Not that there was widespread doubt, but Wednesday’s approval by the NCAA’s Division One Council of a six-week plan for a full return to the football field, essentially meaning there will be a season was met with some relief within North Carolina’s program.

The plan outlines a model for every team in the nation to follow while adhering to COVID-19 protocols. And for the Tar Heels, it means there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. No more working out not knowing, wondering and sometimes doubting if their efforts will be rewarded with an actual season.

“It was always in the back of my mind,” senior linebacker Tomon Fox said on a Zoom call with the media Thursday. “I try to stay positive about things, but that thought was always in the back of my mind. And to just know we will have a season crushed all the doubt I had and gave me extra motivation to keep working hard and finish up this last year.”

A week ago, UNC’s players started returning to campus in the first of four phases. Fox was among the Tar Heels now in Chapel Hill. Another group will arrive June 19, another on June 26 and finally, the team will be entirely together by the 29th.

The approval allows for eight hours a week, and no more than two in a single day, of some weight training, conditioning and virtual meetings with coaches starting July 12. That moves to 20 hours a week with no more than four in a given day from July 23 through Aug. 5. The breakdown: eight hours for conditioning and weight training, six hours for meetings and film study, and six hours for team walk-throughs which may include use of a football.

The Tar Heels formally open fall camp Aug. 7 and their season opener is Sept. 4 at Central Florida.

Not that the sales pitch was ever a challenge for Brown, but communication with absolutes will be easier moving ahead because explaining various potential scenarios are no longer a part of the process.

“I think it will be great to communicate,” Brown said, also on a Zoom call with the media Thursday. “The fact that the NCAA is giving us a guideline, they’ve given us a road map. There’s no playbook for all the things we’ve been going through for the last three months.

“This really helps us because we can sit down with each player and show them exactly when this is going to happen, what you’ve got to be ready for when we go to this phase and then this phase… And I’m excited that the NCAA did it early enough that now all the universities, even the universities that haven’t brought their teams back yet, they have a plan.”

Having a plan tightens the focus.

“I feel like the past couple of months have been a lot of unknowns, we didn’t really know what to expect, we didn’t really know what was coming for us,” said sophomore quarterback Sam Howell, also on a Zoom call Thursday.

“But, now that there’s a set plan, we know what to expect, we know how to prepare for it and we can prepare ourselves mentally, physically, every single way that we can while before we were just trying to prepare for the unknown. So, I think it’s definitely great for us now having a plan set.”

The players have had regular meetings with the coaching staff on Zoom plus they’ve been working out for the last three months. Some didn’t have the same access to training supplies as others, so reintegrating them into football shape has begun with the 25 Heels that arrived last week.

By the weekend, more than half of the scholarship players in the program will be on campus, and within a week, nearly all will be in Chapel Hill.

While the players have been grinding as they can, Fox said their free time is over and it’s time to get down to business.

“We all talked about it when we learned we were going to have a season…,” he said. “‘Let’s get our minds right, no more messing around. We’ve had enough free time, let’s get back to work.’”

Coming off a 7-6 season in which each loss was by a touchdown or less and that the Heels won their final three games by a combined score of 152-30, they enter the 2020 campaign with high expectations. Ten starters return on offense and the defense, though a bit inexperienced up front, is loaded elsewhere.

Howell and the Heels didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity this season presents.

“We’re really excited for this year, we’ve got a lot of momentum building off of last year,” Howell said. “This definitely isn’t a season we wanted to miss.”

And it looks like they won’t have to. And that’s a relief around the Kenan Football Center.