Heel Tough Blog: "Practice Like a Pro" Preview

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The Tar Heels are set to close out their first spring under Bill Belichick on Saturday when they welcome the fans to Kenan Stadium for their final practice of spring camp. Gates will open at 5:30 PM and the practice will start at 6:30 PM with multiple different sessions that will be emceed by an in-stadium host to help fans understand what is going on. Here are some of the things that we want to see when we head to the stadium on Saturday.

Numbers on the Jerseys

It is understandable that the Tar Heels didn’t have numbers during the regular practices, a thing that Belichick brought with him from New England, but in an event that is made for the fans, they should be on. Fans want to, and frankly deserve to, know who they’re watching and who will be signing autographs for them after the event is over. Please, Bill, help us out.

Toughness and Physicality

One of the biggest issues that the Tar Heels had under Mack Brown was the soft culture that was carried over from the end of the Larry Fedora era and made worse as the years progressed. Under Belichick, though, the thud practices which became a staple of Brown’s are gone and the team has reportedly had its most physical spring in a long time. The expectation is that the physicality and toughness that Belichick demands from his players will show up on Saturday and prove that this staff is already turning the page on the Brown era and instituting a standard that will allow them to compete with the physical teams that have constantly dominated them over the last decade.

A Defense You Feel Confident In

This is something that we have been looking for with this unit for years, but the hope is that things will finally change under the Belichick family who specializes on the defensive side of the ball. It starts with that physicality and toughness that we talked about, especially up front where a rather undermanned unit will look to prove themselves against an offensive line that has plenty of depth and experience at its disposal. The other important thing that you want to see is a fundamentally sound group that doesn’t have the issues with blown assignments that we’ve seen for the last decade plus under the previous two regimes. We don’t need to see this defense completely dominate, but we should be leaving the stadium on Saturday night feeling that this defense has at least taken a step in the right direction this spring, especially since they should be ahead of the offense.

New Stars Standing Out

There aren’t many teams in the country that lost the amount of high-end contributors that the Tar Heels have lost from last year’s squad, but this will be the chance for some new stars to emerge. On defense, transfers Thaddeus Dixon and Pryce Yates were the gems of this transfer class and should join returning members of last year’s defense like Amare Campbell and Beau Atkinson as guys who should stand out on Saturday. Offensively, the team needs some new guys to start emerging at the skill positions, especially in the pass catchers room, where the team lost a lot of production and wasn’t able to add much through the transfer portal leaving question marks abound. The offensive line will also be interesting to monitor as the staff looks for some guys to step up at the tackle spot, which both came into the spring as wide open races.

Separation at the Quarterback Spot

This is the most bold thing we’ve asked for and it might be asking too much, but it would be ideal for the success of this offense for the upcoming season. As expected, there hasn’t been much that has leaked out in terms of information on this battle or others, but the hope is that this one is closer to an answer than not. Regardless, though, it will be interesting to get our first looks at the most important battle when it comes to this 2025 Tar Heel team.