CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina released its depth chart Monday morning for its season opener versus Florida A&M on Saturday night at Kenan Stadium.
So, moments into UNC Coach Mack Brown’s weekly press conference inside the Kenan Football Center, he unveiled the depth chart himself. Below is everything he said regarding both sides of the ball and special teams:
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DEFENSE
"As far as the depth chart is concerned, that’s what everybody gets excited about. We'll start with defense. We’ve talked for a year about the blue team, and the blue team is trying to get guys that we can put on the field at any time. They are starters whether they walk out there first or not.
So, at nose guard, you've got Ray Vohasek and Kevin Hester. They're on the blue team. We will keep them fresh or rotate them, but both of them can play at any time. Keeshawn Silver is really improved. He will get some playing time. He changed his number from six to 55. Travis Shaw has done a really good job for us. He had some lower body issues this summer and getting behind a little bit, but he will be an excellent player.
Three techniques, both Myles Murphy and Jahvaree Ritzie, are on the blue team. They are two of our best players, and they will rotate, and we'll keep a fresh guy in there. We need a quick, powerful great pass rusher in that position, and we feel like both of those guys can do that. KBJ, Kendrick Bingley Jones, is really improved, and he's getting stronger after his three operations, and he will be able to play some too. Those guys would be considered white team that you can put in, but you wouldn't have them in there at any time and not worry about losing the game, and the coordinators not be aware of it.
Des Evans and Kaimon Rucker are on the blue team at power-end. And again, the one that walks out there first really doesn’t matter, it is just not an issue for us because they earned the right, and we finally got some depth.
Noah Taylor and Chris Collins are on the blue team at Jack. Both of them have earned the right. They have been around a long time. Noah being a grad transfer, he's a really good pass rusher. Chris had an outstanding spring camp. And Malaki Hamrick will be on the white team. He will have a special package that he will go in with pass rushers because he led the state pass rushing. He had 51.5 sacks when he was in high school at Shelby, and he has shown that ability here, so he will play and will be in special packages.
Right now, there are three linebackers on the blue team. That would be Power Echols and Cedric Gray, who would walk out there first. And Ra Ra Dilworth has worked himself into a blue team position, so he can play at any time. We're really excited about Sebastian Cheeks; he just keeps getting better every day, and we feel like he can play in the game. He's working himself toward being a blue team player.
In the secondary, you’ve got Tony Grimes and Dante Balfour, and Storm Duck as blue team corners. All three could go out there at any time. We're also very pleased with Marcus Allen. He’s made a lot of progress as a true freshman, and he didn't even get here until this summer. And we've been very impressed and think he will be a good player moving forward.
Gio Biggers, Don Chapman, and Cam Kelly are all blue team safeties, so they can play at any time. And we're very impressed with Will Hardy. He came this summer, and he will be a guy that could go out with the white team like Marcus Allen and play. We would not be afraid to put him on the field.
DeAndre Boykins is at star. Storm Duck could play some star. They would both be blue team stars. Obi Egbuna would be a white team star.
OFFENSE
Asim Richards has done really well. He will be the blue team left tackle. Trevyon Green would be a white team left tackle.
Ed Montilus had by far his best spring and fall since we've been here. We are really impressed with Ed. He's done a great job; he would be the blue team left guard. Cayden Baker will be the white team left guard.
Both centers, Corey Gaynor and Brian Anderson, would be blue team centers. Brian started here for 2.5 years; he was hurt quite a bit of last year. Corey Gaynor has been a huge addition. He's an outstanding leader, he's a big body, he's played really, really well. He has added toughness to the offensive line, and we're very pleased with him.
William Barnes will be on the blue team. He could play right guard or right tackle.
Jack Bicknell, our new offensive line coach, coming from the NFL, loves to play some guys at two places and then try to get your best players playing, and that's just who he is. He said the NFL, you got seven offensive linemen, everybody has to play guard and tackle, so he's really worked hard at that.
A guy who's done an outstanding job and has been a surprise is Jonathan Adorno. He is a blue team guard and brought toughness to the offensive line this spring and in the preseason.
Spencer Rolland would be the blue team right tackle along with William Barnes right now, and he would be backed up by Zach Rice. Zach and Trevyon Green, we feel like they're going to be outstanding players. Both of them missed some time in camp, and it hurt them, so Zach would be a white team player at right guard and right tackle, and the same with Trevyon Green at left guard and left tackle.
All three tight ends have played really well, so they'll have special packages, but we feel like all three tight ends are blue team players. All three will play, and sometimes two could be in the game at the same time and sometimes three, but we're pleased with our tight ends.
Running backs right now, DJ Jones would walk out there first. British (Brooks) would have done that, and obviously, we lost him last week. Caleb Hood and Elijah Green missed some work, and we feel like they're white team and could play. Then you have Omarion Hampton and George Pettaway, who we feel like will play Saturday night, we’ll just have to watch them closely this week and see how the game goes and when we would put them in, but DJ will walk out there first.
JJ Jones, Josh downs, and Gavin Blackwell will be the three blue team receivers that will walk out there first. We feel like Kobe Paysour has earned the right to be a blue team player. He's played at a number of different positions. Justin Olson and Andre Greene, Justin can play anywhere he would be out there. And we feel like with Andre Greene, like George Pettaway and Omarian Hampton can play. He’s had some outstanding plays. We’re planning on him playing Saturday. We've just got to figure out how many plays that freshmen will be out there and play.
At the quarterback position, Drake (Maye) will walk out there first. We feel like that competition has been outstanding; both could play. Drake has earned the right. I’m not going to get into why because it's very close, we're pleased with both of them. Both will play at some point during the year because you've got an inexperienced quarterback. You're going to need some (help). We could have helped Sam (Howell) some and didn't have a backup ready to go in and help him at times when he was young. We do now, so we've got two really, really good quarterbacks, and both have been very impressive in spring and preseason practice, and we’re excited about both their futures.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Right now, there's a competition for kicker, for field goal, and extra point. Jonathan Kim and Noah Burnette they compete every day. The one that has the best weeks is the one that's going to kick on Saturday.
Jonathan Kim will kick off, and then Ben Kiernan right now would be the punter. Drew Little would be the snapper for the blue team. Josh downs will be the returner for the blue team, and we still haven't made a decision on who would be the kickoff returners for the blue team."