University of North Carolina Athletics
LEE PACE'S EXTRA POINTS: Trenches On Offense, Defense Key For '02 Heels.
August 19, 2002 | Football
Aug. 19, 2002
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By Lee Pace
 Serious Issues: Bunting, Tar Heels Must Overcome personnel shortages on defense.  |
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The defense has had four coordinators in four years.
The offensive line has had three position coaches, the secondary three coaches, the quarterbacks three coaches.
No fewer than thirty-nine recruited scholarship players listed on pre-season rosters from 1998-2001 left Chapel Hill before their eligibility expired because of injury, bad grades, violating team rules, not finding a place to play or simply not having the combination of brains, stomach and heart it takes to thrive in this most difficult of games. Folks, when you can have only eighty-five on scholarship at one time, that represents a 46 percent whiffing index over a four-year period.
No wonder the Tar Heels are 24-23 over the last four years since a decade of consistency under Brown crumbled upon his departure to Texas.
No wonder they're picked in the lower half of the ACC in pre-season polls and rankings.
No wonder those evaluating the schedule of national contender Texas do not mention a road game at North Carolina as a challenge.
No wonder Sports Illustrated opines that Boise State, Colorado State, Cincinnati, Louisiana Tech, Central Florida, Bowling Green, Wake Forest, Memphis and New Mexico are better than the Tar Heels, who they rank No. 65 in the country.
Ouch. Pass the Miracle Salve.
More than a stadium full of fans; more than the enclosure to the east end of Kenan Stadium which has been drawn by architects; more than a bowl bid; more than a win at Virginia for the first time since The Crusades, what this football program needs now is stability.
Get the right people at Carolina and create an environment in which they can flourish. There's no question Carolina has the ideal man at the top of the pyramid -- ex-Tar Heel linebacker John Bunting. Now it's a matter of building the foundation beneath the head coach.
That means getting the right players.
"We've definitely been through a weeding-out process," Bunting says. "The standards we've set and the demands we've made have been high. Everyone here now and everyone we recruit in the future will understand that."
And it means hiring and retaining the right coaches and support staff.
"I'm on my fourth defensive coordinator," says senior defensive tackle Will Chapman, referencing Torbush, Kenny Browning, Jon Tenuta and incumbent Dave Huxtable. "That's four systems in four years, though there were some similarities. I think everyone on the coaching staff now wants to be here. No one's trying to move on, no one's looking at this as a stepping stone. The stability I think Coach Huxtable will bring to the position will be a great thing."
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Will Chapman: "I'm on my fourth defensive coordinator. That's four systems in four years, though there were some similarities."
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"Stability is critically important," says Jim Fleming, Carolina's new defensive backfield coach. "You can have guys coming and going and have a good team here and there, but if you're talking about a program that stands the test of time, it begins with stability in the coaching staff. Coach Bunting can deliver a good working environment and a good situation to get good guys who love to be at Carolina. I'm one of those guys."
All of which is a prelude to the conclusion that, in Bunting's second year, it's entirely possible the Tar Heels could be looking at a washout borne by four years of instability. After all, the Dow and Nasdaq won't turn up until the last bear's been flushed out. Just ask Matt Doherty about the Terrible Twos.
Hopefully, that won't happen. Hopefully, the unproven and inexperienced players on defense -- the ones replacing Julius Peppers, Ryan Sims and three more NFL draftees -- will sprout wings and soar in a hurry. Hopefully, the special teams will replace departed Jeff Reed and improve last year's punting game. Hopefully, the offense will be as lethal as the defense was dominating a year ago -- and the line will be much-improved and dodge injuries.
Bunting is hoping for and expecting all of the above. But there are no guarantees.
"I think this will be a fun team to watch," he says. "But we're going to need a little luck. And we've got to find some linebackers."
The Tar Heels are four years removed from a similar scenario. In 1998, the defense lost starters Greg Ellis, Brian Simmons, Kivuusama Mays, Vonnie Holliday, Omar Brown and Robert Williams to the NFL Draft, in addition to Greg Williams, who signed a free-agent contract with the Chicago Bears. The unit went from being second in the nation in yards allowed at 209 per game to surrendering a whopping 347 the next year, and that was with Dre Bly, Ebenezer Ekuban, Russell Davis and Keith Newman still on the field and just one year from making the NFL grade themselves.
An important difference, however, is that four years ago, the Tar Heels still had an established linebacking corps that included Newman, Brandon Spoon and Sedrick Hodge. They're not 
so fortunate in 2002. Among the current linebackers and down linemen, Carolina has only one player who's started and demonstrated he's a quality Saturday player -- that being tackle Will Chapman.
How did the Heels get into this predicament? It's simple, really -- recruiting decisions that went south, for any of a number of reasons. Following is a breakdown of Carolina's recruiting at defensive line and linebacker over the last four years:
1998 -- Julius Peppers and Ryan Sims (home runs by any measure); Sherrod Peace (junior-college transfer, contributed for two seasons); Eric Davis (starting tackle in his fifth year); Brian Norwood (expected to be one in a long line of star DTs, but his career and life were waylaid with legal problems back home in Richmond County); and Willie Quick (no longer in the program, never contributed because of knee problems).
1999 -- Malcolm Stewart (has been a reserve and special-teams anchor for three years, hopefully poised for break-out year as senior linebacker); Issac Mooring (red-shirted one year, special-teams guy in 2000, a key reserve last season, now a starter at DE); Donti Coats and Darryl Grant (highly recruited Virginians who have shown bits and pieces of promise but have yet to put their games together at DT); Clay Roberson (outstanding athlete who's hopefully grasped the feel and flow of the game at linebacker and can contribute in 2002); and Ian Alexander (left program). Chapman was a walk-on that fall.
2000 -- Jermicus Banks and Clarence Gaddy (the end and linebacker, respectively, caused quite a stir when they switched commitments from N.C. State to Carolina following coach Mike O'Cain's firing, and after two years of seasoning it's time for each to show what all the fuss was about); Devllen Bullard (slowed by knee injuries); Larry Jessup (slowed by shoulder injury, still learning the game after playing only one year of high school); Jonas Seawright (moved to offensive tackle); Kitwana Jones (no longer in program because of disciplinary reasons); and Isaac Montgomery (left program, saying he wanted to be closer to home in West Virginia).
2001 -- Tommy Davis, Jocques Dumas, Doug Justice, Jeff Longhany and Chase Page (Dumas played as a reserve as a true freshman; all five have good potential and will have opportunities to show it in 2002); Antavis Barrino (contracted mono last August and decided to give up football); and Ike Emodi (non-qualifier, now at ECU).
2002 -- It's far too early to list those players now. Kendall High, who could play tackle or end, is the only one Bunting is excited about through two weeks of camp as being a potential contributor this fall. The others along the defensive front seven are not strong enough physically to play yet, no matter their other athletic skills and credentials.
Chapman has recovered from a torn left ACL in the Clemson game last October and will anchor the front, with the excitable and hard-hitting Dexter Reid in charge at free safety and the fleet and dependable Michael Waddell at one corner. Kevin Knight will man the other corner in base defense and move into more of a linebacker/safety type in nickel and dime packages. Beyond that, how the puzzle falls together remains to be seen.
Adding to the staff's challenge has been an onslaught of nagging injuries throughout pre-season camp -- nothing serious, just dings and nicks that put a player on the sideline for a couple of days. Doug Justice missed several sessions with a thigh contusion, Page was out with a groin pull, freshman Victor Worsley with a sprained shoulder, reserve linebacker Sean Williams with a tweaked hamstring. The numbers game on defense has gotten, in Bunting's words, "scary." The Tar Heels have played four walk-ons on the second-team defense, and on one occasion, they were down to one healthy middle linebacker -- a walk-on also.
"Depth is a major concern right now," Huxtable says. "It's a real big concern. But we've got to play the cards we're dealt."
This defense should have good speed and Huxtable plans to use it with an aggressive, blitzing style.
"This will be a hard-working, attacking defense," says Chapman. "We don't have the big-name guys, the guys like Julius Peppers last year who already had a name. We're all trying to make a name for ourselves. We've got to work harder than last year's team. We have to be a tougher defense than last year. I think we can do that.
"We have to blitz and be aggressive," he adds. "We can't sit back because we don't have Peppers. We can't hide from the fact that we lost key people. That means we've got to play hard, play tough, play aggressive. The coaches have got to move people around and put them in different places to make it work."
The bright spot of the 2002 Tar Heels should be the offense, which has quality players across the starting 11 and good depth at quarterback, tailback and tight end. What could turn a positive picture into a negative one, however, would be wholesale injuries across the front line. The No. 2 line is young, green and raw.
"We've got a long way to go, but we're getting better," Gary Tranquill says. "We're ahead of where we were last year."
 Hal Hunter: "Kids are brought up today to be nice and mild-mannered. It's not politically correct to bring them up to be tough and aggressive. You don't want a mean SOB off the field, but you've got to teach them to be that way on the field. This is a tough game. You've got to play that way." |
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"You know why people don't run the ball any more?" asks line coach Hal Hunter. "It's hard. Running the ball is the hardest thing to do in football. Every once in a while, you have a team that's successful winging it all over the place, but most great teams can run the ball and stop the run. If you're not stopping the run, you're getting beat, period. If you can't run the ball, they're going to shut your passing game down. Running the ball develops a toughness across the board that you have to have. If you never run the ball in practice, in spring ball and camp, you've got no toughness in your front guys."
The chart above (available through PDF version) shows how the Tar Heels' robust running game has sloughed from the power of the 1970s, '80s and early '90s to near-anemic proportions the last half decade.
Some of that was by design. Frustrated at the Tar Heels' inability to move Alabama's massive defensive front one inch in the 1993 Gator Bowl, then-coach Mack Brown began thinking of going more toward a finesse attack, a scheme that uses four-wides, controlled passing and less reliance on the run. It took two years to put the coaching personnel in place who were on the same page, with former coordinator Darrell Moody resigning and new coordinator Greg Davis moving in for the 1996 season.
A new mindset in the mid-1990s by defensive coordinators also made it more difficult to run the ball. Defenses began putting eight and nine men on the line of scrimmage and daring you to try to throw it amidst all the dogging and stunting and intense heat.
And the Tar Heels swung-and-missed on signing the potential Kelvin Bryants and Natrone Meanses of yesteryear.
All of which has led to a concerted effort to revive the ground game.
"We ran the ball okay at times last year, but not consistently well," says Tranquill. "We have to make defenses respect the run."
One of Hunter's missions since coming to Chapel Hill in January has been to develop a mental toughness and aggressive attitude among his players. Teaching footwork and handwork and assignments are easy, he says. Working on the mind is a different matter.
"Kids are brought up today to be nice and mild-mannered," he says. "It's not politically correct to bring them up to be tough and aggressive. You don't want a mean SOB off the field, but you've got to teach them to be that way on the field. This is a tough game. You've got to play that way."
The O-line is buying into Hunter's pitch.
"It's guerrilla warfare," says center Jason Brown. "We're going to war. You've got to be mean and vicious."
"We've got to learn to play through the pain and injuries," says tackle Willie McNeill. "Honestly and truly, I wasn't as tough last year as I should have been. I was young, I didn't know any different."
"It's mean and nasty in the trenches," guard Jeb Terry adds. "We've got to do any- thing we can to move our guy off the ball."
Guard Jupiter Wilson has developed into one of the unit's most vocal leaders, exhorting his teammates during an August scrimmage with an active throat and body language. When tailback Willie Parker juked once too often on the corner on a goal-line running play, Wilson screamed, "Just run the ball, Willie!!!"
Bunting took notice and saluted Wilson later that evening outside the Tar Heels' locker room.
"Hey Jupe, way to get excited out there," Bunting said. "You know I like that."
That kind of excitement and passion will serve the Tar Heels well this fall as they hope to stave off the ills of instability.
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Lee Pace, Carolina '79
Editor & Publisher
101-A Aberdeen Dr.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
(919) 933-2082 | <="" href="mailto:lpace@nc.rr.com">
NOTE: Readers are encouraged to view this week's Extra Points in the convenient PDF Format. PDF Format contains all material seen below, as well as additional content that is only available through PDF. Download Free Acrobat Reader
