CHARLOTTE – Wednesday at the ACC Kickoff was all about the Coastal Division, which means North Carolina was on tap. In fact, the Tar Heels were the talk of the day.

Favored to win the division with a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback and a Hall of Fame coach who knows how to work a room, UNC was the hot topic all morning and afternoon at The Westin.

Mack Brown wore his national championship ring Wednesday, and to say it stood out would be an understatement. Noticeable during his main press conference in the ballroom, it simply jumped out at the assembled media in the breakout room. So, when a reporter asked him if that was his national championship ring, Brown created a bit of a stir.

“Yes,” Brown replied, smiling.

Reporter: “Is this the place to show that off?”

Keep in mind, as she asked that last question, Brown started pulling off his ring. As he was tugging, he said, while smiling again, “It’s one of those things that you kind of like to have.”

He then got the ring off and tossed it to the reporter, who was about eight feet in front of him.

“Oh my God,” the reporter said, as she caught the ring.

Calm, cool, and collected, Brown looked toward other scribes to get his next question while several reporters held the ring and two women even tried it on. Photos were taken, too. About two minutes later, someone handed him the ring back and he put it on while listening to another question.

Only a handful of college football teams did not have a single spring practice in 2020, as most got onto the field for a couple of weeks before the pandemic hit, shutting down everything. Two ACC teams had as many as nine of their allotted 15 practices. UNC had none.

It helped the Heels that they had most of their skills guys back on offense, so there was already some established chemistry, but it was still a major challenge and put the Heels in a difficult spot.

Football players practice together about 46 weeks out of the year. Workouts in May through July are player-led and don’t include pads or hitting, but that is when chemistry is most built, improvements are made, and teams gel well before fall camp begins. UNC didn’t have that.

But the Heels have done those things these last few months, and they are not losing sight on what they’ve had this offseason compared to a year ago.

‘We’re just super blessed to be able to have spring ball and an offseason together,” Howell said. “It’s not taken for granted because we missed out last year and we apart from each other almost the whole year leading up to the season.

“We really didn’t build as much chemistry as I would have liked to. But that’s something we have back this year and something we definitely try to take advantage of.”

The numbers North Carolina accumulated in its demolition of Miami on the road last December are still a bit mindboggling to fathom, even for those who saw the game either on TV or in person. It was as thorough a dominating performance as the Tar Heels have perhaps ever laid on a quality opponent on their home turf.

In the Tar Heels’ 62-26 victory, which was not at all that close, they amassed 31 first downs, 778 total yards, including 554 on the ground, and running backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams set an NCAA record by combining for 544 yards, with Carter running for 308 and Williams 236.

So, Brown was asked Wednesday if he believes Miami thinks about that game a lot and if it will have the Hurricanes extra motivated when they visit Chapel Hill on Oct. 16.

“I think we will be a team that will be circled by everybody,” Brown said. “We’ve been a media darling, everybody’s throwing so much sugar on us we have to (wipe) some of it off. So, Miami was motivated this year because we beat them 28 to 25 the year before; we come from behind, had to make a fourth-and-17.

“Miami is a great team, Manny does a tremendous job. We didn’t beat Florida State, we didn’t beat Virginia. We have a lot of work to do to get to where our publicity says we are. So we have to understand that everybody is going to be gunning for us.”

Like kids do, college football players also have NFL stars they look up to and even try to emulate some. For Tomon Fox, his eyes every week are on Chicago Bears outside linebacker Khalil Mack, and he has a good reason.

“I love watching Khalil Mack because we share the same position (and) I love his physicality, Fox said. “I can see a little bit of myself in him in terms of size, weight and things like that. I look at (him) and think I can do that, too. It gives me something to look forward to.”

Interestingly, Fox said he did not have a favorite player as a kid because, “I ain’t gonna lie, I really didn’t watch sports that much,” he said.

Fox didn’t start playing football until the eighth grade, though he sometimes watched football as a kid almost always with his father. As for his team, or rather their team?

“He likes the Cowboys, so whoever he liked that’s who I liked,” he said.