Watch: UNC RB Caleb Hood Speaks After First Day of Fall Camp

JORDAN SHIPP: First, I want to start off by giving praise and glory to my Lord and savior Jesus Christ; without Him I wouldn’t be here, so I want to start off with that.

He might call me that here and there off the record, here and there. But like you said, the biggest advice that he gave me was where would you go if you couldn’t play football anymore. That was the biggest thing he said to me was where would you go if football was taken from you, you’re comfortable with the school, if distance plays into it, anything like that.

Another thing that drove me was just wanting to be better than him. I always grew up just kind of like in his shadows a little bit, and it was always important to me to overcome that, so I feel like that’s something that motivated me day in and day out, just wanting to be better than him and just wanting to have my own name because a lot of times when people say Shipp they’re talking about my dad, but now I feel like I’ve kind of swapped that narrative and I’ve been able to put myself over and just being able to work hard just to try and surpass it.

Q. During the off-season, Kobe Paysour initially entered the transfer portal but he took his name back out and now he’s with you guys. How big was it to retain him not just from a skill perspective but from a leadership perspective?

JORDAN SHIPP: Yeah, we have a young receiving room and Kobe brings experience. Kobe is a great player. Kobe is a great friend. I feel like that’s something that gets overlooked. When you’re in a room, you just want to be surrounded by great people, and Kobe is a great guy. Kobe is a great person. Kobe is somebody that I know I can rely on off the field and on the field as well.

I personally, Kobe, JJ and Nate, last year they really took me under their wing and helped mold me into the college athlete I wanted to be and set the foundation for me, so just being able to still have him, me still being able to look up to him and shadow him a little bit, that’s definitely important.

Q. Jordan, you went from one Hall-of-Fame coach in Coach Grier to now Coach Belichick. What type of conversations have you had with Coach Grier about advice going on to Coach Belichick? And two, has there been any conversations about bringing your former quarterback in Jadyn in Carolina blue?

JORDAN SHIPP: Definitely, I talk to Coach Grier a lot. Coach Grier is a huge reason why I’m here. Coach Grier poured into me, his family, Ms. Nila, Will Grier, all the Griers, they all poured into me a lot. I talk to Coach a lot. A lot of the conversations that I’ve had with Coach Grier in high school are kind of similar to what Coach Belichick brings. He wants you to be tough, smart, dependable, and Coach Grier echoed that same thing when we were in high school, and I feel like that’s why we were so good at such a high-level high school program because of the way he carried himself and the things that he poured into us.

Yeah, I just feel like Coach Grier is a great coach, but then you look at Coach B and he takes that to a whole ‘nother level. You’re going to be tough, smart, dependable, and you’re going disciplined, and we’re going to do everything right. We’re going to play to his standard, and that standard is not going to drop off for nobody. You can’t obtain it, just get out the way, next guy up.

Q. I want to talk to you about Freddie Kitchens, a guy in the tight end room over the last couple seasons. Now he comes over to offensive coordinator. Talk about some of the things he’s brought as a coordinator to you guys and some of the strategies that he’s got for you guys.

JORDAN SHIPP: We’re definitely going to be a unique offense. Don’t want to give too much out, but we’re going to be unique. We’re going to do a lot of different stuff, and we’re going to get a lot of 1st downs, going to score a lot of points. Coach Kit and I, like I said, Coach Belichick, he kept him here for a reason, so obviously he liked what he was doing, so there’s no reason not to trust him 100 percent, but like I said, we’re going to be unique, we’re going to move the ball, we’re going to do different things with different personnels and a lot of different people.