CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Football Coach Mack Brown met with the media Wednesday at the Kenan Football Center to discuss the upcoming spring game along with some other noteworthy topics.
Among them: Info about where things stand at certain positions; how practice has gone, including more hitting, more live work on special teams, giving both quarterbacks equal reps with the blue and white teams; and what UNC will be looking for in the transfer portal.
Above is video of Brown’s presser, and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*The Tar Heels finish spring practice Saturday with the annual spring game. They will have a physical practice Thursday, Friday will be in shorts and treated like a Thursday practice in the regular season, and Saturday is the game.
*Plenty of noteworthy Tar Heels have missed all or much of spring practice, which Brown calls a “blessing” with respect to the coaching staff getting lengthy looks at the younger players, who got many more reps than they would have otherwise.
*Limiting penalties has been a major point of emphasis this spring. ACC officials have been at the practices with a major focus on damaging pre-snap penalties, which Brown calls a “lack of discipline.”
*Why has Carolina has given up way too many explosive plays in recent years? The staff dug deep into those reasons, and attributed much of it to players not being in proper position with their eyes in the right place at the snap. That has been worked on.
*Look for a more aggressive defense under first-year coordinator Geoff Collins. Getting more sacks in one of the missions. “College teams are unlikely to have an 80-yard drive if there’s a sack in there.”
*Brown knows many people question whether or not a real QB battle is going on, so he emphasized that it is between Max Johnson and Conner Harrell. Both got the same number of reps with blue team guys and white team guys. Neither player is regarded ahead as spring practice is almost complete.
“I feel like either one can win games for us.”
*A couple of things about the defense Brown noted before taking questions: He is “really pleased with the secondary… better than they’ve been.” He also said the defense overall is “clearly better.”
Travis Shaw has been one of the more talked about players on the roster this spring. Teammates, defensive coordinator Geoff Collins, and Brown say Shaw has been fantastic and has worked a lot with the blues. Brown again raved about the junior from Greensboro.
*The football transfer portal opened Tuesday, and Brown says they are looking to bring in a defensive lineman, running back and quarterback. With Tad Hudson entering the portal this week, UNC has just three scholarship QBs on the roster, so a fourth is needed. We went into more detail about this in a separate piece Wednesday.
Also, the staff will consider bringing in the right offensive lineman, linebacker, and secondary player, plus they are in the market for a preferred walk-on punter.
*UNC’s spring game Saturday will not be televised at the request of the Carolina program.
“We made a decision with the ACC Network that we didn’t want the spring game on TV because we’re looking at a lot of different things. And we felt like we could highlight our players, especially in an NIL world right now, you can have Kaimon Rucker interviewing on TV, you can have J.J. Jones, you can have Natrone Means.
“You can really celebrate your program easier in some ways if you have a highlighted all-access rather than just a game.”
*Brown continued with optimism over the offensive line Wednesday. He said they are more physical than before, have some depth, and he likes the battle for the starting right guard spot which now includes a third player.
Jonathan Adorno is the veteran there, but Malik McGowan has been right with him all spring, and now redshirt sophomore Zach Rice is making a push. Brown looks forward to seeing how they play Saturday.
