Extra Points: Spring Clean

By Lee Pace

There's a lot to take in with a sweeping, panoramic view of Kenan Stadium here in mid-March.

The metal seats in the lower bowl are starting to be removed as the 91-year-old venue is undergoing a major overhaul this off-season. In their place when Central Florida comes to Chapel Hill on Sept. 15 will be thousands of Carolina blue individual chairs, complete with pop-up bottoms and arm rests.

The field itself sports a cacophony of markings—from football yard-lines to lacrosse creases and goal areas. The stadium is the springtime home of not only the Tar Heel football team but the men's and women's lacrosse teams as well, their usual home of Fetzer Field undergoing a total overhaul. So harried is the construction schedule and field demand that the Tar Heels will eschew their annual spring game, held normally in the middle of April.

There are familiar faces back in the fold—Tommy Thigpen, a linebacker from the early 1990s, has joined Larry Fedora's staff; Luke Paschall, an offense graduate assistant from 2012-13, is now back for a second stint in Chapel Hill.

There are some key people you don't see. Gunter Brewer has left the staff after six years as receivers coach and Charlotte-area recruiting workhorse to join the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL and reunite with former "Freak" Mack Hollins. And that injury avalanche that so affected the 2017 season still lingers, with key players like tackle William Sweet and receiver Thomas Jackson in red jerseys, working their way back into playing shape.

There are certainly some interesting newcomers, from receiver Dyami Brown to tailback Javonte Williams to linebacker Matthew Flint to quarterbacks Jace Ruder and Cade Fortin.

And there are some veterans poised to have breakthrough senior seasons—defensive linemen Jalen Dalton and Malik Carney among them.

There's certainly a lot to digest three sessions into the Tar Heels' spring practice regimen.

"The effort and attitude have been really good," says line coach and offensive coordinator Chris Kapilovic. "Our goals are to get healthy and better. We're playing a lot of young guys this spring. We're trying to develop depth and find out who the guys are we can really count on."

"I've seen a great 'want-to,' a kind of a youthful excitement about spring practice," adds defensive coordinator John Papuchis.

The Tar Heels completed two weeks of Blue Dawn off-season conditioning workouts in late February, then went directly into spring practice. They took last week off for campus-wide spring break and returned to the field for three to four workouts a week until their NCAA-mandated 15 are complete.

"The biggest thing this spring is to build depth," Fedora says. "We have to count on twos and threes who we know are going to have to play for us sometime."

Spring practice is always about blending the old and the new. Hopefully the veterans are ready to ratchet their game up a notch. Ditto that the January enrollees are able to drink from the fire hose without drowning.

Brown, a receiver from Charlotte, and Williams, a running back who led Wallace-Rose Hill to a state title last fall in Kenan, have caught the eyes of the staff and their teammates with their physical ability and youthful wherewithal.

"Dyami has shown great ability, he is really, really good," Kapilovic says. "We are really pleased with him. He's a talented kid. Javonte has picked things up quickly, which you would expect from a 4.0 guy. When he runs, you see some natural running ability and that he has great vision. Some backs just have the knack of seeing the cuts and setting up blocks. He's got that."

Across the way on defense, Carney at end and Dalton at tackle are an interesting contrast in the paths they have taken to their senior seasons.

Carney was an early commitment in the summer of 2013 from Alexandria, Virginia, and was projected as an outside linebacker. He redshirted his first year and was then moved to end and asked to bulk up. He played sparingly his second year and then found his stride during the 2016 season. Last year, he had 57 tackles and led the Tar Heels in TFL (12) and sacks (5.5).

"Malik is a throwback to a time where guys got a little bit better every year, and by their junior and senior years were ready to play," Papuchis says. "Today there is such an onus on guys having to perform at such a young age. Malik every year has gotten incrementally better and slowly worked himself into being a really, really good player. He's a guy we can count on in every way and is owning a leadership role on this team."

Dalton was a four-star recruit out of West Forsyth High in Clemmons and landed on the Tar Heels after a hard-fought recruiting battle in the fall of 2014. His career has been marked by a handful of spectacular plays balanced against some injuries and inopportune personal foul flags.

"Consistency on the field is a reflection of being consistent with everything in his life—from the weight room to the meeting room to the classroom to the field," Papuchis says. "They all go hand-in-hand with being a consistent contributor. Jalen has bought into the idea. He's having a good semester, a good off-season. That will transition into him having a great spring.

"When he's on, he can be such a big weapon. He is so long and very athletic inside. He's a difficult match-up for any guard with his length. We haven't seen him consistently turn it loose in a game setting. We've seen it in practice—he's a dominating force inside."

Lee Pace has completed his 28th year covering Tar Heel football through "Extra Points" and 14th as the sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network. His book, "Football in a Forest," is available in bookstores across North Carolina and online at www.johnnytshirt.com. Email him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @LeePaceTweet.

Players Mentioned

Malik Carney

Jalen Dalton

Thomas Jackson

William Sweet

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