CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina held its second and final full scrimmage of the preseason Saturday complete with all of the game trimmings possible in the strange year that is 2020.

There won’t be any fans in the stands for the Tar Heels’ first two games, both at home against Syracuse on Sept. 12 and Charlotte on Sept. 19, so in preparing the team for the unusual circumstances, head coach Mack Brown made sure that music, a public address announcer and even piped in crowd noise was aired during the scrimmage.

Crowd noise because the ACC is allowing schools to pump in the sounds of fake fans in the stands like what most Major League Baseball teams are doing.

“We tried to the best of our ability to have a regular game scrimmage on Saturday with the music, with the crowd noise, so they can start understanding how weird it’s going to be without fans,” Brown said during a zoom press conference Monday morning.

Brown discussed some things about the scrimmage, but went more in-depth about the team, several position groups and a few players as well. As for the scrimmage itself, here are some notes and quotes from Brown’s presser:

Special teams have been a major point of emphasis since Brown hired Jovan Dewitt last winter. The Tar Heels rated well below the middle nationally in most departments last season, so improvement is paramount if they're to reach their stated goals. So, how did the units do Saturday?

“Our punt coverage and our kickoff coverage was really, really good,” Brown said, referring to the two units that rated the highest nationally a year ago among all of Carolina’s special teams. “We did a lot more kicking game in the scrimmage. Our punt return was poor. We didn't do a good job of that last year and we didn't do a very good job of that Saturday, so we'll work hard on our punt returns this week.”

Improving the pass rush was something fairly high on the laundry list when this offseason hit and remains so.

The Heels had trouble establishing a pass rush Saturday, enough so that Brown expressed considerable concern about it Monday. It’s one thing to force a QB to move bringing guys from different spots, but to best utilize Jay Bateman’s unique schemes, the guys up front need to be a functioning part of the process.

“The thing that we're not doing as well as we would like is pass rush," Brown said. "We would like to be able to get a pass rush with just four pass rushers instead of Jay Bateman, our defensive coordinator, having to bring a bunch of people, which makes us play a lot more man coverage when we have to bring extra people.

"So, we've got to do a better job of getting to the quarterback with four people up front. Offensively, we were much better on Saturday.

The first six players on the offensive line continued playing well in the scrimmage, but a seventh player in the staff’s quest to find eight they trust inserting into a game is true freshman Jonathan Adorno. Adorno has played tackle this month as well, but with Ty Murray still battling an injury, Adorno is now the primary backup to Brian Anderson. In fact, Adorno played the entire scrimmage at center for the white (second) team.

Behind him is junior Quiron Johnson, who arrived at UNC as a preferred walk-on. The Reidsville, NC, native has played on both lines of scrimmage including 15 snaps on the OL last season.

“We have put Adorno at backup center, period," Brown said. "So he’s going to play that position for the next two weeks. Quiron Johnson can also play it, so we can alternate in there. But those two guys would be our backup centers if we played today.”

Several players and coaches have said they expect the tight ends to play more of a role in the passing game this season, something senior and returning starter Garrett Walston noted a couple of weeks ago. But, given that he had just nine receptions last fall and the position group, which included Carl Tucker and Jake Bargas, both of whom have moved on, was targeted just 30 times, it’s a seeing-is-believing deal.

So, Walston catching a few passes in Saturday’s scrimmage might be an indicator that he and backup Kamari Morales might get more balls thrown their way than the group did a year ago.

“I've really been pleased, and our coaches have been pleased with Garrett Walston,” Brown said. “He's doing a really good job for us at tight end. He caught a big ball the other day, or two or three, but he also is blocking well and he's playing at a high level for us.”

True freshmen Kaimon Rucker and Desmond Evans once again turned in a quality performance in the scrimmage. In fact, Brown reiterated what he said last week about the hybrid linebackers possibly getting on the field. Now, it appears it will certainly happen.

“The outside linebacker position, we’re excited about the young ones,” Brown said. “Kaimon Rucker and Desmond Evans played a whole lot on Saturday.”

Going back to the pass rush issue, Brown believes if Rucker and Evans continue progressing and getting comfortable with the bevy of schemes, the Heels’ efforts at getting to the quarterback and making him move will be enhanced.

“We do feel like between Tomon Fox and Tyrone Hopper and Chris Collins, the three older guys at that position,” Brown said. “And then having these young pups coming in with fresh legs, we think that that will help our pass rush… we feel like those other two young guys are going to play against Syracuse, for sure.”

It really shouldn’t come as any surprise to UNC fans that the secondary is the team’s best and deepest position group, at least acording to Brown on Monday. The Tar Heels are loaded there. They were outstanding again in the scrimmage prompting Brown to gush about the position group.

“I think Storm Duck is playing at such a high level,” he said, when asked who stood out the most during the scrimmage. “He would probably be the first guy that I would say. Kyler Michael had a great scrimmage. Patrice Rene is coming back off his knee, and he was a little tentative when we first started. He's doing much better now. And then you look at the DeAndre Hollins. I think we've got four corners that we could rotate during the ballgame and feel really, really comfortable with that.

"And then you go back inside, all of the safeties are playing well. Cam Kelly again was a little slow at first because he's coming off of his knee operation without spring practice, without a lot of the rehab time. They had to do things at home, so it's been little slower. But he's full speed now.

“We're a better secondary when Myles Wolfolk is in there because he's older and experienced and he’s one of the real leaders on this team. And he can tell everybody where to go and what to do. And he played some plays on Saturday and we’re so impressed with Trey Morrison. He's just all over the place, and again he could play six places back there. But he played very, very well. Gio Biggers.

"I'm looking at our board as we sit here, Gio Biggers has done some good things. Ja’Qurious Conley is playing. He's in a limited role right now because he hadn't been here very long. And we moved Welton Spottsville back there, and he's doing some good things at nickel as well. We're deeper and stronger in the secondary than at any time we've been since I've been here.”