The Tar Heels kicked off fall camp last night in Chapel Hill as the 120 players took the field at the field at the Bill Koman Practice Facility following a day of summer finals. Following the practice, head coach Mack Brown spoke with the media to address the state of the roster for the first time since the end of spring practice. Here are the top things that we took away from what he had to say.
Consistency and Discipline Are Being Stressed in Practice
These are both things that the team has struggled with the last few years and Brown says they are being stressed in camp. One of the things that the head coach used as an example is that the team left the player's lounge a mess. He said that if the room isn’t cleaned by tomorrow morning, the team will be running until they are exhausted as punishment, stressing how important discipline is both on and off the field this year. When it comes to consistency, Brown says that each position room has at least five boxes that they expected to check every single day on the practice field. Considering how the team has finished each of the last two seasons, it makes sense that the staff is demanding there be more consistency throughout the season, especially with a thinner margin for error now that Sam Howell and Drake Maye’s careers are in the rearview.
Most Depth of the Mack Brown Era Heading Into Fall Camp
This was a goal of the staff heading into the spring and Brown thinks they accomplished it. The next few weeks will be spent sorting through the depth at each position and finding out who will have which roles in certain rooms. One way that they are planning on doing that is by changing up the numbers of plays and how much the starters are used in practice, a move that the staff is hoping also helps save them a bit for the course of the season.
Timmy Lawson Only Player That’s Limited to Start Camp
On top of having the added depth, the team is also in great shape healthwise at the start of fall camp. True freshman tight end Timmy Lawson is the only player who is limited right now as he continued the ACL injury that he suffered last year in high school. Two other guys that the staff is keeping an eye on right now are Chris Culliver, who has a hip that has been bothering him a little bit and Kobe Paysour, who is returning after breaking both his feet at different points last year.
Ten Days to Figure Out Who Gets the Reps at QB Heading Into the Minnesota Game
Brown didn’t give much on the quarterback as was expected, but he did lay out a loose timeline of the road to finding the team’s starting quarterback. He started out by saying that he wants the team to have an answer on how they will split reps at the position within ten days so that they can start closing in on having someone prepared for the Minnesota game. As he has done with the last two quarterback battles, he said that he is hoping to have the quarterback ten days out.
Have a Chance to Get to Eight, Maybe Nine, We Can Trust Along the Offensive Line
We talked about the added depth above and one position that they definitely have it is along the offensive line. Brown has been on a quest since he returned to find at least eight guys who can play meaningful reps and this year might be their best shot to accomplish that. The starting line from the spring remained in place with Howard Sampson, Malik McGowan, Austin Blaske, Willie Lampkin and Trevyon Green almost exclusively playing with the ones. Brown raved about Zach Greenberg, who looked good in his first FBS practice at center, and Jakiah Leftwich, who showed his versatility by playing both left and right tackle. True freshman Aidan Banfield also looks to be in a great spot to be a part of the eight after he was brought up again after being praised so much in the spring.
Tom Maginness Had a Good Day
One of the biggest question marks exiting spring was the punter position after Tom Maginness had a rough month. Brown admitted that was so much the case that the team was aggressive in the search for someone at the position in the transfer portal during the spring transfer window. That meant the pressure was on Maginness to step up on Monday night and he did just that. Brown was very complimentary of what he saw from the 23-year-old junior, which is promising considering true freshman Lucas Osada had some freshman hardships in his first college practice.
Secondary is in Better Shape Than In The Last Few Years
Brown wrapped his presser by raving about just how good the Tar Heel secondary is this year compared to the last few years. He really likes how much better Marcus Allen looks size wise this season after he played pretty thin on the outside last year. The unit is also in better shape now that Alijah Huzzie has returned to the outside after spending last year in the nickel because of the loss of DeAndre Boykins prior to the season starting. The area that Brown pointed to as the most improved of this room, though, was the safety spots, where the team has four reliable options with Boykins, Jakeen Harris, Will Hardy and Stick Lane. Not only is the group better tackling than the recent ones, but also seems to be more aggressive playing the ball and creating turnovers. That could be a huge boost for Geoff Collins in his quest to make this defense a formidable unit.
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