North Carolina quarterback Gio Lopez will start Monday in the season opener against TCU, head coach Bill Belichick announced.
First question Let's do an interview on the You start 24/7, but during the 7 day, the office just found out that you're gonna start doing that. When did you find out? Uh, kinda just found out too, you know, just preparing every day, you know, we were all preparing. Max is preparing, Bryce was preparing, Tori was preparing. We all, you know, we're just competing as a, as a team, as a unit, just trying to, you know, put ourselves in the best situation, and I guess it all kinda worked out for me, but I'm just thankful for the opportunity. You obviously, you obviously came here with the winning the job starting, uh, so what kind of personal satisfaction. Have achieved that that part at this point. You know, I just, it feels nice, you know, to earn it finally get announced, of course that was the opportunity that I got, you know, that came about and that's what I came here for, of course, but uh just uh kind of feels as good as to call my dad, you know, after getting announced and tell him like, you know, we got one part going now it's time to, you know, go win some games. It's Brendan here. Thank you now congratulations. Uh, just to follow up on that, you said you sort of find out too, but Coach Belichick, did he pull you aside one on one first and just overall, do you take any significance in sort of being the first starting quarterback to the other. Of course, you know, I'm super thankful for the opportunity, you know, coach told me a little bit before, but nothing too crazy before, uh, just kind of told me, you know, I've looked good during the fall camp and told me that I'm gonna get the reins of the offense and just think for the opportunity and you know, so again talking to my dad it's like, man, like I'm gonna be Coach Belichick's first starting quarterback in college. It's a great opportunity. Uh, yeah, G, Jordan was just saying they call you Magic Johnson. Uh, can you explain a little bit the story behind that nickname. Well, the story was we were training and like I did like a no look throw or something, something random, and ever since then it kind of stuck. Um, I don't know why we went with Magic, but uh I guess it's a cool reference. No, not 24/7. Coaches tend to downplay. have national attention, but I feel like you guys live it every day. How do you manage your emotions going into a game with so much anticipation on Monday? Uh, you know, just gotta take it one day at a time, you know, right now, you know, of course we're worried about TCU now. This is the week, game week, but, uh, just taking it day by day, you know, going through install, watching film and just getting ready for the week. You're right next to the, yeah, very satur of turtles on this side, um, last year. Um, I actually covered LSU, you read the article. And how did that trip to Baton Rouge, uh, prepare you for, you know, this season going up against, you know, teams out here saying the no who did you learn about, uh, and that. You know, in that environment, I just learned, you know, just, just be a competitor, be myself, you know, that's what got me here and you know, LSU was a great team to compete against, you know, game didn't really go our way, of course, he saw that, but, uh, just the opportunity to play there and just play against great talent and feel like I belonged there. It was a, it was a good opportunity. So uh, GM Michael WCHL jumpboard.com. Obviously, there's a lot coming into this game. Saban and ESPN are gonna be there. As the only game on Monday night. When you're walking around campus, do you feel the buzz? Do you feel the anticipation sort of going into this game? Oh, you know, I don't really pay attention to the buzz when I walk around campus, so I've got some headphones on, listen to music, so I just really just make sure I'm being good in academics when I'm on campus, so I'm not really paying attention to any of that. Yeah, what excites you about what this offense could be? Uh, I think we have a chance to be one of the best offenses in the country, of course. You know, of course we still got, you know, day by day, you know, stack days and keep getting better, but I do think we have a really explosive offense and we have an opportunity to be really good. Obviously with the, you know, Labor Day started and everything like that and you kind of mentioned, you know, some of the, you know, outside things, what do you guys do in particular to kind of, you know, stimulate the game like environment if that makes sense? Like obviously like your on fuel prepping room but you guys, you know, shifting things around like what are you guys kind of going to stimulating. Uh, you know, we had some scrimmages in the, in the stadium during fall camp and then we just had some game-based simulations, you know, it's going through what halftime will look like, what the start of the game would look like, you know, going into the 4th quarter of those things. So, you know, of course for me it was exciting just to see that because I haven't played in that stadium or nothing, but it was Coach Belichick's done a great job like getting us prepared for it. It's time for 2 more right in here. Uh right and hold our target 24/7. You obviously made a decision to transfer here. How does it feel for that process to pay off after a couple of months of hard work and now your first game in Carolina Blue, you're gonna start from the sellout cray. Uh, it feels amazing. Just the opportunity as a whole, you know, I always think coaches, my coach Applewhi back at South, you know, he, you know, he made me, he was probably my, my football mentor, really helped me, you know, get to where I'm at today, and I always thankful for him. And this opportunity I have now to be at North Carolina and play for the greatest coach of all time is a great opportunity. The last one right here. Uh, hi, can you talk about kind of your expectations for yourself running in the first game and what? successful against. You know, just not have negative plays and compete. You know, if we do our job, we should, you know, put ourselves in a good opportunity to win the game. You know, for me, I just want to win games. I don't care if I have 500 yards or I have 5 yards. If we win the game, that's all that matters to me. Alright, good stuff to you. I appreciate it. I appreciate it.