Depth At Inside Linebacker Shouldn't Be An Issue

There is a proverb derived from an 1800s poem often used in today’s vernacular that applies to North Carolina’s linebacker corps this coming season:

Less is more.

Or it could be, anyway.

A theory employed by Tar Heels offensive coordinator Phil Longo is he believes greater depth among his wide receivers will actually help 1,000-yard pass catchers Dazz Newsome and Dyami Brown perform more efficiently and, as a result, more productively this coming season. Depth is considerable there.

On the other side of the ball, that also may be the case for linebackers Jeremiah Gemmel and Chazz Surratt. Consider that Gemmel played 816 snaps a year ago and Surratt 744, which amounted to 91.4 and 83.3 percent, respectively, of UNC’s total defensive snaps. Add their special teams work, and Gemmel and Surratt were on the field for a combined 1,789 plays last fall.

That’s a lot, and while they were Carolina’s top tacklers – Surratt was second in the ACC with 115 and Gemmel had 84 – they played too much. Surratt's total would have been higher had Surratt not played just 15 snaps versus Appalachian State.

Surratt doesn’t mind the idea of watching some from the sideline, though he looks at it with a twist.

“I hope we're winning by a lot so I don't have to play the whole game, to be honest,” he said. “But, I mean, yeah, maybe. I don't know how (linebackers) Coach (Tommy) Thigpen is going to do the rotation, but definitely I hope we're winning by a lot so me and (Jeremiah) Gemmel don't have to play the whole game…

“But you never know during the course of the game how it's going to work. Rotations change during the game all the time, so we'll see who Coach Thig and Coach Bateman want to do it.”

It should be noted that Surratt is uber competitive, so the idea of coming off the field while a game is still on the line doesn’t resonate well with him, but the basic need for more depth is understood.

That UNC defensive coordinator Jay Bateman believes sophomores Khadry Jackson and Eugene Asante are ready is pretty big news in an otherwise not-so-newsy spring given that the players are scattered around and not on campus as a result of the coronavirus-fueled shutdown.

“I think Khadry Jackson and Eugene Asante are both young kids that we feel very strongly about,” Bateman recently said. “And so, I think hopefully they will be able to take some snaps off of Gemmel’s and Chazz's plate.”

Jackson, who is 6-foot-1, 220 pounds and hails from Windermere, FL, got game reps at linebacker in five contests a year ago, playing 46 snaps. In addition, Jackson was in for 155 special teams plays (made six tackles), mainly on the kickoff coverage and return teams, though he saw limited action on the punt and punt coverage units, thus he was on the field for 201 plays.

Asante, who is 6-foot-2, 215 pounds and is from Alexandria, VA, which is just several miles south of Washington, D.C., also saw reps at linebacker in five games. He played 58 snaps there and registered eight tackles.

Furthermore, Asante was in for 131 special teams plays, mostly on the kickoff coverage unit, but he also played some on the kickoff return plus both punt teams and was on the field in some capacity for 189 plays last fall.

“Gemmel and Chazz pretty much... I think Gemmel played every snap,” Bateman said. “So, I think Khadry and Eugene will be able to certainly do some of that. And I think they do some things better than Chazz and Gemmel do.

“So, I think we've got to find ways to get them in position to do what they do better. But certainly, I have no pause whatsoever with one of those kids going in the game where a year ago we'd have been pretty nervous. So, I think that's an improvement in that realm.”

More game reps for Jackson and Asante could mean for a more effective Gemmel and Surratt, even if they’re on the field less than last fall. They'll be fresher late in close games, too.

Maybe their overall numbers will drop some, but if it makes the Tar Heels a better team, less for them actually will be more.