UNC Defense Has Players-Only Meeting For 'Man-To-Man' Talk

UNC lost 45-32 to the Fighting Irish, allowing 576 yards, 35 first downs, and struggling in pretty much every aspect of the game. And it wasn’t the first poor performance for a unit now ranked No. 126 out of 131 FBS programs in total defense, and No. 123 in scoring defense.

Defense was supposed to be a strength for UNC (3-1) from a talent standpoint and coaching, with Gene Chizik replacing Jay Bateman as the coordinator and ushering in a much more simplified scheme.

But it has been anything but, and many of the players had finally had enough.

“Some guys spoke, and it’s not any specific position group,” senior defensive lineman Ray Vohasek said Tuesday evening inside the Kenan Football Center. “Some guys were kind of saying they feel like we’re not a complete defense. Some guys are playing by themselves and we’re not one whole unit, not playing as 11 guys.

“And I think that was one of the main points; You’ve got to do your job on defense. If everybody is doing the right thing and one guy doesn’t, they pop for a touchdown, and it falls on the whole defense. That was one thing we really touched on.”

The Tar Heels have allowed opponents to rack up 10 or more first downs in five different quarters, and will have on their resume all season six touchdowns by Appalachian State in the fourth quarter of a 63-61 win over the Mountaineers in Boone.

The things that afflicted the Heels that day and at times in a win at Georgia State were present in the loss to Notre Dame. Vohasek says many players on that side of the ball, even ones who don’t play much, recognize one of the core issues that must get straightened out.

Noah Taylor, Kaimon Rucker, Cedric Gray, and Power Echols were the players Vohasek mentioned as primary speakers, but there were many others.

“Even guys that haven’t taken a snap this year talked (about) what they see on the sideline, what the attitude is with guys, how they interact,” Vohasek said. “Everybody chipped in and talked about it, and I think it was a productive meeting.”

The meeting was initiated through group texts for the defense, and took place before practice Sunday. Players said they wanted and needed to talk.

It went well, Vohasek said, but there wasn’t and isn’t any magic potion to remedy what has ailed the Tar Heels.

“Yeah, but it’s not like a major fix or anything,” he said. “But I think it was good to have a man-to-man conversation with the people that are on the field and had nothing to do with the coaches or schematically or anything like that.

“It was more a man-to-man conversation like, ‘We need to turn this thing around.’”

UNC begins ACC play Saturday by hosting Virginia Tech at Kenan Stadium for a 3:30 PM kick.