University of North Carolina Athletics
COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: Familiar Challenges Face Tar Heel Defense
August 13, 2003 | Football
Aug. 13, 2003
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The following is a story from the September issue of the magazine.
By Lee Pace, Extra Points
Which was worse: 1988, when the Tar Heel defense allowed 463 yards and 35.5 points a game, or 2002, when opponents slashed through Carolina's defense for eerily similar totals of 452 yards and 35.1 points?
Which chills your spine more: the memory of watching Wake Forest slice to 42 points and N.C. State roll to 48 in 1988, or seeing Maryland and Clemson score seemingly at will in 59- and 42-point explosions on consecutive weekends last fall?
Who faced the bigger challenge: coordinator Carl Torbush juggling 23 different starters on defense in 1988 or Dave Huxtable 20 in 2002 in efforts to get the healthiest, oldest, toughest players on the field?
Who talked more about youth: head coach Mack Brown in 1988 or John Bunting in 2002?
The similarities are striking. Twice in the last 15 years, the Tar Heels' inventory of mature and talented defensive players has been totally depleted for any number of reasons-ranging from recruiting mistakes, injuries, academic wipeouts, ad infinitum. Brown and Torbush solved their late-1980s problems with good recruiting, strong discipline, tough conditioning and lots of patience on the part of Carolina administrators and fans.
unting and Huxtable are in exactly the same predicament.
Last year on defense Carolina started red-shirt freshmen Tommy Davis, Doug Justice and Leff Longhany and true freshmen Kendall High and Cedrick Holt at least part of the season. Sophomore Chase Page was in essence a freshman as he was on defense for the first time after seeing limited play the year before on offense.
As the Tar Heels open their 2003 August training camp, their defense is under the gun. The good news is they return a number of players who played extensively in 2002. But bad news is they might still not have enough bodies to stop the Philip Rivers of the ACC world on a consistent basis.
"We're a year older in most areas," Bunting says. "Last year, we had players going 65-70 snaps who didn't need to be out there more than 15 or 20. But they had to play. We didn't have a choice. They've had to gain physical stamina and experience the hard way. We're better than we were last year. But how much better I won't know until we get into camp."
Rapid development of the line and linebackers is a major component of the Tar Heels' resurrection project. Three players have flipped positions along the line, with former ends Issac Mooring and Jermicus Banks moving inside to tackle, and tackle Kendall High switching to end.
"Everything is for the good of the team," says Mooring. "I wasn't too happy about moving at first, but Coach Bunting said it would help the team. It's worked out fine. I like playing tackle. I've put on 30 pounds and can carry my weight a lot better than I did a year ago. I'm much more physical. You have to be to play inside."
Page was flipped around all year playing as a light-weight, first-time starter on defense. He's gained significant lean body mass over the summer and is nearly 300 pounds.
"I can't wait to get started," he says. "Honestly, I look at this my revenge year. I've got some paybacks coming. I'm not 260 pounds anymore. I'm 295 and ready to go."
Tommy Davis was playing his first season of college ball last year as an end with good physical skills but limited abilities in recognizing play evolution on the snap of the ball and using technique to fight off blocks.
"Last year I thought I could overpower everybody, but I was wrong," Davis says. "I didn't know how to use my speed to my advantage. I didn't have good technique. I've improved a lot over the spring and summer. I think I should match up pretty well-even if I'm outweighed by 40 or 50 pounds."
Losing seasons like 2002's 3-9 ledger tend to sort out the cream from the chafe. Coaches and players with plenty of heart and stomach turn the misery on its ear. The losing is a motivational force. It was in the 1988 and 1989 seasons, the bookend 1-10 seasons opening Brown's run at Carolina. And it's proving a motivation in 2003 as well.
"I can't go through that again," Page says. "I won't. I refuse. It affects every part of your life. You get mad at your girlfriend. You get mad at your mom. You're mad all the time. Football is a grind. The grind is not fun. The games are fun. Winning is fun. You have to love it to survive. Losing makes it so much harder. I will not do that again."
"If you're not winning, football's not much fun," says Davis. "You think about all the hard work you put into it going down the drain. It hurts your pride. It's a depressing atmosphere."
Mooring has seen the ups and downs-he played a couple dozen snaps in the Tar Heels' 41-9 rout of Florida State two years ago, then watched from the sideline with an injury as N.C. State took control in the third quarter of last year's 34-17 Wolfpack win.
"That game was the hardest on me," Mooring says. "I wanted to help but I couldn't do anything. It was frustrating. I don't want to go through anything like that again."
There are plenty of questions facing this unit. First-year defensive line coach Brad Lawing wonders, for example, if the Heels can generate sufficient pass rush from the edge.
"We're just not as strong at end as at tackle," Lawing says. "We still don't have a guy who can get us off the field on third down. We're having to manufacture a lot of our pass rush by twisting, pressuring, blitzing, things like that. We don't have a third-down end. We're recruiting some now, but they won't be here until 2004."
Will Carolina get help from four highly regarded linemen who red-shirted last year-Xavier Rainey, Brian Rackley, Alden Blizzard and Mickey Rice. Will another red-shirt freshman, Victor Worsley, be sufficiently recovered from a shoulder injury? Can Michael Waddell earn back his starting job at cornerback? Can Madison Hedgecock, finally settled at end after two switches back and forth from fullback, get his bearings?
Just how good is incoming freshman Melik Brown? He entered school in January and had a stellar spring. Can true freshman Isaiah "Puff" Thomas help? And will heralded junior-college transfer Lionell Green provide a needed boost to the secondary?
Stopping the run better is mandatory if Carolina wants to improve. Last fall, the Tar Heels allowed 221 yards rushing per game and an average of nearly five yards a carry. "Improving in that one area is absolutely key for us," says Bunting.
It will take weeks into the season for these answers to evolve. One thing that's certain, though, is that this team will have heart.
Safety Dexter Reid is the Tar Heels' pulse and figures to be among the team's leaders in tackles. Hopefully, he won't make as many if the Carolina front wall can stop the ballcarriers who sliced through them a year ago.
"This team will battle," Reid says. "We'll be battlers, and we'll be better right from the start. We won't go through this year what we went through last season."
During the latter part of the dismal 2002 season, Bunting gathered together the freshman and sophomore classes-the foundation to the future of the program-and pounded home the fact that the misery was a temporary state of affairs.
"I wanted them to understand why we were losing and losing the way we were - we were too young and not strong, not physical and not emotional enough," Bunting says. "That's what our off-season has been all about-creating toughness and competitiveness. I don't know if you're born with toughness and competitiveness. I think you learn to be tough and you learn to be competitive."
The Tar Heels did that coming out of the 1988 and '89 dark ages. They can do the same thing again.
