Throughout the next couple of days, we’ll be bringing you some of the best quotes from UNC’s Pro Timing Day, where North Carolina’s NFL hopefuls worked out in front of scouts, coaches and general managers. We’ll kick things off with the man at the helm of the UNC program: coach Larry Fedora.
On his expectations for the draft:
“I think Jonathan (Cooper’s) probably got the chance to go the highest at this point, and then I think you’re looking at Sylvester (Williams) and Gio (Bernard) in the next area and then Kevin Reddick. So it’s hard for me to tell where these guys are gonna go. I think the main thing … is these guys are going to help any team be better. They’re gonna be good quality citizens on their team. They’re not gonna have to worry about them on the field, and they’re gonna help them win.”
On the drive it takes to be an NFL player:
“Now, you’re working out basically for a living. So these guys, they have to have that self drive. They have to be self-motivated to come out here and prepare themselves to come out and do the best job they can on their pro day, which is gonna give them a chance as far as the draft or free agency or whatever it is to get into somebody’s camp.”
On what it means to have a first-round pick like Jonathan Cooper:
“Overall, it just makes me proud. It makes me proud for Jonathan and his family knowing all the hard work he’s put into it. And all his dreams are going to come true. And, obviously, it helps us as a football team to see that Jonathan came in here — he wasn’t a heavily recruited young man, he wasn’t a five-star athlete — and he turned himself into a first-round draft choice.”
On Giovani Bernard being an every-down running back:
“No doubt in my mind he can be an every-down back. Not only that, he can return punts, he can return kicks, he can stay on the field as long as you want him out there. So if anyone’s worried about a kid that’s 5-8 and 205 pounds being an everyday back, I assure you he can do it.”
On what a year in the spread offense system can do for his players’ NFL hopes:
“What we do offensively, these guys, they don’t have to be 370 pounds. I think Travis Bond helped himself tremendously just on getting his weight down and being able to be an athlete, being able to move and having some endurance while playing the style of offense we play. And you know Coop was just a fit for it completely. He’s 295 pounds, and he can run like the wind — if the wind can run at 295. And you know, Brennan (Williams) did the same thing. So those guys, you think they have to be big, bulky offensive linemen to play at the next level, but those guys are looking for guys that can move their feet and move around just like these guys did all year.”
Stay tuned for more Pro Day interviews with Giovani Bernard, Jonathan Cooper and more.
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