While North Carolina has been ensconced in a modified practice schedule for the last few weeks, the Tar Heels formally and officially open fall camp Thursday.
In July, the NCAA approved a six-week return for college football teams because so many missed all of most of spring practice and player-led practices and moderated workouts in the months between the spring and fall camp were limited.
Nobody went full speed, though the NCAA allowed players to wear helmets during workouts and walkthroughs starting last Friday. Thursday, it gets real.
“That will give us the normal start,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said last week, marking the start of camp as when the staff can really dive into things with its team.
The Tar Heels will practice in shorts the first two days, then wear shells (helmets and shoulder pads) on days three and four, and then on the fifth day they will wear full pads and can hit.
Another wrinkle must be dealt with, however.
“Our school starts on August 10, so then we go back to 20 hours a week with a day off,” Brown said. “So, we will not have as much time as we normally would in preseason camp to visit because of schools starting earlier for us, because it was supposed to start the 18.”
Camp usually lasts about 10-14 days. It’s a period in which the players are basically in an all-football, all-the-time mode. They even house together before the younger Heels head to their dorms for the year and older ones go back to their apartments or houses. Fall camp this time around will technically be just four days.
In addition, the Tar Heels won't wake up knowing yet when they will play their first game, though the ACC is set to release that part of the schedule Thursday morning. Such is seemingly everything in 2020.
The fluid schedule has made practice plans more of a challenge, though the staff has laid out contingencies for a variety of kickoff times.
“All of that is changing as we speak,” Brown said. “I’m really not sure who that is, who that will be, what those options are or when it will be. So we have to have a preseason camp but with the schedule to play on the 12th, maybe the 19th, maybe the 26th. We’ve just got to try to prepare a number of different practice plans until we can get ourselves in a position where we know who we’re playing.”
One thing is certain whenever the Heels actually play a game, Brown and his staff have high expectations for this squad. He won’t say exactly how high, but the standard has been raised. This isn’t just with respect to how many games they will win, it goes deeper than that.
Brown has discussed with his team the storylines that have marked this year, and in particular since the broad shutdowns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Race issues and the fallout of everything that has transpired has afforded the players opportunities to understand football's place in the grand scheme of things.
“I feel like we’re in a good place right now with our team as far as moving forward with them, with all of the things that are happening out there,” Brown said. “There’s obviously people that have lost their jobs, and aren’t eating well, and unemployment may not be as good for them as it was a month ago, and they’re losing houses, they’re losing family members that are sick.
“So, we’re constantly talking to our players about all those issues nationally and letting them understand, as important as football is to us, it’s sure not the most important thing in our country and in our world right now. We’re just a small part of it trying to work out a piece that we really enjoy, and make sure that we can make football work this fall.”
Football still matter and the Tar Heels will kick off camp Thursday, nonetheless. A season still might not happen, but as for now, the Heels are preparing for one.
