CHAPEL HILL – The days of North Carolina’s cornerbacks playing way off the line of scrimmage might mostly be over.

Among the characteristics of first-year defensive coordinator Geoff Collins’ approach is all-out aggressiveness, which includes an intent on disrupting passing routes and timing before receivers can even get into them.

Cornerbacks Marcus Allen and Alijah Huzzie say they’re in press coverage much of the time, and absolutely love it.

The intent is for corners to line up essentially at the line of scrimmage on the edge in front of the receivers they must cover. At the snap, they jam them and totally disrupt their plan on that snap.

“You can get the receivers off their landmark, which is the most important thing,” Allen said. “When a receiver releases, get him off his landmark and mess up the time with the QB… He doesn’t want us giving up any easy access throws.”

Those easy access throws were there with regularity last season, and it was cause for considerable consternation among the UNC fan base. If opponents didn’t blitz the Tar Heels with explosive plays, they chunked their way down the field, moving the chains so frequently that only nine teams in FBS allowed more first downs than Carolina.

The Collins way is to cause chaos, “mayhem,” as he calls it. Throw off the offense to where it’s almost backyard football, and allow athletes to take over and make plays. Constantly disrupt.

Defensive end Des Evans recently described the new approach as liberating, as opposed to being stuffed into a box. It’s less systematic than previously. That is why playing press coverage personifies the new way the Tar Heels will try to limit opposing offenses.

The talent is there all over the defense. Athletes are more in abundance than any time since perhaps the Butch Davis era, if not when Brown was at UNC in the 1990s. Dudes must be dudes, and Collins understands that.

“You’re supposed to let your players play. Have some freedom,” Evans said. “And this year, I feel Coach Collins will do that.”

Which brings everything back to Allen, Huzzie, and the other corners.

“Us pressing more is allowing us to disguise our defenses,” Allen said.

And it plays to their strengths.

Huzzie was perhaps the top corner in FCS before transferring to UNC, but he played star last season filling in for injured starter DeAndre Boykins. Huzzie is back at corner, where he projects as an NFL prospect.

Allen has gained 11 pounds of evenly distributed muscle since last season, and at 6-foot-2 and 182 pounds, he believes the added strength will elevate his game in every aspect. And, he's physically suited to play press coverage however many snaps a game Collins deems is needed.

“He’s able to shock the receivers off the line and not get pushed by,” Huzzie said about Allen. “Just being able to maintain his ground. He’s not more so like flimsy… He’s more strong and compact.”

And, Allen said, he should tackle better. That’s another aspect to playing press coverage that is vital. The corners, if met with quick darts to receivers, or if they’re blocked and a running plays goes their way, must be able to shed blockers and make stops. It’s that simple.

The Collins way is simple though it appears complicated, the Heels say. And if it doesn’t begin by controlling gaps and applying conventional pressure up front, it does with the press coverage and its effect on the rest of the unit.