UNC's DT Depth Better Than Some May Think?

Conventional thinking suggests the position group on North Carolina’s defense most in question heading into the 2020 season is the interior defensive line. For good reason, too.

The Tar Heels lost Aaron Crawford and Jason Strowbridge to graduation and th NFL and must find a way to somewhat replace them. Considering the cavern last fall between the just-mentioned tandem and everyone else in that room, this should be a significant challenge to Bateman, UNC’s defensive coordinator, and defensive line coach Tim Cross.

But maybe not as much as most believe.

“When I got here, there was a pretty big gap I felt like with the depth between Jason and Aaron as far as those two have played a lot of football, they’re really talented, good, tough, veteran players,” Bateman recently said. “And then there was a gulf in depth between the next group of guys. It took us a while for Jahilil Taylor and Ray (Vohasek) to kind of come along, Tomari Fox to come along.”

But they eventually did.

Taylor played 239 snaps last season and showed considerable progress, something Bateman and UNC Coach Mack Brown noted toward the end of the campaign. He finished with 11 tackles but his ability to play low and occupy multiple blockers improved over the fall and is why going into the coming season he could be the anchor in the middle of the line.

Among his tackles were seven stops, in which PFF notes were plays that constitute as failures for the opposing offense.

Ray Vohasek, who arrived at UNC after spending time at a junior college, also came along. He got stronger, a banged-up shoulder from his JC days got healthier, and he found a role in the line’s rotation. He payed just 157 snaps but was quite effective registering 15 tackles, including five for a loss of yardage.

Their development allowed Strowbridge to play outside more toward the end of the season, which was the unit’s best stretch of the campaign.

“By the end of the year, we were playing Jason on the outside most of the game,” Bateman said. “Really, Jahllil was playing inside more, Jahlil was playing more inside snaps that Jason was and then Ray really started to come along.”

Then there’s Tomari Fox, a true sophomore and younger brother of Tomon Fox, one of the undoubted leaders of the defense heading into the season, and who has played more football than anyone on the current roster.

Tomari ended last season at 6-foot-2 and 278 pounds, though it’s uncertain what his weight is now. But he saw action both inside and outside. He fits into both spots in Bateman’s scheme.

Fox played 255 snaps last season accumulating 32 tackles, forced a fumble and registered four tackles for a loss of yardage. He also had six Stops.

“I feel really, really strongly about Tomari as a football player,” Bateman said.

Bateman also noted redshirts Kristian Varner and Kevin Hester improved and offered some praise for January enrollee Kedrick Bingley-Jones, saying all three physically look the part. He didn’t mention junior Xach Gill (137 snaps), but the former 4-star, Rivals250 prospect remains in the mix.

Yet, when pressed what area of his defense most concerns him, it’s not a loaded secondary or a vastly improved linebacker corps, Bateman says it’s up front and not having spring practice will affect those guys more than any other group on that side of the ball.

“The DBs and the linebackers in the summer, when we get back together, they can do 7-on-7 stuff and drill work,” Bateman said. “D-line is a physical, hand-to-hand combat kind of thing. I think it's harder to simulate that than anything else on defense without practice…

“That's a spot where we've got some really young, talented guys and we want to get reps. So, I think that'll be a key when we get back is to manage getting reps for those guys at the cost of not stressing out the other positions.”

Bateman appears excited about what this group can become, and just maybe the drop off won’t be as significant as many pundits expect.