Welcome back, Michael Irvin II; UM’s run D; and ‘I believe’ Jim Larrañaga

Mark Richt began today’s news conference, after naming this week’s captains for UNC, by saying tight end Michael Irvin II “is in good standing.’’

“He’s able to play,’’ Richt said. “He wasn’t last week. But he’s out of the doghouse so to speak.’’

Richt said on Sunday that Irvin wasn’t doing the right things off the field, and that until he did he wouldn’t play.

MORE FROM RICHT

▪ On whether he needs to talk to the Hurricanes and caution them about not looking ahead of 1-7 UNC:

“If we were rolling everybody, we’re whupping everybody by three touchdowns, no drama. If we were having that kind of a roll, maybe, but we’re just finding ways to win at the end of games. We’re not foolish enough to think that we’ve arrived yet. I don’t think they believe that. They know they’ve got to earn it.

“Good things are happening but it takes time in recruiting over time to get your roster deep enough with guys that can really play at a championship level.

“And the one thing you can’t manage is injuries. You can manage who plays but you can’t control the injuries. I don’t know if anybody can withstand that many injuries and let it roll off their back and throw in the next guy and play at a high level. But some teams are better prepared to do that than others. We’re just trying to get to the point in recruiting where we’ve got guys that we feel very comfortable playing two deep, maybe even three-deep sometimes and then if you do have an injury you’ve got a qualified kid that’s already played, he’s already got the talent base to win – that’s where we’re trying to get it.

“Trying to get used to a winning culture, that’s hopefully being developed. A winning culture is really more of how you go about your business every day than actual wins sometimes. Sometimes they don’t show up right away.”

In terms of this team peaking right away?

“There’s no doubt we can get better. So, I can only hope that we keep getting better. I don’t know what the right time is to peak. But if we can keep getting better, that would be really good for us. And we all know we can get better.”

▪ Captains for this week’s game: quarterback Malik Rosier, cornerback Michael Jackson, defensive tackle RJ McIntosh and special teams standout/running back Travis Homer.

▪ Richt on Ahmmon Richards, who said he dropped four passes against Syracuse: “He’s anxious to play and anxious to play great. He could have had 200 yards and three touchdowns easily – maybe more than that. But he didn’t. He’s a great player that was probably pressing maybe a little bit to be great, maybe to catch up for all the things he missed. But he’ll settle in and do really good.”

▪ On running back Mark Walton, who had season-ending ankle surgery, returning to the end of Tuesday’s practice: “We want all our injured players, when they’re able to move around…at the end of practice when we call the team up, we want everybody to be there, including the injured players.

“He’s to the point now where he can move around a little bit. It’s good to see him. I don’t know where it hits a player... I don’t know if it’s when they lay their head on the pillow at night when they really get in the tank or whatever, they just get bummed out about it. His spirits have been really pretty good considering he got hurt. The good news is it’s an injury that is very repairable and a you’re-as-good-as-new kind of injury type situation. So, that’s the best news.”

▪ On giving up more than 200 rushing yards the past three games:

“This last game we were going to play a lot of man coverage and to get to the quarterback and try to disrupt him a little bit we were running some stunts, some slanting and some twisting. Sometimes when you twist you don’t have the same gap integrity. Like, if everybody just lines up in their gap, plays their gap, linebacker’s behind it; he knows his gap; you got it all controlled.

“But now you start twisting and stunting and two guys end up in the same gap and then, bam, a run just pops. That was the issue. It wasn’t so much that we were getting whipped physically. And we kind of knew there were may be some runs that pop out of there here and there.”

▪ On UM basketball coach Jim Larrañaga and how much Richt feels for him regarding what he’s going through concerning the FBI probe:

“I know Jim fairly well. And if there has ever been a genuine human being, it’s Jim Larrañaga. So, I don’t even know what’s going on other than to have to defend yourself against things that… it’s not fun. You’re building a program and you’re gaining momentum and you then have to manage it. But that’s why you got a head coach. He’s very capable of doing it. I heard his comments this morning and you could just tell he’s very sincere about what he’s saying, and I believe him.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2017 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Welcome back, Michael Irvin II; UM’s run D; and ‘I believe’ Jim Larrañaga."