Collins Presser & Report: Cowan, Frustration, Tired D, Pitt & More

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Defensive Coordinator Geoff Collins met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center in advance of the Tar Heels’ home game Saturday against Pittsburgh.

Among the things Collins spoke about was his unit missing 20 tackles in the 21-20 loss at Duke this past Saturday, what happened to go from dominating well into the third quarter to getting gashed, Jacolbe Cowan playing the DE/Rush position, Pitt’s offense, and much more.

Above is video of Collins’ Q&A session and below are some notes from what he had to say:

*UNC Coach Mack Brown called the Duke game a “tale of two halves,” as the Tar Heels led 17-0 at halftime and 20-0 midway through the third quarter having given up only 97 total yards. But then everything flipped, and the Blue Devils erupted getting 11 of their 12 explosive plays over the final 23 minutes of the game.

First, Collins was pleased with how his unit played up to the 20-0 point.

“The beginning of the game, and really the first two-and-a-half quarters of the game, I thought our guys played physical, they played clean, we fit gaps really well, we tackled at a high level, we were disguising the back end really well. Up to that point, (we) played a really complete start to the football game and I was really, really proud of them.”

Second, he says they didn’t make quick enough adjustments.

“Second half things started happening (and) slipping away from us. It’s my job to get them back on the sidelines and get those things cleaned up and corrected faster than I was able to do… And when things started happening negatively, we’re going to stop doing this, have a tendency to try to do too much and try to do things outside the framework of what our individual responsibility is.”

*Duke Coach Manny Diaz said his offense wore down UNC’s defense Saturday night. Collins’ response to that:

“I will say that our front four, because we have a lot of depth and rotating a lot of guys, they were able to stay fresh longer. Some other positions, we had to force ourselves to even play more guys.”

Collins then went on to name some reserve Heels that got defensive snaps like Michael Short, Caleb LaVallee, Tyrane Stewart, Tre Miller, and Will Hardy.

“We’ve just got to be committed on all levels, especially playing a high-tempo offense this week (Pitt), same kind of deal. We’ve got to roll guys in.”

*Jacolbe Cowan played a career-high 53 snaps in the loss at Duke, and he was in the Kaimon Rucker role as the DE/Rush. Collins said in August they were working in Des Evans and Beau Atkinson into that spot some, but they also gave Cowan some reps there. With Rucker missing his fourth consecutive game last week, Collins turned to the veteran Cowan to have a role there.

“I think Jacolbe played great… He has earned those reps and I thought he played at a really high level and made a bunch of plays, tackles for loss and pressures on the quarterback. I thought he played really well.”

How much work did Cowan get last week gearing up for a changed role?

“Jacolbe is very intelligent, so even in the preseason he would part and partial at that spot some, and he would play at the three technique some as well. He’s well versed at playing a lot of different things.

“The reps he got in the previous week, he earned to be on the field a ton. So, that was the natural progression to put him there.”