Fall Camp Report, Practice 10: Defense (Chapman & Boykins)

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina held its 10th practice of fall camp Tuesday morning, and afterward, Tar Heels defensive players Don Chapman and DeAndre Boykins met with the media via zoom to field questions about themselves, their position groups, Gene Chizik, and more.

Below are full videos of their interviews along with some notes and pulled quotes from what they had to say:

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Chapman has played a lot of football at UNC when he’s been healthy, which was an issue for him last season. He appeared in just eight games, though the San Diego native logged 376 snaps in the process.

In three seasons, Chapman has played in 32 contests, starting 19 times. In all, he has played 1,326 snaps, recorded 104 tackles, three sacks, has three interceptions, three forced fumbles, seven PBUs, and 29 STOPs, which are plays that result in failures by opposing offenses, as graded by PFF.

*One of the themes throughout camp has been improved communication under Gene Chizik, in part because things are simpler. There won’t be just a couple of voices out there barking in pre-snap, but order will be improved because the understanding is better and options minimized.

“I feel like we shrunk the playbook a little bit,” Chapman said. “It’s not what the offense does, it’s about what we do. We’re out here working on our checks, making sure we have a check for everything. It’s more so us playing our defense and playing fast instead of thinking on every call, or if they do this we’ve got to change the call.

“That’s the big difference, I’d say Coach Chiz and (Charlton) Warren bring. It’s a lot simpler, and every call has a check for everything that can show up.”

*Everyone in the secondary is responsible for calling the checks out, unlike a year ago. So if a safety made a poor call, especially with the confusion of multiple sets coming in from the sideline, chaos sometimes ensued.

“Last year, it was mainly on the safeties, but this year everybody plays a role,” Chapman said. “There’s calls the corners have to make with their checks with the stars, we’ve got to make checks with the stars and the corners. So, it’s a collective; it’s more collective than it was last year.”

*But what happens if Chapman sees something different than Tony Grimes or any of the corners, or one of the stars? Whose call stands?

“Certain calls, if it’s something that affects more than them, I overrule them, and certain calls they overrule me,” Chapman replied.

*Chapman has lined up at corner and nickel some before, though mostly safety. This season, he is mainly back at safety.

“I’ve been at safety a lot, but I still take some reps at star,” he said. “It really just depends. We all move around right now.”

A sophomore, Boykins saw action in four games on defense getting 20 snaps versus Wofford, 14 against Georgia State, and three each versus Duke and Miami. He played 40 total snaps on defense a year ago, mostly at nickel.

Overall, he appeared in 11 games last season, finishing with four tackles, two STOPs, and he was twice targeted in coverage allowing two receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown. He was in for 84 plays on special teams, which included him returning a kickoff 12 yards versus Duke.

*Boykins is running mainly with the first team on defense as the star, which used to be called nickel. There are many similarities, though there are some differences, as Boykins laid out.

“I consider it a more aggressive corner,” he said. “It’s in the slot, so you still have to cover, but you also fit up on tight ends and be in the run fit as well.”

*Boykins believes his skill set is perfectly suited for the star position. It encompasses most of the elements of being a defensive player, and he likes that a lot.

“I’m not afraid to get my hands on people,” he said. “I can cover. Pretty physical person.”

*More from Boykins on the differences between the nickel and star:

“The star and nickel are the same position,” he said. “I would say the difference between last year’s nickel and this year’s star is you have to be more of a cover guy in this system.”

*Chapman spoke a lot about communication at the safety position, but what is it like for the star in this defense? Is it any different from the nickel? More, less, the same?

“You have to communicate with the Mike, communicate with the safety behind you, the corners,” he said. “It’s a high-communication position. You’ve got to be on top of it.”

*Among some of the young guys on defense that have stood out to Boykins, one name popped up.

“Will Hardy just got here, standing at about 6-2, 205, big guy, big frame, long guy,” Boykins said. “He’s really been impressive so far.”