With Spring In The Books, Here Are 5 Noteworthy Developments
CHAPEL HILL - College football programs around the country use spring football to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their roster. North Carolina concluded its spring practice with its annual scrimmage looking to do the same.
Following the Tar Heels’ spring game Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium, UNC Coach Mack Brown shared some of his thoughts on his team's performance so far this offseason as summer approaches. Here is a look at some of the things he discussed:
*After a nine-win season, Brown saw an opportunity for the 15 practices to take his unit to another level. After finishing the season on a four-game losing streak, Brown wanted to instill habits of doing the seemingly insignificant things, but tasks that when added up can help the Heels finish the season on a high note.
“Spring has been what we wanted," said Brown. "We wanted to talk about going from good to great, doing the little things right, and they have done that.”
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*For UNC to take the next step in success, like every football team, Carolina must deal with injuries. And while some Heels were unavailable this spring, leading to the intersquad scrimmage being partially thud, Brown is confident his team will be at full strength when it matters.
“Number one, you want to play hard, and I thought they did that. Number two is you don’t want to get anybody hurt," he said.
“If you're close (from returning from injury) in a spring game and you pull something or hurt a knee… All of the guys except Malachi Hamrick will be ready when we start practice in the fall.”
*With the injury to Hamrick, Carolina’s depth at the Jack position is questionable, to say the least. Veterans Kaimon Rucker and Florida State transfer Amari Gainer are easily the top two players there. Getting Gainer this offseason was huge for Brown and the Heels to add a capable body at the position. Also, adding Gainer gives the Heels the benefit of having an experienced college football player on the roster, but still enjoy the rapid improvements younger players typically make because he is getting accustomed to a new spot on the field.
“We are really excited about Amari Gainer because he helps us," he said. "He gives us an older guy, and he gets better every day because he has never played that position.”
*Perhaps the unit to take the biggest advantage of the time allotted this spring is the defensive line. During the game, the defensive front showed an ability to dominate at the point of attack and was consistently getting pressure on the quarterback, which last season the Tar Heels ranked last in the ACC in sacks.
“Mostly we’ve improved the most on the defensive front,” Carolina’s coach said. “The defense did very little today for schemes, they didn’t move very much. I felt like they made a lot of good plays without scheming, and that’s something we couldn’t have done last year, and we didn’t do very well…
"We are quicker off the ball, we are playing with lower pads, we are using our hands better. We are penetrating, we are being more violent, and that’s something you have to do to disrupt an offense, and that’s something we haven’t done. We have really challenged those guys to do it.
“They are growing up, and they know it's been a whole lot of talk about our defensive line not penetrating, not getting sacks. I think they have heard it, and they are tired of hearing it, and they are trying to rectify it.”
*After losing NFL-caliber receivers Josh Downs and Antoine Green, UNC reloaded at the position with transfers Devontez “Tez” Walker and Nate McCollum. Both players have come in this spring and quickly established themselves as the new receiving duo in Chapel Hill and wasted no time building chemistry with their superstar quarterback.
“One of the reasons they are here is because of Drake (Maye),” said Brown, referring to UNC’s star quarterback. “He recruited them hard. And they came here because of him. Drake works hard so he is out there throwing with them every day. He stays after practice and throws with them because that's who he is, and they are going to be so much better in the fall because he's throwing to them every day."