University of North Carolina Athletics
Defense Making Slow Progress
April 3, 2004 | Football
April 3, 2004
By Adam Lucas
Sure, Darian Durant had on a red no-contact jersey in Saturday's spring game. Sure, that was supposed to mean that he couldn't be touched. So when Khalif Mitchell broke through the Carolina line and popped Durant in the first quarter, John Bunting had the right to be angry.
Except he wasn't. "I thought it was great," Bunting said after the game, a bit of a twinkle in the former linebacker's eye.
The Tar Heel defense isn't entirely lovable just yet. Perceptions are somewhat skewed in the world of Carolina football, because we're used to seeing Julius Peppers and Dre' Bly and Brian Simmons and Vonnie Holliday out there making life miserable for opposing offenses. This particular UNC defense isn't to that level yet, and doesn't have--yet--the superstars that have peppered Carolina defenses in the past.
ut for the first time in almost three years, Bunting can talk optimistically about that side of the ball.
"I think we have the greatest combination of leadership and talent that we've had since 2001," the head coach said this week.
Just as importantly, Bunting and defensive co-coordinators Marvin Sanders and John Gutekunst are putting that talent in the right positions. Bunting called Tommy Richardson's move from safety to linebacker "a stroke," and Kareen Taylor's move from safety to cornerback--where he is a candidate to be the starting nickelback--looked equally brilliant after he picked off two passes and broke up two others. His interceptions will get most of the attention, but it was his breakup of a jump ball pass in the end zone, outjumping 6-foot-4 Adarius Bowman, that was most impressive.
Virtually no one expected a defensive battle when Bunting let four captains select teams Wednesday night, but that's exactly what they got. Khalif Mitchell, in his first semester of college life, led the white team in tackles with five unassisted stops, including the sack of Durant.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," the rookie said. "I knew I wasn't supposed to be tackling, but I got in that game mood. He was juking, and I just wanted to get my hands on him. When I realized I did it I was like, 'Aw, man,' but when I got to the sideline they weren't chewing me out or anything."
Players like Mitchell are enough to create some optimism about this Tar Heel defense. Remember, they don't have to be fantastic to improve over last season. The Heels allowed 38.3 points per game in 2003, good for 113th out of 117 Division I teams. Even a marginal improvement--to the middle of the national pack--would mean a decrease of almost two touchdowns per game. Think Carolina wouldn't have liked to have those two touchdowns back in four narrow losses last season?
Tackling, always an area of concern the past two seasons, looks to be improved. Corner Quinton Person got in on five stops on Saturday, but they weren't the downfield stops that have marked too many Tar Heel games recently. Instead, they were quick hits on a receiver made immediately after the catch.
"The corners tackled well and they tackled the catch very well," Bunting said.
Eventually, he'd like to have a defense that never allows the catch to be made. Sanders and Gutekunst have simplified this year's scheme, have eliminated some of the superfluous trappings of last year's defense. Carolina will be more aggressive playing the ball in 2004, a formula the head coach readily admits may lead to the occasional mistake of commission.
"We're going to see the ball better in the air and break on the ball better," Bunting said. "We should have more multiple hits, more tipped balls, more strips, more fumbles. We'll also have some big plays against us, and penalties are going to happen."
His defense is a work in progress, one that he realizes won't always be a masterpiece. He doesn't yet have a Peppers, a Bly, or a Simmons.
ut he's working on it.
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.
