Wednesday Practice Report: Balfour, Hester & Blackwell

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina held its 16th practice Wednesday morning since opening fall camp July 29, as the Tar Heels are now 10 days out from their season-opener versus Florida A&M on August 27.

UNC started fall semester classes Monday, so this was the second practice at the typical game-week time of 8 AM.

Three Tar Heels were available to the media via zoom following Wednesday’s workout: redshirt freshman CB Dontae Balfour; junior DL Kevin Hester; and redshirt freshman WR Gavin Blackwell.

Below are videos of their interviews along with some notes and pulled quotes from what they had to say:

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Balfour played 13 defensive snaps last season, getting five in the win over Georgia State and eight in the victory over Wofford. He was not targeted in coverage in either game and registered no tackles. He played one special teams play as a punt returner versus Duke.

At 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, Balfour is playing cornerback, but is also a backup to Josh Downs as the return man on the punt return unit, and he is on the outside on UNC’s punt team.

*Balfour has gotten reps the last few weeks at corner with the ones and twos, and could find himself on the field quite a bit this fall. He says the process is going well now that he’s picked up on a lot of things.

“I feel pretty good compared to last year,” Balfour said. “I’ve developed more mentally and physically. Just understanding more and more about the game and just trying to get better and better every day.”

More specifically: “Understanding defensive concepts, working on my press, coverages, and trying to get IQ higher and play recognition,” Balfour said.

*Press coverage is a whole different world in college than it is in high school, and at many places, it isn’t even employed that much. The Tar Heels’ corners do press some, and Balfour says it’s gone well as a group and for himself individually.

“It’s been going pretty well,” he said. “We press and we do a whole bunch of concepts, so it depends on where we are on the field and what’s the play and whatever. I’ve been developing really good on pressing and understanding how to be patient and just trying to be a better football player.”

*Balfour’s name has come up a few times over the last several weeks with respect to punt and kickoff return specialists, primarily in punt return. As noted above, Downs is the starter there, but given the inexperience and lack of depth at receiver, it’s conceivable he gets pulled from the return unit either entirely or occasionally. If so, Balfour could be the player who steps in for him.

“Punt returning, I did in high school, so it’s nothing really new, I’ve just been trying to adjust to the college level of punt returning,” he said. “And I feel like it’s going to be a very interesting this for me, especially at this high a level. I feel like it’s going to turn out pretty good.”

Hester played 241 snaps on defense last season, with a high of 31 in an overtime loss at Pittsburgh. He recorded 20 tackles, 2.5 of which were TFLs, with one a sack. He has a pass breakup, forced a fumble, a QB hurry, and 12 STOPs, which are plays that result in failures by the opposing offense.

For his career, Hester has played 370 snaps with 34 tackles, two sacks, and 14 STOPs.

Hester played 11 snaps last season, five versus Florida State and six against Miami on Carolina field goal block unit. He has been in for 18 special teams plays in his career.

At 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds, Hester is mainly working at nose tackle.

*Depth at all spots along the defensive front has been one of the consistent topics since fall camp started nearly three weeks ago. Hester has mostly worked at nose tackle, so how does he see the depth and rotation there shaping up, which includes graduate Ray Vohasek there as well?

“Me and Ray, when I first got here he took me under his wing,” Hester said. “We’re gonna be splitting reps. We have so many d-linemen, so much talent, we’re gonna be coming in and out; o-lines can’t handle us like that. We keep coming in and out, different rotations.”

Just how deep across the line?

“Right now, I could say we could go two or three deep with all the talent we’ve got right now,” he said, meaning at each spot. “It will be interesting to see how everything plays out.”

*Hester didn’t even put on a football helmet until spring of his junior year in high school. He was a basketball player and had gotten some college interest. But by the time he’d participated in several practices, he was getting actual offers from FBS schools, and his recruitment took off.

So here he is, a regular in a rotation of mostly former 4-star players coming out of high school, and it appears Hester’s developmental trajectory hasn’t wavered at all.

“I feel like it went tremendously,” Hester said. “I remember everyone talking like, ‘He’s a basketball player, he only played one year (senior) of football.’ When I first got here, everyone was talking about it, but now, I’m a senior (academically, junior in football), to me, that’s out the window. Nobody cares. Against opponents, nobody cares I only played one year.

“I’ve been focused on myself, working on my game. I feel like I understand everything, everything comes a lot quicker, I’m getting better with everything. I’ve become a lot better player.”

*Being a nose tackle as a former basketball player, Hester’s footwork comes in handy. But it also helps when the guys mess around, which sometimes means playing hoops. The Kenan Football Center is under a lot of construction right now, and one of the things being added is a basketball court for the football players.

It helps that Hester still plays basketball.

“I’ve got good footwork,” he said, smiling. “I be still be hoopin’ so I know my footwork is good. I really see it on the field, too.”

So, he still plays a lot and says he’s “without question” one of the best players on the team. “I’ve still got it in me, I’ll never stop playing basketball.”

As a former post player, who on the football team does he like posting up the most?

“Asim Richards,” he replied, smiling. “I would say that for sure, Asim. Me and Asim go at it for sure.”

Blackwell played just three snaps last season, getting two versus Georgia State and one against Virginia. He did not play on any special teams.

At 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, Blackwell has mostly lined up as the outside receiver on the right side, though he said he has also gotten some reps at slot.

*Blackwell came in as a 4-star prospect and was considered a candidate to play quite a bit as a true freshman, but he didn’t. So how has his game grown since he arrived to where he can be a regular in the rotation this fall?

“I think the biggest thing for me is just knowing the playbook,” Blackwell said. “The game’s slowed down for me a lot this year. Last year, I really wasn’t comfortable knowing the plays, I wasn’t really playing fast, stuff like that. But I think I’m definitely getting more comfortable. Route running, I feel I’ve been getting better at that.

“And definitely my hands. Last year, I feel like I struggled a little bit making stronger catches and big plays, and I feel like that’s something I worked on a lot this offseason.”

*Blackwell arrived with Kobe Paysour and J.J. Jones last year, and none of the trio got on the field much. Paysour also played just three offensive snaps, and Jones was in for 62 snaps playing in seven games. Has their collective path been similar, and are they each ready to perform consistently this season?

“Coming in, I think J.J. was probably a little more ready than me and Kobe were, at first a little bit,” Blackwell said. “It took me and Kobe a little more time to get accustomed to the college game speed. But we definitely put in a lot of work this offseason, and try to do what we can to help the team this year.

“I feel like we’ve definitely made strides this year, and we all are making plays this year in fall camp, spring ball. And we look good. We’ve got the pieces, but hopefully we can transfer it over to the field this year.”

*True freshman WR Andre Greene has generated plenty of buzz since fall camp started. He is a high-level everything at receiver, and the chatter suggests he will play quite a bit this fall. So, is there a wow factor when Blackwell watches Greene? Others in the program has said yes, so what did Blackwell say when asked that question?

“There’s definitely a wow factor out there,” Blackwell said. “He goes out there, and as you guys have heard, he looks more confident by every rep. He’s out there definitely coming along and I’m excited to see what we can do with him.”