Fully Recovered and Back at Corner, Huzzie Primed for Big Year
CHAPEL HILL – Alijah Huzzie is feeling good these days.
First, he’s healthy, which wasn’t the case at the end of last football season. And he’s back playing cornerback, the position North Carolina brought him in to man for a couple of seasons after he transferred from East Tennessee State.
Huzzie played star last season after DeAndre Boykins was lost for the year during fall camp. At corner before arriving at UNC, Huzzie was an FCS All-American who had 12 interceptions in his last two seasons at ETSU.
That’s what UNC wanted from him, along with his NFL coverage skills. Instead, he was out of position all year. But the move back to corner?
“Oh yeah, it feels good,” Huzzie said. “It feels good.”
Huzzie played well at star. He earned a PFF grade of 73.3 registering 42 tackles, a TFL, three interceptions, and two hurries. And in 63 targets allowed 35 receptions for 355 yards, two TDs, and seven PBUs. He also had 11 STOPs, which are plays that result in failures for opposing offenses.
Of the 727 snaps Huzzie played on that side of the ball, just 69 were at corner.
“I thought it really hurt us last year when we had to move him inside,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said. “It hurt us that DeAndre Boykins didn’t get to play because he’s tough and smart and love football and played a lot of football for us. It was a double problem when we moved our best corner inside.”
But Huzzie, who was an Honorable Mention All-ACC defensive back and return specialist last season, is back in the spot in which he grades as a future NFL performer.
“He’s a big-time player, and having him back out on the edge…,” first-year defensive coordinator Geoff Collins said. “He played pretty much 99 percent of corner throughout the spring. He’s been really good for us.”
For the 5-foot-10, 195-pound Huzzie, he moved back to his natural position feeling a hundred percent, too. He was injured early in the loss at Clemson last November after logging just 17 snaps, and also missed the loss at NC State and bowl game defeat to West Virginia.
Huzzie fractured the tibia in his right ankle in Death Valley, but the injury didn’t require surgery. Instead, the doctors opted to let it heal naturally and with Huzzie avoiding all of the don’ts on the list he was provided.
“Just healing on its own,” Huzzie said about getting the ankle football ready. “Rehab and really taking my time.”
So, over time it got better, and by the time spring practice started in mid-March, he was ready to go.
He finally gets to show what he can do on the edge at a Power Four school. And, the Tar Heels’ new scheme should allow even more of Huzzie’s skills to flourish.
“Press billing, but pressing, staying man,” he said about the added layers to Carolina’s approach. “And at the top of the route being able to be patient, be poised, be calm, and just react and don’t guess.”
That’s Huzzie the cornerback talking. And as much as he will gladly play where the coaches say, he couldn’t be happier being back at his natural position.