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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Tuesday morning at the Kenan Football Center to give a full review of spring practice, some news within the program, look ahead toward the summer and fall camp, and field questions from the assembled media.
The Tar Heels concluded spring practice April 9, so the staff spent the last week combing over what they learned from the 15 practices and game, some of which Brown hit on Tuesday.
Above is the full video of Brown’s presser, and below are some notes and parts of some quotes from what Brown had to say:
*Brown said the focus offensively in the spring was to shore some areas of either weakness or inconsistency from last fall, notably sacks allowed, tackles for loss, and penalties. He saw significant improvement in each area this spring.
“All of those were better this spring,” Brown said. “And I love the fact that (offensive line) Coach (Jack) Bicknell has familiarity with the offense and with (offensive coordinator) Coach (Phil) Longo and with (running backs) Coach (Larry) Porter.
“That was a huge plus for us, and that was the reason he was able to come in so quickly and mesh with the staff.”
*Another area of focus was situationally running the ball. Brown noted the win over Miami in which the Heels had a pair of three-and-outs inside the final five minutes because they could not get four or five yards running on first down. That forced them to give up the ball and allow Miami chances at stealing a victory. In addition, getting a yard or two when needed in tight situations, notable the red zone, and from the nine-yard-line and in toward the goal line.
“Making sure we’re better on first down, which gets us shorter third downs…,” Brown said. “We used to say, ‘get four yards on first down,’ we found that you need five, because if you make five yards in Power 5 football last year, you had 60 percent chance of making first downs. If you were less than five, then obviously the defense had 60 percent chance of getting you off the field.”
*Stopping the run on first down was the number one point of emphasis defensively this spring. Brown was pleased with the team’s growth there. “We’ve lost entirely too many close games, where we’ve had a chance at the end and didn’t finish.”
Brown noted they have been good in the last minute of the first halves, but not in the last minute of games. He cited losses at Pittsburgh and NC State last season as primary examples.
*Consistency on defense was preached all spring, as at times the unit stepped up and made big plays and had lengthy stretches in games last season in which they were stout, but in the same game would get gashed was too often, and something for a long period of time.
“We played great defense some last year, and then we just gave up a big play. And that comes from the elimination of explosive plays. That usually comes from doing a better job communicating.”
*The Star position got its name because coaches think “he can be a star. He’s going to be a linebacker-type drop, come after the quarterback position.”
*The Jack position got its name because that player is a “Jack of all trades. He can rush, he can drop, he can blitz, so there are a lot of different things he can do.”
*Plenty of defensive players were injured this spring, so Brown gave a quick update on each player and how the staff gauges their availability come fall camp.
---Kedrick Bingly-Jones: He has had three operations since arriving at UNC. “He should be fully well for preseason and ready to go.”
---Dae Dae Hollins: Has had two surgeries and missed the spring.
---Kaimon Rucker: “We’ve got to figure out does he play power end, does he play Jack, does he play both?” He is expected to be at full strength for fall camp.
---Ray Vohasek: Will also be at full strength. “He’s one of our best players and one of our best leaders.”
---Kendall Karr: Has had multiple set backs at UNC, but “he should be well in the fall.”
---Ethan West: Has had multiple injuries and operations as well, and is expected at full strength in August.
---Ja’Quarious Conley: Hurt his knee returning a kickoff versus Wofford last November. He “could be limited going into fall camp. We hope he’ll be ready for the first game.”
---Jahlil Taylor: Was hurt in the bowl game and will miss fall camp.
---Tayon Holloway: Part of the class of 2022 who has not arrived yet, had two shoulder operations and will not be ready to play in the fall. “He’ll be here, he’ll be working out, but he’ll be in rehab.”
*Special teams has a pretty good competition going on at punter. “Ben Kiernan and Cole Maynard both punted really well. Cole’s gonna be really good as a walk-on freshman.”
*Also, Jonathan Kim had a good spring kicking field goals. “he’s got a great leg and he gets it up. He’s got to continue to work on consistency.”
*Brown said this “was a better coached team” this spring than last spring. He saw more discipline and more competition.
*The offseason program is important because of the overall youth on the team. “You’ve got to get them to flex more. Guys are a little stiff, that way you can improve their prevention of injuries better. You can improve their speed, but we’ve got to improve our strength.”
*One of the challenges with a new defensive scheme was finding fits for certain players that were brought in to play the previous scheme. Are the former hybrid guys defensive ends or outside linebackers, and which ones might fit into the Jack position role.
“I do think that process was slowed with the guys that we’re out there for the spring. Al l of the guys that were out there have found a place. So, we feel really, really good with the placement of guys. They all feel comfortable, nobody’s saying, ‘I don’t fit.’”
*Fans always question coaches’ use of timeouts, something Brown has acknowledged in the past. He was asked if when evaluating every element of last season he was comfortable with his use of timeouts. Brown has been openly critical about multiple aspects of the program and team from a year ago, but not this.
“I know there’s always whining about timeouts and when you use them, we look at that every day. I haven’t worried about our timeouts, I think we’ve used them properly. We’ve studied analytics, we’ve studied what we would normally do – I’ve had 47 years of this.”
