CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media via zoom following practice Tuesday morning to give an update on his team and field questions.
The things Brown hit on and was asked about included the transfer portal, competition in spring practice, what the NCAA might allow starting in June, depth at various positions, criticism about what might happen to many prospects in the class of 2022, the Virginia Tech game being on a Friday, he makes a plea to the NCAA, and much more.
The 42-minute presser was packed with plenty of information, of which only some we will note in this piece.
Above is video of Brown’s Q&A session and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*The maximum number of tickets allowed to be sold for the spring game, according to state mandates, are 10,600, and Brown said they were spoken for in two hours once available for fans to purchase, though he’d like to have more people inside Kenan Stadium for the April 24 game.
“I hate the fact we can only get 10,600 in, but that’s a mandate by the state,” he said. “A lot of people are really disappointed that they can’t get in. I just hope and pray that we’ll be able to have a full house when we come back in September for the games, because people are eager to come out and see this team play.”
*The Tar Heels held their ninth practice of the spring Tuesday morning and it went well. In fact, Brown has been pleased all spring so far.
“They’ve practiced hard all nine practices,” Brown said. “They’ve been engaged, they’ve been physical, so I’m really, really pleased with what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. They understand the expectations are much higher publicly, and they understand that standard’s been set by them for two years, but they’ve got to live up to. And that’s what we call with them ‘just facts.’”
*Brown corrected something he said last week about the transfer portal. Players this season have until July 1 to enter the portal and be eligible to play somewhere else right away, though he said last week it was May 10. Next year, players have until May 1 to do so.
*Saturday’s hour-long scrimmage wasn’t about scheme, it was about evaluating players. The more experienced veterans, such as Jeremiah Gemmel and Tomon Fox, as examples, didn’t really do much if anything, this was about looking at everyone else. There is tremendous competition going on in each group. Some are to determine depth, some are to find guys to step forward, like at wide receiver and running back.
“You don’t have a game plan, so sometimes you have a great looking play or a bad play and it may just be because they called a the defense into an offensive play that just didn’t work and you’re not checking out of it near as much,” Brown said.
He continued about the receiver and running back groups.
“We’re at least as good or better at every position than those two,” Brown said. “We lost two draft choices at wide receiver and two draft choices at running back, and we’re having daily evaluations to try to make sure that we separate those two groups.”
*Among the things the staff is working hard to develop is more of a conventional pass rush. The staff would rather not have to blitz in order to generate one, they’d rather get something from the defensive front, and then the blitz packages can complement what the bigs are doing at the line of scrimmage.
“We’re looking really, really hard to determine over the next week-and-a-half who our best pass rushers are,” Brown said. “And are there any that are coming in that may add to that group and try to get them on the field.
“You’ve got to stop the run on first down, or stop first-down plays, and put people in second-and-long and third-and-long and get your pass rushers involved to try to start getting more turnovers.”
*Brown continues to be pleased with the depth being developed along the offensive line, and once again he singled out Williams Barnes as someone who has impressed so far. Barnes played a lot in his first two games as a true freshman in 2018, playing 89 snaps in losses at California and East Carolina.
A 4-star recruit and the jewel of the 2018 class, Barnes has played just 216 snaps on offense overall, so he has been on the field for only 127 snaps since the ECU game that season, though he has played 165 snaps on special teams, mostly on extra point and some field goal units.
But he has been one of the highlights of the spring so far and has moved well up the depth chart.
“We’re really excited about William,” Brown said. “He struggled for the two years we’ve been here, or the one spring and the two falls. He was at 342 pounds and now he’s at 320, so he’s really lost a lot of weight, he’s working really hard with our nutritionist to keep it down, he’s gotten much stronger.
“He made good plays in our year-and-a-half and two falls with him, but he wasn’t consistent. And I thought he looked good again today in our ninth practice. And every day I see him I say, ‘Give me another one. Give me another one, we’re doing good, man.’
“But he could go in the rotation with the blue team today, and that’s something he could not have done in our previous two falls. He’s been one of the biggest surprises and most exciting players for us moving forward this spring.”
Quiron Johnson and Johsua Ezeudu along with the five starters in the spring – Asim Richards, Ed Montilus, Brown Anderson, Marcus McKethan, and Jordan Tucker – comprise the eight-man rotation. Ezeudu is a returning starter but is out this spring. It is likely he will resume in his starting spot at left guard when he returns.
Furthermore, the o-line as a whole has the kind of depth the staff has been searching for.
“So, with the five that are playing with the blue team right now, with the addition of those three, that would give us a strong eight,” Brown said. “And we do feel like right now that our second, our white offensive line, is making progress. They’re much better than at any time last year.”
*Brown and the staff have been happy with how true freshmen linebackers Power Echols and Ra Ra Dillworth have come along. They went through the acclimation part of spring practice but are now in the competition part while developing every day. Overall, he’s pleased with how the group as a whole is doing, including reserves Khadry Jackson and Cedric Gray behind starters Eugene Asante and Jeremiah Gemmel.
“All those guys are playing well,” Brown said. “We’re really pleased with, first, Ra Ra and Power. They’re playing ahead of what they should be playing. I call them high school seniors, they tell me they’re college freshmen (laughing). They are, but they still should be in high school based on their early enrollment. They’re playing ahead of where we thought they’d (be) playing at this time.
“And then you’ve got Cedric Gray, who’s playing well along with Khadry. And we’re not playing Jeremiah Gemmel at all this spring. He’s a great leader, he’s been around, he’ll get in drills, but he’s not playing in most of the team stuff. He didn’t scrimmage Saturday.
“So, we’re really trying to look at those younger guys.”
*Staying on some true freshmen, Brown continues to rave about defensive linemen Jahvaree Ritzie and Keeshawn Silver. Silver has been hampered by a nagging ankle injury since early in the spring, but Ritzie hasn’t and has shown he can help the 2021 Tar Heels.
“We’re really lucky that Jahvaree Ritzie and Keeshawn came in,” Brown said. “They’re both 6-5, 6-6; one is 285 and one is 306 pounds, and they look really good. They do not look like high school seniors, and we’re really pleased with both of them.
“Keeshawn has had a sprained ankle since about the second time we practiced, so he’s trying, he’s fighting through it. He hasn’t missed practice, but he’s really fighting to try to get out there and get well and be 100 percent. I can’t wait to see him be 100 percent. And Jahvaree has just killing it, he’s been all over the place.
“So those two young guys, I think both have a chance to be super stars.”
*Storm Duck played in two games last season before missing the rest of the campaign with an injury. One of the team’s top players before getting hurt, Duck is slowly working his way back in. It is a great luxury to have since current starters at the cornerback spots are Kyler McMichael and Tony Grimes, both of whom were highly ranked in high school and could be headed to big seasons, as well.
“(Duck) missed playing, and it was really, really hard emotionally,” Brown said. “You add COVID, you add the social justice issues we’ve got out there, and you add not being able to play, he did a good job handling it. He’s from a wonderful family.
“But I worry about all the young people out there now because they’ve got so much on them, and then you add a foot injury (and) it makes it even tougher. He got stronger, he studied every day, he knows what to do. If he stays healthy, I don’t think there’s any question he’ll be an NFL player.
“We’ve got him back out on the field now, but I just want him to make sure that he stays healthy through the spring, get all of his confidence back, and then hopefully he’ll have a great fall.”
*The Tar Heels’ opener at Virginia Tech was finally finalized for Friday night, Sept. 4. This can’t be going over well for both coaching staffs. For the Hokies, this would have been one of the primary recruiting games for the staff, but high school football is prominent on Friday nights in Virginia, so it will be difficult for Justin Fuente’s staff to get many kids to visit.
For UNC, it loses an opportunity to be showcased on national TV in which prospects can watch the game, because most will be playing their games that night. Brown is not pleased.
“We would rather play on Thursday when we’re opening up with Virginia Tech instead of Friday for high school football in both North Carolina and Virginia,” Brown said. “But we have no control over that. We always request Thursday before Friday because we don’t want to take away from our high school games.”
