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CHAPEL HILL – As part of North Carolina Coach Mack Brown’s quest to generate more of an edge with his football team, is a mission to improve its tackling. But there are other prongs that can be byproducts of this.
The Tar Heels missed 132 tackles last season, which is just more than 10 a game. That isn’t a horrible number, though they had some poor games in which this issue was costly. And, the edge Brown wants within his team, born also out of increased competition in everything the players do, is the other part of the equation that cannot be understated.
So, this spring, the Tar Heels hit. And they hit some more, and kept hitting.
“We got way more physical than last year,” junior defensive lineman Myles Murphy said. “Because coach (Gene) Chizik’s play calling is up to point. So, whenever he calls a play, we just do our job to execute it. So, after that, it's just up to us.”
Physicality allows play calls and schemes to work. Pretty simple stuff, only it wasn’t always so uncomplicated the last few years.
Aside from a scheme under Jay Bateman that had Carolina blue heads spinning more than desirable, the players not getting off snaps well meant missed everything in addition to the missed tackles. Now, better breaks off the ball and better tackling should lead to a significant increase in Tar Heels wrapping up ball carriers closer to the point of attack than last season.
But no matter the scheme, no matter how quickly a player gets off the snap, and no matter how well a unit has scouted its opponent for that week, if they can’t tackle they are going to get scorched.
“People always talk about toughness with the football team, this group has tackled every day,” Brown said. “They’ve tackled every day and stayed healthy. I don’t think I’ve done this much tackling in my whole career. I know it’s been since early.
“We were limited in some areas, but guys would get banged up and come right back in and play. So, this team is developing a mental toughness that we really, really need for a young team.”
And make no mistake, the mental toughness part of this is vital. If guys aren’t prepared to bang heads and get gritty, the body won’t follow. It is a mindset to begin with, and then it’s an act.
Junior linebacker Cedric Gray is the new face and voice of the defense, stepping in for graduated middle linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel, and he was open and honest about the issue of missed tackles a year ago.
Gray recognizes if that number drops it’s because the team has embraced an elevation of physicality, which will show in the number of misses the defense registers.
“Definitely last year, we as a whole on the defensive side of the ball I did think we missed too many tackles,” he said. “And so that’s why I like bringing this live period to practice so we can practice that more and not feel like when it’s game time you know we haven’t really done this much before.
“I think going live in practice is just going to help us tremendously this year.”
Live meaning just a lot more hitting, full-speed stuff. The benefits of true game simulation. But the benefactors aren’t relegated to just the guys on defense. The offense is and will benefit from this as well.
The Tar Heels didn’t win enough battles in tight running situations last season, and they allowed way too many sacks (50) and tackles for a loss of yardage (89). Brown and offensive coordinator Phil Longo want those numbers significantly reduced, and being tougher at the point of the attack and with the guys holding the ball are a big part of that. So, while improving tackling and toughness on defense was a mandate this spring, the byproduct is the positive effect on the offense, too.
“I feel as a running back we needed that, we can't just go thud all the time,” senior running back British Brooks said. “Thud and live registers different in people's heads. I feel like in thud you are trying to stay up so you are not getting the real effect.
“For us to go tackle, a lot I feel like as a running back that’s something you need because come the fall there is no thud.”
Better tackling, better at shedding would-be tackles, and overall more physicality will lead to more success on the field. Among the tactics implemented this offseason to make the Tar Heels a more fortified unit marching forward on the field, this is a major part of that process.
