University of North Carolina Athletics
Sanders Brings Back Light Blue Brigade
September 8, 2004 | Football
Sept. 8, 2004
By Adam Lucas In the middle of preparing his defense for their season opener against William & Mary, North Carolina co-defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders decided to do a little research. Sanders, an Illinois native, played his college football at Nebraska and spent most of his 11-year coaching career in the Midwest. When John Bunting hired him in January 2004, he had only a limited knowledge of Carolina's historical defensive proficiency. He already knew Julius Peppers and Lawrence Taylor, of course. But as he began to page through some of the books and magazines on file in the Kenan Football Center, he became impressed with the quality and depth of the Heels' defensive talent. He began to write down the names of Carolina's All-Americans on an index card: Peppers. Brian Simmons. Greg Ellis. Dre' Bly. Marcus Jones. All the way back to Ken Powell, a 1949 All-America selection at defensive end. The 1996 season--when the Heels led the country in scoring defense and were second in yards per game allowed--caught his eye, as did a caption calling that defense the "Light Blue Brigade." An idea was born. Sanders, as handy with Microsoft PowerPoint as he is with a whistle and clipboard, put together a presentation on the history of Carolina's defense. And in the week before the game against the Tribe, he summoned the entire Tar Heel defense to a Kenan meeting room. "I wanted to bring back that idea of the Light Blue Brigade," Sanders says. "I went back and researched all those guys, and I showed our current guys that we want to bring that tradition back. I showed them there have been great defensive players here ever since 1949, and it's an honor to play defense at North Carolina." "I knew some of those guys, but not all of them," starting middle linebacker Fred Sparkman said. "He went all the way back to back in the day. It made me want to go back and do some studying." Sanders's last coaching stop was Nebraska, where former coach Bob Devaney inadvertently created the Blackshirts because he wanted to easily denote his starting defense. All Cornhusker defensive starters wear black jerseys in practice, and the jersey became a mark of pride during Nebraska's rise to national prominence. The Blackshirt Defense was one of the nation's most formidable during the early and mid-1990s. So after showing his players the history of UNC defense, Sanders took a page from his Nebraska experience. Typically, defensive players wear white jerseys in practice and offensive players wear navy. Sanders announced that all starters who earned the distinction would receive a Carolina blue practice jersey to wear in every practice, and they were worn for the first time last Wednesday. It's not a permanent change--players can earn or lose the jerseys based on their performance in practice or games. "It's something you have to earn," Sanders says. "If you're going to warrant being in the class of guys like Peppers and Bly, you have to earn it every day in practice and in every game. You have to play up to a standard that those guys created and you have to be consistent." Players quickly learned their membership in the Light Blue Brigade could be temporary, as two players lost their blue jerseys after Saturday's game. They'll try to earn them back in practice this week and against Virginia. Sparkman, who still is a charter member after making 14 tackles against the Tribe, thinks the idea will help instill some pride in a unit that was maligned in 2003. "You know when you put that blue jersey on that you're the top man," he says. "It's not a competition, because we're all with everyone else and I know my backup will pick up the slack if he needs to. But still, there's just something about being first team. It made me want to fight to make sure I was on that first team." 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.
