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CHAPEL HILL – It’s a good thing North Carolina doesn’t have any players named “Jack” on its roster, especially on the defensive side of the ball, or it could get a little bit confusing at times.

Confusing is the optimal word to best describe how many Tar Heels fans view a key position in new defensive coordinator Gene Chizik’s scheme. It is called “Jack,” and they are going to hear it a lot this season.

Jacks are faster and quicker than typical defensive ends, but not big enough to handle the snap-by-snap grind of regularly battling offensive tackles. The name “jack” simply denotes a player who is essentially a jack of all trades on defense.

Okay, but what really is a jack, and what is their job?

“It’s basically an edge rusher who’s got the ability to drop and be a coverage guy as well,” Chizik recently said following one of UNC’s practices in fall camp. “But his main job is to set the edges of the defense, meaning nothing gets outside of him. One job description on the run is setting the edge of the defense and get the ball turned back inside, and then when it’s time to rush the passer, we’ve got to get some islands out of these pass rushers.”

At first glance, this could cause some concern to UNC fans that had seen enough of the hybrid position in former coordinator Jay Bateman’s system. There are hybrid elements to the jack position, and in actuality, it’s a multi-hybrid position entailing plenty of responsibilities. Hence, the name.

But it is different. A lot different.

Jacks go after quarterbacks. They are ends, but with a twist.

“Chiz is big on us doing what we do best,” said 6-foot-4, 245-pound senior Chris Collins, who has played traditional defensive end and the hybrid spot during his Carolina career. “We’re all tall, long guys at the jack position, he and knows what we came here for was the rush the passer.

“We are definitely going to drop some, but what he mainly wants us to do is rush the passer.”

The pass-rushing element of the position is what makes it so tantalizing. The design is to cause some chaos, but not under the umbrella of throwing 20 different looks at opposing offenses and trying to out-scheme them with unsuspecting blitzes. Instead, the jack is a dude doing dude things, beginning with getting around tackles and hunting down the quarterback.

“We put a premium, since the day I got here, on being able to affect the passer on a four-man pass rush,” Chizik said. “We’re not going to live in the pressure world to try to bring a guy down. We have really big, athletic, good frames up front, and we’ve got to let those big guys work.

“So, jack is part of that front four, and the importance of generating a four-man pass rush.”

Jacks do other things, too.

They are part of pass coverage, but instead of 265-pound guys like Des Evans trying to stay with receivers out of the backfield, which was the case last fall, they are 240-pounders with a high degree of agility assigned that task, in addition to helping the corners.

Noah Taylor, a graduate transfer who played five defensive positions at Virginia, including safety, says a role for the jacks is to provide some relief for the corners.

“You don’t want your corner pressing, especially if it’s a guy, you don’t want your corner pressing the number one receiver in the ACC the whole time,” explained Taylor, who is 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds. “And I’m taking our corners over anyone, but you don’t want to do that. So, sometimes you want to bail them. If a corner’s bailing away right away, you need somebody to give underneath help.

“You want to roll them here and there. You don’t want to just press man the whole game, because offenses will scheme that up the same way we scheme up.”

Noah is a jack, Chris is a jack, and the Tar Heels will always have a jack on the field on defense. It may take time for UNC fans to get used to the name and role, but they will eventually get it, and just must like it.