University of North Carolina Athletics
DB's Focus On Interception Improvement
March 29, 2004 | Football
March 29, 2004
by Adam Lucas
Mahlon Carey grimaces as the numbers are recited to him. 9.3 yards per pass play. 14.8 yards per catch. Nearly 280 passing yards per game. Opponents cruised in the air against the Tar Heel secondary during the 2003 season. But none of the above numbers, not even the nearly 40 point-per-game scoring average, provokes a reaction quite like the one glaring stat from last year's 2-10 campaign:
Two Carolina interceptions.
Leave it to the junior safety, who notched both of the Tar Heel picks last year, to sum up that particular number: "Ugh," he says.
New defensive backs coach and defensive co-coordinator Marvin Sanders spent last year at Nebraska, where two interceptions was a pretty good total. For a half. Under Sanders's tutelage, the Cornhuskers led the nation in pass efficiency defense, picking off 32 passes-nearly 7.5 percent of the passes attempted against them (Carolina was below 1 percent).
"You get what you emphasize," Sanders said after Saturday's scrimmage. "We're going to emphasize playing the ball. If the ball is in the air, we're going after it. We're going to emphasize takeaways and when we do that, the kids will play aggressively."
Sanders and fellow co-coordinator John Gutekunst appear to have made a seamless transition into their role-sharing. Usually, Gutekunst runs the defensive meetings; when he had to miss Saturday morning's session to attend his son's wedding, Sanders stepped in and impressed head coach John Bunting with the way he ran the gathering.
His work with the defensive backs is made more challenging because of the depth situation. Cornerback Cedrick Holt remains out as he recovers from a broken ankle, and stalwart safety Dexter Reid has exhausted his eligibility. Cornerback Lionell Green tweaked his ankle in Saturday's scrimmage, opening the door for Quinton Person, a redshirt freshman, to see some action and pick off a pass.
Person and Bryan Bethea both played well in the scrimmage, but the surprise of the spring so far has been cornerback Jacoby Watkins, a sophomore with blistering speed who is working his way up the depth chart.
"I know he's young, but he does some very good things out there," Sanders said. "I expect to get a lot out of him in the fall. He is a great athlete who is trying to understand what to do and how to do it, and by doing that he's going to give himself an opportunity."
Transfer senior Gerald Sensabaugh appears set at the free safety position, and Carey will try to continue his transformation from tailback to strong safety this season by putting together a strong spring. He occasionally struggled with discipline and dedication during the 2003 season, prompting Bunting to organize weekly breakfast meetings with him to ensure he was focused on academics and on football.
Now, the coaches want the promising player who Bunting says "has all the tools" to carry over that discipline to the field.
Carey, meanwhile, wants to carry a few things off the field with him-a few more interceptions.
"We're going to get more of them this year," he says with conviction. "We're going to be more aggressive to the ball. Last year, we weren't doing that. Last year we were playing the man and playing passively. That was unacceptable. We want to have tenacity to the ball and make things happen."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.
