CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Tuesday afternoon via zoom to offer some updates and thoughts about his football team as it approaches the mid-point of spring practice and to field questions from the media.
UNC held its seventh practice of the spring Tuesday morning, and will practice again Thursday and hold a scrimmage Saturday. The Tar Heels conclude spring practice April 15.
Above is video of Brown’s entire Q&A session, and below are some tidbits from what he had to say:
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*Sophomore running back George Pettaway suffered a slight ankle injury this past Saturday and was limited in practice Tuesday, but Brown says he will be fine.
*Safeties Will Hardy (sophomore) and Gio Biggers (senior), both projected starters, have been out this spring and in red jerseys. But now they’re wearing yellow jerseys and can go through all of the drills. No contact yet, and they may not have contact at all this spring. But they are getting in some work.
*Brown is very happy with how practice has gone so far. He has praised the attitude and effort since day one, and also says they are much more physical now than previous spring practices. The team must tackle better, the offensive guys must get hit more so they can work on yards after contact, and the staff needs more intel to make decisions on personnel.
“We’ve got to tackle better, we’ve got to rush the passer better, we’ve got to protect better,” Brown said. “So, we can only do that full speed.”
*Brown said the team’s theme this year is, “We’ve been good, now it’s time to go be great.”
*Brown spent much of his opening statement discussing the new guys, and so far he’s very pleased. Here are the new Heels he mentioned on his own, and a quick hit on why they are making an impression:
-WR Nate McCollum (Georgia Tech transfer) and Tez Walker (Kent State transfer) are playing exceptionally well, and Brown sees them among the top four receivers on the team. Brown said Kobe Paysour and Gavin Blackwell are the other two. J.J. Jones will be in that group, but he’s out this spring.
-He also said true freshman WR Christian Hamilton is standing out. Hamilton caught a TD pass Tuesday morning.
-Coastal Carolina transfer Willie Lampkin doesn’t check many of the specs for an offensive lineman, but the 5-foot-11, 290-pounder is eye popping every day. Brown said he’s so tough that Lampkin dislocated two fingers in practice Saturday but refused to come out.
Brown attributed that to his toughness and being a 48-0 wrestler in high school. He was also Sun Belt Offensive Lineman of the Year last season.
“He’s tough, he’s physical, we know he’s undersized but he makes up for that with his tenacity,” Brown said.
-RS freshman defensive end Beau Atkinson drew praise from his coach, and Brown says he and Jacolbe Cowan are battling for a spot in the rotation at rush end.
-Kedrick Bingley-Jones is finally healthy and “making plays,” Brown said. Travis Shaw has lost 30 pounds and it shows. And Brown has enjoyed watching Tomari Fox out there and can’t say enough good things about him.
-Brown has reiterated each time he’s met with the media the importance of finding depth behind Cedric Gray and Power Echols at linebacker.
“Michael Short, Amare Campbell, and Deuce Caldwell are getting nearly all the snaps,” Brown said. Sebastian Cheeks can do all of the pass scale stuff and drill stuff, he just can’t be in the team stuff. We have got to find two-to-three linebackers that can go in there and back up Ced and Power so they don’t have to play a thousand plays next year like they did this year.”
-Florida State transfer Amari Gainer is an impressive athlete, but he’s also learning the jack position, which means he is learning how to pass rush in a manner he’s never had to before.
“He’s tenacious, he’s really quick, he’s got explosive power,” Brown said.
Brown added that true freshman Tyler Thompson has impressed at jack, and “He’s got to get stronger, but he is a really good pass rusher.”
*UNC fans need to get used to hearing East Tennessee State transfer DB Alijah Huzzie’s name. He was a corner with the Buccaneers, but is also getting some work at star for UNC. Brown can’t say enough positive things about Huzzie, who has two years of eligibility remaining.
“He just gets it,” Brown said. “He’s got tremendous instincts, he has got outstanding ball skills. I was talking to Dre’ Bly last night, he’s got some skills like Dre’ and Dre’ said, ‘I wasn’t the fastest guy in the world.’ Well, Dre’ was fast, but he had instincts, and that’s what Alijah’s got.
“We feel like he’ll be a real factor in the secondary and help us a lot.”
*As we’ve written about a couple of times, the staff is making a concerted effort to build depth along the offensive line. Previous OL coach Jack Bicknell didn’t believe in playing reserves so he didn’t. Brown and Randy Clements do, so they will.
Brown offered some intel on Zach Rice, Trevyon Green, and the depth of players competing for the white team spots on the OL.
