Thursday was the final day of ACC media days at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown and the Tar Heels were the group who got the final say, something they’ll be hoping to do in December, too. Mack Brown, Conner Harrell, Max Johnson and Kaimon Rucker spoke on the stand before they would head to the breakout room with teammates Omarion Hampton and Power Echols to speak with the rest of the media and on to radio row to close out the day. Each guy had plenty to say, but here are the most important things we took away from the day.
The QB Battle is a Confusing One
Last week, we told you that the Tar Heels quarterback battle appeared to be a three man race after what Brown said to Phil Steele earlier this summer, but that might not be the case. Brown spoke with ‘The Drive with Tim Donnelly’ on radio row and said that it is a two man battle right now because Jacolby Criswell was not with the team in the spring. Harrell spoke similarly while sitting down with ‘The Adam Gold Show’ when he referred to it as a two man battle with him and Max Johnson. Even Echols talked about it being a two man battle between the two quarterbacks who were in attendance on Thursday when speaking with me on the Heel Tough Blog Podcast. Kaimon Rucker, however, mentioned it as a three man race when he was on radio row and Max Johnson spoke in the breakout room about his surprise when he was told it was a three man battle after it was originally communicated that Criswell was brought in simply to add depth. It feels like right now there isn’t really a clear answer as to where exactly it stands, but it’s hard not to take the head coach’s word for it.
Collins Defense is About Molding to the Players
When I asked both Rucker and Echols about the defense, this was one of the first things that was brought up. Both guys confirmed that their roles will not change that much in Collins' system because he has been adjusting the defense to the strengths of his players. That may leave you asking, what is the difference with this year’s defense then? Both guys pointed to the aggressive mindset that Collins uses as the thing that will be the most notable change with this year’s group. “The only difference is just the aggressive mentality that Coach Collins has in this go around," Rucker told Walker Mehl and myself on Thursday. "So it's like my responsibility personally, as an edge rusher, rushbacker, whatever you want to consider it, is not too different. I'm still the hybrid and outside linebacker. I'm mostly in the run, mainly. But, of course, when you bring a simulated pressure, I'm either involved in it or I'm dropping in coverage. So it's just like, you know, there's not too many differences.” The hope is that the aggression and the position coach changes are what was lacking from this group last year. If not, it could be a lot of the same for this defense.
Mack Remains Confident About the Offensive Line Improving
On the stand, Brown was asked about his team not having a dominant quarterback and if there is enough around whoever the quarterback is to produce at the level that the offense has since his return. While he praised the skill position talent, he pointed to the offensive line as the key to success for this unit. He seems confident that this new group will be put in a position to succeed with Randy Clements returning and being more comfortable with Chip Lindsey’s offense. Let’s hope his optimism in this group finally pays off and makes it easier for whatever quarterback wins the job to settle in.
Mack Still Has Some Fire
Yes, he did talk about the state of the sport again, but he was relatively reserved in comparison to some of the other times that he has talked about it. Instead, the focus of his most fiery comments were on the recruiting tactic that other coaches in the conference have used against him, his age. “Every coach recruiting against us says I’m going to quit. And six of them have been fired that said that already. So they ought to be worried about themselves.” He even cited a specific moment with Mike Elko, who left Duke for Texas A&M earlier this offseason. "Coach Elko said 'I’ll be at Duke longer than Mack will be at Carolina.' I called him when he went out to A&M and said ‘OK, you lied.’" We have been told that Brown is at a calmer point in life being older than he was in his first coaching stint, but this was some fire that we want to see from him. Hopefully this translates onto the field for him this season.
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