out there in real we got to win and and the stuff off the field doesn't work unless you went on the field because you

don't get to keep doing it I mean it's just that's just what happens with with what we're doing but um we're we're all

learning a lot we're all balancing a lot I'm told there's absolutely no doubt that when you lose a a 23y old that uh

all of our coaches that have young kids go home and hug them and and call them every night and and tell them you love

them and uh so uh the passing of a great young person like Ty is going to teach

us all something it it's taught me I don't know that I got tomorrow I mean I could die have a heart

attack this afternoon so why am I going to sit here and worry about things that are unimportant and and then I'm I'm I'm

reading a lot right now trying to help learn how to manage all this and I'm not

a reader but I'm I'm starting to read a lot and it it's interesting that you you you hear things like um you don't know

how long you got so you better make sure that you do everything that you can do and you want to do with the time you've

got um um today is not the the today is

don't worry about tomorrow it's gone to tomorrow's not here or um don't worry about yesterday it's gone don't worry

about tomorrow uh because you don't have it yet you better be in the present so you better worry about today

because that's all you got man um and and and so those type things the the

grief over time gets better you always carry that stone in your pocket and it's

heavy but it gets lighter when you get further away from the loss and you can enjoy the memories and what you learned

from the loss um so um I feel um more compelled right now than

ever before to make sure that I'm a strong leader and I step up and I do and say everything right to try to help

people in general try to help this team try to help our coaches and staff who

who have um um things that are popping up in their mind that from their past uh and also

help this team get back on track and win may I go sure uh the run defense is

trending and not the greatest correction Duke obviously ran it only in the second half a couple weeks ago know Georgia

Tech that's their emo obviously looked like they were playing for overtime and the guy breaks the Run um you know are

you concerned I know to the ex know with Jeff are you concerned from your Vantage Point that in terms of stopping the run

this defense May me right back where they started from I me obviously you know you started the Year great right

back where you were at the end of the last year in terms of stopping the r yeah we got to stop the run I I'm I'm so

tired of six years of inconsistent run defense and if you don't stop the run you're not going to win and we've said

that and I have said stop the run period let them throw it we we I think I said

it one week in here Virginia threw for 475 yards and ran for 21 out here and we

beat him 69 to 35 um stop the run stop the run most college

quarterbacks can't beat you just throwing the ball so what's happened to our run defense and Jeff we'll talk to you about that some today and I do think

Georgia Tech runs it as good as anybody in the league they're they're really good at it but that's that's an excuse

we got to we got to stop it we got to run it and we got to stop it and we're still not really consistent in both

we've run it well enough Marian's what gaining 128 a game or something but um

but we we've got to protect when you run the ball you protect better and when you stop the run you put more pressure on

the quarterback I me and quarterbacks have more trouble with pressure than they do if you let them stand back there so it's

uh this game's not complicated it's very simple it's complicated to fix it uh but

but that's that's something we've got to start doing better receivers are going to be rotating Ty's

number 13 have you thought about after the season maybe potentially retiring that Jersey or honoring it like you did

with two chose 22 or something like that yeah we we haven't Michael we'll we'll get to all that that's why we wanted to

put the logo out for the last two games because when you you that gets into

Letterman stuff and then you get into um if you lost a young student in one of

our other 27 Sports would they have to do the same so it's it's it's bigger than just a thought here so um I think

that was one of the reasons that we wanted to name and mom was agreeable the

nutrition room because that means his legaly will be here forever and not get

into uh I don't even think we retire jerseys do I think we honor them yeah is

what we do you said You' been read particular I'm I'm looking at um I'm I'm

reading everything about uh motivation and I'm reading everything about

leadership just for myself I'm I'm leading I'm reading everything about staying

positive I'm reading um uh about um overcoming

adversity um anything that I can find in in those areas I'm looking for quotes

that grab kids attention um I'm just looking to to try to help pick them up

because because that's me uh everybody in this building is g to look at me to see my body language see how I'm doing

so T coming up saying how are you you okay and it was amazing yesterday I'm I'm very emotional and I I have trouble

um even talking about Ty without breaking down I I told Sally yesterday I hate

that for the kids I hate because they come up and say you okay you okay uh but

I mean that's who I am so I'm not going to hide who I am if I'm emotional about uh losing a child and I'm won't be

emotional a football question uh with the Run game you're talking a lot about armar and what he could reach but in the

last three games if you take away that 71 yard run he's not having great per carry average I think 27 carries have

gone for one yard or less where do you think the offensive line is as far as progressing and be able to maybe not

have so many runs that he's getting popped at the line scrimmage we we we've said Andrew we we haven't had a coach

he's been inconsistent we've had only one guy start and those others have all been hurtt I mean it's it's amazing

blasy been playing with a sprained ankle and diabetes he got sick and threw up

and nearly passed out at Duke um um banfield's had a sprained

ankle Willie's had a sprained ankle I mean those guys have been all over the place we we actually played Luke

Masterson uh a freshman offensive tackle at left guard during the game against

Georgia Tech it's it's been that it's been that bad now you can't make this stuff up and I'm sitting there

thinking okay he's never been a game of guard kind of addendum to what I'm

asking that helped us again so a lot of this I would are you saying a lot of this is just getting these guys up to

Snuff physically and then we might see a little bit more what we saw earlier in the year as far as the Run game yeah I I

think we'll be better than we were earlier in the year that's why I'm excited about the next four weeks we have to fix the run defense

um we have to and and We Know It And they know it they see it and usually that that's the the run before the half

at Georgia Tech the run at the end that's 130 yards of of of the runs I

mean it's we're stopping a lot of runs and then we're just giving up gashes and

so you can't do that um and we're we've got too many one yard gains where

there's some penetration or there's a tackle for a loss and then we have a 20- yard gain we we have got to become a

more consistent football team stopping the run and running it and then the rest of the stuff falls into place and I'm

excited about the kicking game that's that's going to be better and they are trying if they weren't trying we wouldn't have that that few penalties

and and I mean they they want to win so bad I'm uh there's also that fine line chip when you're reading all this stuff

between um wanting to win and wanting to win too badly and then pressing I got to

make the play I got to make the play or own defense some uh Adam they're um

they're they're getting out of their Gap to make a play in somebody else's Gap and then there's a

gash it is we we've just got to go back uh you you'd rather have them try too

hard then not hard enough so there's that fine line with confidence and just go play go have fun

again they haven't had enough fun they're they're they're worried so much and they're uptight so much and that's

why they're making too many mistakes and and that's why with all this stuff going on we've got to just balance all the

stuff and and get them back to just the football Parts a game go play it and

enjoy playing it and have fun and make plays you're you're going to win some you're going to lose some um and we got

to start winning them that's just what it is here at the end I meant to touch on this earlier sorry but I think it's

important you mentioned just coach Elliott and everything that he's been through in terms of ring his team

through just unconceivable loss there is that something that I have you to speak with him about that I have not I really

like him and I love his story and I love what he's doing at Virginia and and I'll

I'll I probably won't talk to him during the week um but um I remember up there

two years ago I was sitting there cutting up with him before the game and he was so nervous and he says that's a

difference in a first year head coach and a 36e head coach or something and laughed but he's he's fun he's um U he's

he's a a guy I would let my son play for I I like him I trust him and he he gets

it he he gets life and sports and the balance between the two and he's going to go by the rules he's going to do

everything he's supposed to do and do it right and that's what I admire so much about

him okay thank you all