Heel Tough Blog: ‘Practice Like a Pro’ Recap

UNC Football

The Tar Heels put the finishing touches on spring ball 2025 on Saturday night in Kenan Stadium with their ‘Practice Like a Pro’ event. In what was roughly a two hour practice, the staff gave fans a look at what this team currently looks like under new head coach Bill Belichick with 11 different periods of action, the majority of which roughly resembled what you see from the traditional spring games. Here are our biggest takeaways from what we saw from this team last night.

More Info and Jersey Numbers Would Been Nice

Saturday night was a chance to build off of the momentum of making one of the biggest hires in the history of the sport and that simply did not happen from a fan perspective. Because of the obsession of not wanting to do a traditional spring game, fans were left wondering what exactly they would be spending their time to go and see and many decided to stay home. In the future, the program needs to be more clear about what exactly they plan to do to give fans more incentive to show up. They could do that by putting numbers on the players' jerseys for this event so that family and friends of the players and fans can actually identify the players on the field so that those who are playing well can get the proper credit. Let’s hope these are things that are considered for next year’s event.

Bryce Baker Took the Night in the Quarterback Battle

Both quarterbacks saw extensive snaps on Saturday, but it was clear that Baker got the best of Browne. Browne clearly entered the night with the slight advantage between the two as he took all of the first team reps in the first six sessions of the evening, but he had his ups and downs. While he made some nice plays in the intermediate and short passing games, he struggled with accuracy on his deep pass, overthrowing a lot of his intended targets. Baker on the other hand, started the night off a bit slow behind the second team offensive line, showing some happy feet and quick tucks of the football, but those early struggles were put behind him one he put together a scoring drive, which included a beautiful over the shoulder throw in the red zone to one of his wide receivers. As the night went along, you could see that Baker was the more accurate of the two and moved the offense more consistently. Right now, Browne would probably be the starter if the season started today, but it feels like the longer this battle lasts, the better chance Baker has to overtake him.

Secondary Made Plays on the Ball, But Struggled With Penalties

One of the biggest issues that the Tar Heel defense had this past season was its secondary and the group had its inconsistencies on Saturday night. While the did a tremendous job of playing the ball as the night went on, something they really struggled the do under Mack Brown, the team had issues on and off the whole night with penalties. Many of the penalty flags thrown on the defense seemed to be aimed at the secondary on important downs so that is something that the staff must get cleaned up before the season starts. One thing that got cleaned up during the practice on Saturday night was the communication issues that led to some busted coverages early in the practice. The group did a much better job with it as the night went along and it allowed them to be in position to make those plays on the football that they did in the later periods. The hope is that the team's ability to attack the ball translates to the fall and that the holding and grabbing does not.

Run Game Shows Plenty of Promise

We have heard that one of the main things that Belichick wants from this group is to be able to lean on the run game and it showed that it is capable of being relied on. The running backs looked really promising with the patience and burst that they showed all night and the offensive line was pushing the defensive line back most of the night, especially on runs to the edge. This is a unit that is going to be counted on a lot, especially early in the season with the young quarterbacks, so it’s good to see this unit thrive the way it did in this practice.

Tight Ends Make Some Nice Plays

This position room was one of the biggest question marks coming into the season and it felt like it was one of the groups you could feel best about leaving the stadium on Saturday night. The group was involved early and often in the passing game and repeatedly made plays outside of a couple drops. In run blocking, the unit also had a really strong night, helping to set the edge nicely for a couple of big runs. We were worried with how much production the room lost and failed to replace this offseason it would still be a work in progress, but they look more than ready to help this team this season as they search for some consistent threats at the receiver position alongside Kobe Paysour.

Defensive Line Still Has Work to Do in Run Defense

While the success on the ground was nice to watch for the offense, it brought up some concerns defensively. The edge rushers had trouble sealing the edge, especially early in the night, and the interior of the defensive line didn’t get the consistent push that it needed to slow down the A and B-Gap runs. This is a room that the Tar Heels should be adding to in the spring transfer window and the hope is that they can find guys who help them contain the run better than they did in this practice.

Offensive Line Has to Pass Protect Better

The offensive line may have shined in the run game, but they did anything but in pass protection. The multitude of pre-snap looks and stunts had the unit confused throughout the evening and caused the group to allow a lot of pressure on both quarterbacks. The most concerning part of it all was the pressure that the team was allowing up the middle as the night progressed. That is something that the team must get cleaned up during fall camp or it could make it difficult for this offense to be able to move the ball consistently when they take the field on that first Monday night against TCU.