CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Defensive Coordinator Geoff Collins met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center to discuss the bye week for the Tar Heels, his unit’s uptick in performance, and this weekend’s opponent Wake Forest and its slow mesh offense.
The Tar Heels are coming off consecutive road games in which they outscored Virginia and Florida State 76-25 while allowing neither 300 yards of offense. The Heels recorded 17 sacks in the two games and picked off four passes.
Carolina is now No. 4 in the nation averaging 3.56 sacks per game, are 33rd in TFLs at 6.4 per contest, and have improved some other noteworthy rankings:
-No. 65 in total defense allowing 365.3 yards per game
-No. 47 in rushing defense (130.1)
-No. 68 in pass efficiency defense
-No. 29 in first downs allowed
-No. 26 in third-down defense (33.3%)
Some more numbers and rankings of note:
-PFF grades UNC at No. 22 in tackling
-Carolina grades at 46th in pass rush
-UNC’s coverage grade remains low, though, at No. 104
UNC hosts Wake Forest this weekend at 8 PM. The game will air on the ACC Network. The Heels are 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the ACC while the Demon Deacons are 4-5 and 2-3.
Above is video of Collins’ presser and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*Aside from having Kaimon Rucker back healthy the last two games, why exactly has the defense been effective with its pass rush?
“I think it’s been there all along. We’ve got really good players up front, we keep them fresh, we roll them through the game, and it’s just wave after wave of really good players executing at a high level.
“I think Coach (Ted) Monachino, Jimmy Lindsey, Cam Spence have done a tremendous job with that group of players. They’re tremendously talented, they’re highly competitive, they’re very, very close. And when you have that, and a lot of guys are getting meaningful snaps and making an impact, it’s just contagious in how they’ve elevated each other’s play.”
In scaling it down, here are the things Collins dialed-in on:
---Fresh
---Packages
---Stopping the run putting teams in 90% chances of throwing
---2 INTs in each of the last two games – direct correlation
*The defense is playing “fast, free, together” and it’s not happening also on game days instead of only during the week in practice. They have finally carried over each nook and cranny from midweek to Saturday.
“It’s great to see the guys feeding off of each other,” Collins said.
*Sophomore linebacker Amare Campbell has been wearing the ear piece (green dot on helmet) for a while now. Collins basically said Campbell has taken over the defense, doing so during the win at Virginia.
“He stood on the table and took charge of the defense” at that moment, Collins said.
*In addition, Collins also discussed Wake’s unique offense; much more about Campbell; why the missed tackles numbers have dropped so much of late; and much more.
