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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina is back on the practice field Tuesday, after the Tar Heels were off last week because of spring break.

UNC opened spring practice March 5, and held three sessions that week, last working out March 9, so it has really been 12 days since they were last together on the field.

The focus Tuesday and for the rest of the week is to finalize the install of the new tweaks to the offense and whatever slight changes have been made on defense, skills development, and some hitting, maybe even plenty of hitting.

The key, however, is continued growth, which means smoothing over rough spots and enhancing what has worked well.

“We want to continue to grow and practice and play to a standard of excellence every day,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said regarding his message to the team throughout the spring. “And do everything we can do to win all the games.

“Everything in this program is in great shape right now. The recruiting’s good, the academics are good, the facilities are good, the discipline is good; we need to win more games… We had ten games that came down to the last play of the game; we won seven and lost three. What do we have to do to win those other three?”

With three new coaches on the offensive side of the ball – tight end, offensive line, quarterback – and a new offensive analyst in respected veteran Clyde Christiansen, the coming weeks are vital to the offense getting in sync. Not just with the alterations made in the passing game, but the ground attack, too.

New offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey has promised the Tar Heels will be more physical in the run game, especially in short-yardage situations.

“I think that’s where it starts,” Lindsey said after the second practice of the spring. “First of all, we’ve got to make sure we don’t just talk about it, but we actually do it in practice. That’s what we’re trying to do now is set the tone now.

“Our run game’s a hair different than what they did last year. We want to be physical, we want to make sure we focus on double-teams, we want to get movement at the point of contact, and really dent the line of scrimmage.”

Lindsey also plans to use the running backs in the passing game more than has been the case at UNC since Mack Brown returned, though Javonte Williams and Michael Carter each caught 25 passes during the 2020 campaign.

“The best offenses I’ve had, if you really go back and look, our running backs have been – sometimes both of them – in the top five in receptions. At least one, and that’s important to me. I think when you spread people out, you have to space it, and you have to use the running backs to do that.”

On the other side of the ball, coordinator Gene Chizik is intent on building depth at linebacker, and finding out how players in the secondary will sort things out, at least the ones that are a full-go this spring.

UNC will practice 12 more times concluding April 15 with some kind of spring finale. The program has not announced anything specific yet for the 15th, as Mack Brown has discussed the possibility of not having a spring game, but instead using that date more as a needed practice with some 11-on-11 scrimmaging, all of which could be open to the public.

It should also be noted that the Tar Heels will hold an open practice to the media and public Saturday morning at 10 AM at Kenan Stadium.