Huzzie's Home, Allen Improved, and Depth on Board at Corner

CHAPEL HILL – The best news regarding the cornerback position North Carolina can have is that Alijah Huzzie is back where he most belongs.

Huzzie was Honorable Mention All-ACC last season playing the star position, an assignment he took over once DeAndre Boykins was lost for the season in August with a torn ACL.

But the former FCS All-American is back at corner now, where he is an NFL prospect, and should stay there given UNC’s depth in all three areas of the secondary, something the Tar Heels didn’t enjoy last season.

“Hopefully he can stay there now (that) we’ve got enough depth at star,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said.

Huzzie played well at star, earning a PFF grade of 73.3 registering 42 tackles, a TFL, three interceptions, two hurries, and in 63 targets allowed 35 receptions for 355 yards, two TDs, and even 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.

First-year defensive coordinator Geoff Collins has been highly impressed with the Georgia native.

“He’s a big-time player having him back out on the edge…,” he said. “He played pretty much 99 percent of corner throughout the spring. He’s been really good for us.”

Out this past spring but expected back at full strength is Marcus Allen, a junior who started all 13 games at corner last season.

Allen has barely tapped into his potential, of which he is well aware. His natural gifts are clear, but there’s so much more to the position. At nearly 6-foot-2, Allen says using his entire body and skill set were keys in improving heading into fall camp, not just relying on his height and reach.

“Obviously, length is a great thing,” he said. “Length can help you; it can help you get away with a lot of things. But you’ve still got to be fundamentally sound, technically sound.”

Allen started all 13 games as a sophomore registering 49 tackles, eight PBUs, was targeted 65 times allowing 42 receptions for an average of 13.4 yards with four touchdowns surrendered and a pick.

Fortifying the corner spots is junior college transfer Tyrane “Dooley” Stewart, who spent the last two seasons at East Mississippi Community College. Stewart made an immediate impact in the spring, and should get on the field quite a bit.

“He’s been working every day,” safety and NC State transfer Jakeen Harris said about Stewart. “He’s like more of a tackling corner, I feel. And he can cover, too. But I feel like he’s more a tackling corner.”

Stewart posted 64 tackles, two INTs and 12 PBU as a sophomore last season, in perhaps the most competitive JUCO conferences in the nation, before transferring to UNC.

Redshirt freshman Ty Adams and true freshman Zion Ferguson, an early enrollee, had promising springs, and the belief is both can be serviceable if pressed into duty. Ferguson, especially, showed enough he could get on the field some this fall.

Brown says the cornerback spot is a key upgraded element in what he sees as a vastly improved back end of the defense.

Improvement is a must considering Carolina finished 95th nationally in total defense a year ago, including 94th in passing yards allowed, and 69th in pass defense efficiency. But the change in approach issued by Collins has been wholly embraced by the defense, and the cover guys think it plays to their strengths more than the previous scheme.

It has them hyped, to be frank.

“I love the energy he’s brought to the team, we needed that energy,” Huzzie said. “And just his aggressive mindset and the way he approaches everything. The urgency, he’s pushing it for us to be the best defense in college football.”

With most of the offseason in the rearview mirror, Brown has allowed everything to settle in, and the combination of improved play and increased depth at corner, star, and safety has him offering up nothing but superlatives about the group.

“I’m really pleased with the secondary,” Brown said. “We’re going to be deeper and I think better than we’ve been… We’ll be deeper at corner than we’ve been.”

And it begins with the corner spots, which should be much improved from a year ago.