Fall Camp Practice 9: Brown On Battles, Standouts, Rules & More

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media following the Tar Heels’ ninth practice of fall camp Monday at the Koman Practice Complex to update some things about his team and field a variety of questions.

Above is the full video of Brown’s Q&A session, and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:

*Regarding senior wide receiver Antoine Green’s injury he suffered during the scrimmage Saturday, Brown said he could be back by the Notre Dame game, which is September 24 at Kenan Stadium.

“It was a hitch and he turned inside and he got hit (motioned toward upper left shoulder) just running,” Brown said. “Linebacker hit him, and he gets hurt. So, now he’s out for 6-to-10 weeks, hopefully on the six side of that. We’re 20 days from game time (versus Florida A&M), he’ll be back by Notre Dame.”

Green had his operation Sunday and was at the team meeting before practice Monday morning.

“That’s the kind of attitude he’s got,” Brown said. “You love the young guy. He’s had some bad luck here, so hopefully he’ll get some positive things to still happen throughout the season.”

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*While Carolina held a 100-play scrimmage Saturday, it was back to full-speed, full-action in some sequences Monday.

“We’re working really hard on things we haven’t done well” Brown said. “We had a third-down scrimmage today, and that’s all we did; situations for third down. We had another game scrimmage where we just played it. We put it down and played it.

“Go about four-to-six plays, and also because (defensive coordinator Gene) Chizik hasn’t called plays in five years, he needs to be doing that. We’re tweaking some things on offense. So, (offensive coordinator) Coach (Phil) Longo needs to be doing the same thing.

“And we’re having one-minute (drills) every day because we need to get better in one-minute, and especially with these young quarterbacks.”

Brown later said the third-down work was part of a list of things he put together looking at the last three seasons as a whole, what the team has typically struggled with. He included red zone on both sides of the ball, and lower red zone on both sides of the ball,

The third-down work is interesting since Brown relies a lot on using analytics to make certain decisions. But analytics don’t mean much if a team doesn’t execute as it should in those situations.

“Analytics wants you to go for third-and-short and fourth-and-short,” he said. “But if you’re not making them, you can’t do it. I want to get to where we can make them, and I want to have a better plan, and I want to know exactly what we’re doing on those downs. And we work on them every day.”

*Carolina has six running backs that at times have stood out during fall camp, and at times they look like one of the guys that will make the rotation come game time, offensive coordinator Phil Longo said last Friday. Brown said Monday the staff needs to get that room sorted out, and with two ballyhooed true freshmen making huge impressions already, that complicates things even further. In a good way, that is.

“Both George Pettaway and Omarion Hampton looked really good on Saturday, so we’ve got to figure out who can stay healthy in that group.”

*With Pettaway and Hampton making strong pushes for inclusion in the rotation, plus the clear emergence of true freshman wide receiver Andre Greene also likely earning plenty of game reps, the staff will scale back the offense to accommodate their learning curves.

“He needs to step up now that Antoine’s out,” Brown said about Greene. “So, we’ve also got to adjust the offense to make sure that we’re simple enough for those guys to be able to play and play free, and not get you beat because they don’t know what to do or they run the wrong way or get somebody hit.”

*Brown was asked about “simplifying” the offense, and said it was probably the wrong term, so he clarified what he meant, especially with respect to having so many new skills guys on offense.

“We’re looking at what we need to do to be able to play the best players, and to do that, maybe you take some concepts out that they’re not ready for yet,” he said.

*Brown brought up a rule change that came up Saturday when he and the staff met with ACC officials for a couple of hours after the scrimmage. Basically, even less blocking below the waist will be allowed this season. Brown doesn’t care much for the rule, either.

“So basically, if Josh Downs is in the slot, and you’ve got a linebacker on his head, he can’t cut him anymore because it’s out of the tackle box,” Brown explained. “So, it changes your concepts with perimeter blocking. You have to do it with more tight ends, you have to recruit taller and bigger receivers.

“And even your offensive linemen, even if you’re in the box, you can’t cut unless it’s straight on. So, if an outside linebacker is slanting inside, your offensive lineman has to be his hip or above, so there is no more cutting at all.

“Even for a running back on sprint-out, if you’ve got George Pettaway blocking Des Evans, he has to stay up and block him because it’s out of the tackle box he can’t cut him. It’s the biggest advantage that I’ve ever seen for the defense. It’s a huge advantage.”

*Among the players that have stood out, and first came to Brown’s mind when asked Monday, true freshmen running backs George Pettaway, Omarion Hampton, and wide receiver Andre Greene. Brown raved about all three. As for some others:

“Noah Taylor has made plays, Des (Evans) is rushing the passer better. Kaimon Rucker’s done a good job rushing the passer… Those three for sure since we’re working on pass rushers. Jahvaree Ritzie is so quick. He’s playing power end and inside. He’s so quick and he’s hard to block.

“Power Echols is a machine, and he just loves to play. He’s a little undersized, but he plays all over the field every play. We’ve been impressed with Marcus Allen, the young corner from Walton in Atlanta. His dad was the captain of the basketball team at West Point, his mom’s a Columbia graduate, (and) he looks like he’s older. He’s just out there playing.

“Will Hardy, his dad’s a high school coach and very successful, so both those guys have played older than they are. Corey Gaynor is confident, older and toughness to that offensive line. We think Spencer Rolland will be a good player. He’s having to adjust to a faster pass rush than he’s used to, so he’s had a couple of those where he’s, ‘Oof, yeah, they’re faster.’ But he’s getting better with what we do.”