Jay Bateman Explains Why He Knew The Pop Pass Was Coming and Talks Possible Returns of Morrison and Wolfolk

His history with Duke helped

Neil Redmond/USAToday sports

On Dominique Ross and Jeremiah Gemmel and their importance

Jeremiah is a young man that we really trust and is really smart. He’s played really well. Fundamentally, when he plays really well, he’s a really good player. There has been some games when fundamentally I think he hasn’t been as in line as we want him to be. I thought Saturday, fundamentally was his best game. He was moving like a linebacker, being under control. To use one of Coach Wooden’s lines, ‘Be quick but don’t hurry.’ And I thought he did that Saturday better than he’s done since probably Clemson.

Dominque Ross is a really cool deal. We basically moved him and said, ‘Hey look, you’ve got to figure this out in three days, before the Clemson game to get our best guys out there.' And he’s done a great job. And now we do everything with him. Super talented, good player, physical. So yeah, all three of those guys — Jason Strowbridge was a one-man gang at times. I think those four kids all contributed really well.

On knowing the ‘pop pass’ was coming and how far back he goes to find tendencies and wrinkles like that?

I think the advantage I had was, I’ve defended those guys — this is was my fifth year in a row. So I kind of have some carry over knowledge. But they beat us 13-7 at Duke in 2016 and they beat me on a pop pass. So when I saw the formation I was pretty confident that’s what we were getting.

It’s a little bit different structure but same kind of deal.

How far back do you go?

We go back to certain games. Try to find people that match you. But we look at almost every play we have. If there’s something that shows up in our situation like that, then we try to see if that’s something that happens year in and year out.

How you defend something you don’t practice?

I said, I think it’s going to be a pop pass Myles come over and cover that guy.

So we saw the formation and called a timeout. So I said if they come out in the same formation, I’m pretty confident that’s what it’s going to be.

Do you risk the chance of the play being something different?

Mmmhmm. Don’t let them get to the 2-yard line. It makes it a lot easier.

Is there a more gratifying moment for a coach to see it play out and have your guy in the right place?

I’m most gratified when they play well. Chazz made a great play. That was a great play. I think Myles — we watched it about 20 times yesterday. I watched it with Myles and said, ‘Are you sure you would have caught this?' It was close. But it was a great play by Chazz.

Would most linebackers not catch that ball?

Probably not.

What Dominique Ross does for UNC

I always thought he was one of a handful of our best players. It was a matter of getting him -- he can do a lot of things. So it was like ‘How do we get him at this position to maximize what he’s good at?’ So early on we were trying to play him where Tomon plays and where Cater plays a little bit and that’s not really his deal. And he can cover.

The first couple of times we did it, we were like, 'He can cover pretty good.’ so then it was like he moved into my room. He moved from the linebacker room to the DB room. So now it’s more coverage stuff. The thing he does, when you do blitz him, you can’t put a running back on him. They had a tight end on him on the sack fumble. You need to put an offensive lineman on him. There’s only five offensive lineman. So if one is going to him and one of them is going to Tomon, there aren’t many left for the other guys. So I think then it becomes a little bit of getting your matchups. I think that’s where he brings a lot of value. We are asking him to do a ton. I told one of the NFL guys, one of the scouts, I said ‘I can’t believe that he would be asked to do more as a linebacker in the NFL than what we’re asking him to do right now. So he’s really playing at a high level.

If we want to play nickel, we just leave him in.

How will getting Myles Wolfolk back be a benefit?

I think he’s probably going to be really close this week. He warmed up Saturday. I thought yesterday he looked pretty good. So I think there will be a role for him this week.

I think anytime you get a veteran back who has got the presence that Wolf’s got, it helps you a ton. So I anticipate him being back in some capacity this week. The good thing is we play Pitt on a Thursday, so there’s a little bit more time for the next week, so I anticipate for Pitt, he’ll be pretty close to full speed.

Any update on Trey Morrison?

I think we’re kind of hoping for Trey. We’re probably a little more confident with Wolf. But we’ll see how the week goes.

On Hollins coming in after Storm Duck injury

What a great story right. Man, I love that kid. He’s super talented. We’ve been trying to find him a home for a while. So about two weeks ago, I said to Dre, I said look, let’s put him at corner, let’s teach him. Let’s put him at boundary corner. It’s not as complicated. Here’s the thing about DeAndre Hollins. I give them a test on Friday’s. When he turns his test in, every week, it’s the best. He is a really bright kid. I knew he knew what to do, but knowing what to do and going out in front of that many people is different. So I looked right at him, I said here you go my man. And he did a great job.

For him to go out there and play the way he did that’s a gratifying moment. That was awesome. He’s going to be a really good player going forward for us.

On the Friday test

You know how in college you get a test. So it has questions, you have to answer it. So I give the DB’s a test on the opponent. Like hey what are they doing in this formation on this coverage? It’s written. We have an app we give it to them. They can do it online or they do it handwritten. Most of them do it handwritten.

True-false, open choice, multiple choice?

It’s more short answer and fill in the blank kind of stuff. No essays.

What kind of problem does Bryce Perkins pose?

All of them. He is a tremendous player. Somebody asked me about him, I think after the game -- I think it’s a real discredit to the kid to talk about his running because he does run really well, but he can do everything. He can throw it. He knows where to go. He is not fooled in coverage. I think he’s a tremendous football player. So we have our hands full.

On the feeling on the last play on the goal line. Were you concerned?

No. I was confident our guys were going to stop them.

On the confidence in next man mentality

It comes from I have confidence in our kids. They practice really hard. This is the story about Hollins. He has about four names. So Dae-Dae, the last two or three weeks, I said I want to play you but you haven’t practiced great on Wednesdays. So he comes out on Tuesday, he practices great. Wednesday, hasn’t been as locked in and as energetic as I want him to be. Thursday, he’s a lot better. So I don’t know if he has a hard Monday, Wednesday and Friday class schedule or whatever.

So I challenged him last Sunday. I said look, we’re going to need you sooner than later, you are a very talented kid who is really smart, I need you to prepare in practice like you’re going to be the starter. So he had a great Wednesday, his usual good Tuesday. Had a great Wednesday. Had a great Thursday. I was very confident that if he went in, he could do a good job, and he did. So I think the message to our team is really good right now. It’s hey look when you practice and you prepare you go in the game and play well. If you have the ability, which 99.9 percent of them do.

Now if one more gets hurt, see if we can sneak Dre (Bly) back in there. We’ll see if there’s a waiver.

He’s doing a tremendous job with them, they’re competing. The other thing at corner it’s like, it’s not like going in and playing nose guard. You’re out there by yourself right. So you’ve got to go out there and compete every play. And with the game plan we had and how good Duke is at throwing outside, we knew he was going to be targeted and challenged. Gave away -- had a couple of pass interference calls, but he really did a good job.

Was this Strowbridge’s first complete game?

No, I thought against South Carolina and against Miami, he was dominant too, and then he got nicked up a little bit. And so he’s kind of been back and forth with that. But he makes you a really good defensive coordinator. He’s a really good football player.