Chip Lindsey opens up on his initial impressions of being at UNC

The North Carolina Tar Heels lost their offensive coordinator from last season, Phil Longo, to the Wisconsin Badgers. But hiring UCF’s Chip Lindsey might prove to be a solid move for the growth of young star quarterback Drake Maye.

During UNC’s spring practices, Lindsey has been getting familiar with his new team and playbook, which is to be expected. But how is he adapting to life in Chapel Hill? According to the Tar Heel’s new coordinator, so far, he’s adapting pretty well to his new digs.

“Love it. I love it. It’s been a lot of fun getting to know the people here. And this place is such a neat place,” said Lindsey. “I got here and went through basketball season. I got to go through and see a game there; that was huge. I’ve never been to one before, and that was a great experience. I’ve been over to see baseball play. I’ve been over to see lacrosse play.

“It’s just fun seeing the variety of different things we have. And all my family is excited about it. They enjoy coming around. We got great facilities (and) great program. We got a fan base that’s excited about our team and our program. So, nothing but good things, and it’s been a great experience so far; looking forward to it.” 

Lindsey has been in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for roughly three months now, so he’s still getting acclimated to his new location. Granted, he and his family traded in the tropical life typical of Orlando, Florida, home to the UCF campus. But North Carolina has something noticeably absent from UCF, a rich history of championship experience.

The Tar Heels men’s basketball program has a total of six national championships to their name. Whereas the men’s lacrosse team has five of their own. And if Lindsey and head coach Mack Brown have their way, at the end of the 2023 season, North Carolina will be adding a college football championship to that list of NCAA titles the school owns.

Lindsey on Maye

It’s fair to say that Maye is a key reason why Lindsey is at North Carolina. It’s rare to find much less work with young talent such as the soon the be junior quarterback. Lindsey is taking his time to get to know Maye and vice-versa.

And in getting to know Maye, there were a few things that surprised the Tar Heels OC.

“I think the thing that probably I didn’t know before is he’s really intelligent. He’s really smart. Football smart. His football IQ is really high,” responded Lindsey. “I mean, he does well in school. He’s got a great GPA and all that, but he understands every aspect of offense. From offensive line play, to who should be working to who in zone schemes, to who we’re working to in pass sets. In pass protections, he’s able to change the protection. That’s something that he’s taken to really quickly, and they did some of that before too. But I think that would be the thing, I mean not knowing him from the outside, you see the talent.

“You see the physical skills. That hadn’t surprised me a bit. But getting here and realizing he’s a football junkie. He understands football. He loves it, and very, very intelligent player.”