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CHAPEL HILL – Measuring speed on a football field can be done several ways.

One is how fast a player gets from point A to point B on a direct line. There is speed of breaking from engagement to make a play. Speed in short darts – edge rusher to a quarterback – and a linebacker chasing down a ball carrier near the opposite sideline.

Another, which is rarely discussed, begins before the ball is even snapped. It basically goes like this:

*Player One was a 4-star prospect in high school and has outstanding measurables, but he’s not great in pre-snap, so he doesn’t always read the coming play that well, and therefore sometimes breaks wrong when the ball is snapped.

*Player Two was a 3-star kid in high school, but is outstanding in pre-snap. He’s a film junkie and recognizes formations from opposing offenses, so he usually breaks properly when the ball is snapped.

What happens there is because Player Two goes the correct way when the ball is snapped, and Player One often adjusts after the snap, they suddenly become similar in quickness and speed, and in many cases, Player Two actually gets to the ball before Player One.

Thus, a change North Carolina fans see in Gene Chizik’s defense this season should reflect the latter, that he has elevated his unit’s quickness and speed over the last eight months. Not only has he tweaked some things after adjusting to the changes in college football after doing TV for five years, but he has also focused on his team being exceptional in pre-snap.

There is no substitute for football smarts. It stays with a player no matter what. And that has been the key ingredient to the Tar Heels playing faster in fall camp with the intent on carrying that into the season.

“I see a comfort level,” Chizik recently said. “When you’re now in year two, obviously everybody expects everything to be better, which should be more comfortable for the players. I think it’s like anything: the more you get accustomed to the calls and the adjustments and some things of that nature, then naturally, our expectation is to play faster.

“And I feel like so far (this month), when you stack the reps in the spring and camp together, I think we are playing faster.”

The primary theme when speaking to defensive Tar Heels in fall camp has been the increased speed on that side of the ball. Being totally locked in before the ball is snapped can make a player who is a 7.5 on a scale of 1-10 with respect to on-snap quickness and ensuing speed, can become an 8.2 or even an 8.5.

That broaches the threshold of being elite.

“Our mantra every day is violence and speed,” Chizik said. “And I think I’ve seen more of that than in the past.”

Of course, the Tar Heels must be more physical and disciplined up front to force opponents into more predictable situations with greater distances to reach first downs. And then the guys have to simply make more plays. Football will always be football at the point of attack.

But adding a highly clued-in defense, especially beyond the front line, means a quicker and more reactionary defense. Less thinking, which will slow anyony. And with Chizik preaching the need for each player to exercise more violence on the field, getting to the ball a step quicker is the difference between hitting them more straight on than making first contact on their side.

The former will always result in more ferocious impact.

“It’s been a lot more physical, because a lot of guys are more experienced and we all understand just being physical every day compared to last year,” junior defensive lineman Jahvaree Ritzie said.

Junior linebacker Power Echols echoed that with a twist.

“Another year in the system, just more time to be in the system and get all the kinks… and mishaps that we had last year (out),” he said. “It’s quicker. We’re just executing things a lot quicker and much more efficient. Everything just looks cleaner out there.”

The chain links on that side of the ball begin with preparation, then pre-snap, then snap discipline (breaking on the ball), assignment discipline, execution, and violence. All of that adds up to a unit being faster than it was before.

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