Lack Of Depth Hitting UNC's Secondary The Most

Senior cornerback Patrice Rene was ruled out for the year last week after tearing his ACL in the 28-25 win over Miami, leaving sophomore Trey Morrison and junior Greg Ross as the only cornerbacks on the roster with real game experience. Morrison, who missed most of the season-opener against South Carolina with a concussion, has played 152 snaps this season while Ross has played 183.

On UNC’s latest depth chart that was released Monday, true freshmen Storm Duck and Obi Egbuna are now listed as the backups at cornerback behind Morrison and Ross. Neither have seen much action, with Duck having played 27 snaps, 24 of which came against the Gamecocks, and Egbuna only getting reps on special teams.

If Tar Heels’ cornerback position is thin, however, safety is even thinner. True freshmen Don Chapman and Cam’Ron Kelly are currently listed as the backups behind senior Myles Dorn, the defense’s most experienced player, and junior Myles Wolfolk, who leads the team with two interceptions.

While Kelly and Chapman haven’t played any defensive snaps in games, they have been on some special teams. Getting them into some games is important to defensive coordinator Jay Bateman, who wants to see how they develop getting some live reps.

"I think Don Chapman and Cam Kelly, our two young safeties, are going to be dynamite players,” Bateman said at UNC’s weekly press conference Monday.

The future of the Tar Heels’ secondary isn’t a concern for Bateman but the lack of proven experience in the present is, something the former Army defensive coordinator has been aware of since he first arrived in Chapel Hill last December.

“When we first got here and we looked at it, there was a little bit of a gap in our depth in the secondary,” Bateman said. “We had some really good older kids, which we do, that are playing for us right now and playing well and then I felt like there was a little bit of a gap between the next group of kids.”

Nickel is similar to corner and safety, as it also lacks any experience behind starter D.J. Ford. Rene’s injury has forced Morrison to play exclusively at cornerback instead of moving around because there’s really nobody to then step in at corner.

Going into UNC’s first two games, Morrison was also listed as the backup nickel behind Ford, a junior, who has already played more snaps this year (189) than he did all of the last (175).

The inability to move players around as Bateman would like means sophomore DeAndre Hollins has moved up the pecking order and is the only backup nickel. Even though Hollins has played more football than his second-team secondary counterparts, he’s still inexperienced, having played a total of just 75 snaps so far in his college career.

Besides the starters, there just aren’t many options in the Tar Heels' secondary but that will change in 2020. Clemson transfer Kyler McMichael and Virginia Tech transfer Bryce Watts have to sit out this season due to NCAA rules but will add much needed depth to the cornerback position this time next year.

Or, at least Bateman thinks so.

“A year from now, you get Bryce, who started 14 games at Virginia Tech, and you get Kyler, who I think was a top 150 kid in the country who are both really talented…,” Bateman said. “And then you get Patrice back from an injury and all the sudden it becomes a much different conversation.

“All the sudden it becomes, ‘Boy, who’s not going to play?’ which, as a coach, is a great situation.”

Unfortunately for this team, the future eligibility of McMichael, Watts and potentially Rene if he decides to return doesn’t help them right now. Instead, they’ll have to rely on four true freshmen as backups who simply aren’t prepared to play significant minutes, something that could come back to haunt UNC as it dives deeper into the 2019 campaign.