CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina remains in the early stages of training camp, as the team is four practices in. The Tar Heels were off on Wednesday. UNC had two returners at the microphone today: sixth-year offensive lineman Austin Blaske and redshirt-freshman defensive lineman Leroy Jackson.

Watch those interviews in their entirety below and read some noteworthy excerpts …

Austin Blaske

“I think I was just very excited to play for one of the greatest coaches of all time. It was unbelievable that he was gonna be my coach, and I was really excited. … You get to play for one of the greatest coaches of all time, and I did not want to let the opportunity slip away. I think I would have been very wrong to not come back and play for Coach (Bill) Belichick.”

“I think Coach (Will) Friend is an extremely smart coach. He doesn’t just tell us where to block, he tells us how to do it and the best way to do it. He goes into depth about x’s and o’s and tells us everything we need to know about the play. Not just block this guy or do this, but this is why we run this play so we can get down to the schematics of what we need to do.”

“I think competition brings out the best in all of us. I think the competition is going to make guys play harder, play smarter, play faster because they know their job is not guaranteed. It’s a good team that we have competition, because it’s going to bring the best out of that room and it’s going to bring the best out of the team.”

Leroy Jackson

“Most definitely, it does start up front, then it moves back. But every day, it’s a day-by-day between the offense and the defense. O-line, D-line, wide receivers and everything. That competition level has been built, and it will forever get greater. The communication between both sides is very key, and just continuing to compete against the offense. Every practice is gonna be a hard practice and it’s gonna make the game easier. The competition level is high, it’s gotta stay at that level.”

“With there being almost 70 (new) guys, it can be hard. But it was a great transition because everyone coming in with this new coaching staff was ready to learn. Everybody was ready to compete and just take it day-by-day and get better every day. When all those guys come in, the most important thing is not just learning them on the field, but learning them off the field. Building that connection off the field, learning their personal goals and what they like to do outside of football to really build that connection between all of those guys coming in.”

“Competing every day is the main thing and not really worrying about what’s going on outside. Just keeping a level to be able to compete every day.”