Brown Post-Practice: Excitement, Depth, Recall & More

North Carolina formally kicked off the beginning of its 2020 football season Thursday, or at least whatever will become of it. The Tar Heels had been working out in a phased process for the last few weeks but are now fully ensconced in preparation for a campaign that is accompanied by tremendous expectations but also viability concerns.

Coming off a 7-6 season that includes winning their last three games by a combined score of 152-30 and returning all but one starter on offense and seven on defense, the Tar Heels begin fall camp as one of the ACC’s favorites to challenge Clemson for conference supremacy.

They would have been a favorite to win the Coastal Division had the pandemic not thrown everything into chaos, so now the Heels are a popular pick to place among the top three in the 15-team ACC, which includes Notre Dame’s inclusion for this season.

For Brown, Thursday was a good start.

“Practice was good,” Brown said. “It better be on your first day back. There’s been so many distractions and without spring practice. I thought the guys did a good job with their social distancing…

“They worked hard. They threw and caught the ball pretty well and I thought the coaches were organized, so I was proud of that.”

Here are a few more nuggets from what Brown had to say following the Tar Heels’ first practice:

*This was the first time the entire team was together at the same time. They had all of the returning players and the freshmen on the field together.

*The team found out about the schedule right before practice and were excited. They were also quite excited when Brown told them they are ranked No. 19 in the Coaches’ poll.

“I think it kind of came to reality today that, ‘Hey, we may actually play, it’s important we better go to work,’” Brown said. “So, I think this was a really good day for our football team.”

*Brown is pleased the first two games are at home so the team can get settled in. However, opening versus Syracuse is a challenge because the staff hasn’t spent any time preparing for the Orange. Also, Boston College is the next ACC game, and first road game, and it has a new staff with a former assistant as its head coach, so there’s not much of a track record to draw from.

“Our coaches now know who to prepare for,” Brown said, referring to the opener. “We didn’t know whether we would have a team that we hadn’t been preparing for in the opening game and we’ve got that now. So, our coaches have to look at all of our practice stuff, but they’ve got to go home and start working on Syracuse immediately.”

*Among the players that jumped out to Brown Thursday and over the last couple of weeks are:

-RS freshman Offensive tackle Asim Richards who is up to 320 pounds and “looks great and hasn’t lost a step in quickness…,” Brown said. “He’s been very impressive the last couple of weeks with his quickness and his footwork.”

-Sophomore offensive guard Joshua Ezeudu” “EZ continues to get better,” the coach said. “We’re excited about him because he’s done everything right for us and he needs to be a super player, not a good player.”

-Junior offensive tackle Jordan Tucker: “Jordan Tucker’s come back in really good shape and he’s more flexible now.”

-Senior linebacker/hybrid end Tyrone Hopper has missed a lot of time at UNC with injuries and a suspension two seasons ago, but he’s healthy and has stood out to Brown. “A guy that stands out to me a whole lot on defense in just the last two weeks has been Tyrone Hopper,” Brown said. “He can really run. He’s bigger and he’s stronger and this is the first time he’s been healthy… I thought he was very impressive today because of his ability to rush the passer and drop, so he gives us a lot of flexibility.”

-Reserve linebacker is a spot where Jay Bateman and Brown have maintained all offseason is vitally important because they don’t want Jeremiah Gemmel and Chazz Surratt playing 80 snaps a game, so Brown is pleased with the way Eugene Asante and Khadry Jackson have looked so far. On Jackson: “He’s maybe 228 or 230 and well and really looks good.” On Asante: “I talked to Eugene Asante this morning, he’s 219, so he’s getting that weight that we want him to get. So he looks really good with that.”

*Because of the uncertainty how many players the staff will have available from week to week, as those who test positive will have to miss perhaps two games, Brown is looking to get the young players additional reps in practice.

“A lot of our players are back and there’s a lot of recall with the guys who’ve been around,” Brown said. “What we’ve got is some really good young guys that need a lot of playing time that don’t know what to do. So, we’re in a little bit of a bind where we’re going to have to work the older ones but really work the younger ones on fundamentals, technique, how to practice in college out of high school and get them ready to play in a ballgame.”

*The team has only been together in parts since mid-late June, and they haven’t done much as a group, so it’s been more of a challenge for leaders to emerge. Some have, though. Brown said senior CB Patrice Rene and senior safety Myles Wolfolk have been the most obvious leaders on defense and sophomore quarterback Sam Howell and senior running back Michael Carter have adopted the role on offense. Brown expects more players to step forward as leader, singling out Chazz Surratt as one likely leader.

*Depth is wanted in the QB room. Jace Ruder is in his third year in the program but he’s played sparingly because injuries have ended both previous seasons. In all, Ruder has played 36 snaps, so while he’s been in the room longer than Howell or true freshmen Jefferson Boaz and Jacolby Criswell, he’s not considered experienced. Brown and offensive coordinator and QB coach Phil Longo need to get someone ready to spell Howell some for just-in-case purposes but also because Brown historically has preferred to give his starter a series on the sideline to see how things are going.

*Brown said sophomore defensive tackle Jahlil Taylor is “more of a run stopper” and that they will use four pass rushers on third-and-passing situations. He also said true freshman AJ Beatty is working some on the outside and inside right now and the staff soon needs to decide where he will play this season.

*True freshmen Desmond Evans and Kaimon Rucker are working at the linebacker/end hybrid spot along with holdovers Tomon Fox, Chris Collins and Tyrone Hopper.

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