CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina held its 15th and final spring practice Saturday evening inside Kenan Stadium concluding the first such session under new head coach Bill Belichick.

The Tar Heels went for more than two hours in what was dubbed "Practice Like A Pro" spending plenty of time simulating game scenarios, including full offensive drives with supposedly ones versus ones and twos versus twos. They practiced all three phases, including quite a few kickoff reps.

Belichick has been hands on in practice video put out by the program over the last five weeks, and was something he emphasized was part of his coaching style.

“That’s the great thing about being a head coach, I can coach anybody I want,” Belichick said in a press conference a day after spring practice started last month. “I can coach the lines, I can yell at the tight ends, yell at the DBs, yell at the kickers. I can go to any group I want and coach them and honestly, that’s the fun part. You see something that you want to address and talk to a player about, you can go in there and talk to them.

“I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve had the opportunity to coach every position on the field on offense, on defense, on special teams. If I can help a player, I’m here to help them. That’s my job. I want to help them get better.”

A crowd of approximately 5,000 was on hand at the outset. The crowd slowly dwindled as the cool air set in. Former Tar Heel Rick Steinbacher, a Senior Associate Athletic Director, was on the PA describing to fans the different things the team was doing from individual position group workouts to the emphasis on special teams importance.

Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi have expressed an interest in promoting the program’s past noting while it hasn’t had a lot of great teams it has produced a lot of NFL players and college stars.

So, approximately 25-30 former UNC players were on the sideline each wearing a lanyard that read “Tar Heel Legend.”

“We welcome that. We want all of our alumni to come back, both football players and non-football players, other people who are part of the program and supporters of the program,” Belichick said in March. “We welcome all those people back. I’m sure you’ll see a lot of former UNC players around here. Some are on the staff [like] Natrone (Means) for example. Some are in other capacities in the organization or at the university and some will be here visiting.

“I won’t give away any names or anything, but you guys do some good detective work, maybe you’ll be able to spot the couple.”

The Tar Heels practiced on the new grass inside Kenan Stadium. Former coach Mack Brown had artificial turf installed when he took over following the 2018 season, and for the last six seasons, UNC played on that surface.

Belichick had it removed and grass installed, which wasn’t ready until a couple of weeks ago.

A few more notes about practice:

*The players went all 15 spring practices without having numbers on their jerseys or names on their helmets. That may have made it more difficult for fans (and media) in attendance to get a feel for what was going on because it was hard to discern who the players were.

“That’s just what we do, we got out there and we earn it,” Belichick explained last month. “The numbers and what color gloves we wear and all that’s not as important as doing your job and being responsible and accountable to your teammates and being a good teammate. Our focus is on the team and we’re all just out there working, practicing, trying to get better. It’s coaches, players, all of us.

“It’s not all about individual notoriety right now, it’s about trying to put together a team. We did that at New England. We did it for years and years and then of course they changed the rule and forced us to put jersey numbers on the players and so we did. I don’t think that’s important this time of year. I think it’s more important to just go out there practice well and improve every day. That’s what we emphasize.”

*UNC has three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster right now with a fourth arriving in June. Only two, however, participated today. Max Johnson, who was lost for the season with a gruesome injury in last season’s opener at Minnesota, was dressed in pads but did not throw the ball.

Purdue transfer Ryan Browne was the first QB in every drill and with the first team and true freshman Bryce Baker went second and was with the second team.

Browne looked more comfortable and was steadier and obviously like an experienced player, which he is having started two games last season for the Boilermakers. Baker enrolled in January and is clearly rough around the edges, but the talent and arm are obvious, and he also had the most impressive throw of the day, a fade for a touchdown in the right corner of the end zone.