University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Journey Begins For 2006 Tar Heels
April 10, 2006 | Football
April 10, 2006
by Lee Pace, Extra Points
Two plays during the Tar Heels' month of spring practice provided Exhibits A and B for the speed, effort and heart that will help provide the foundation for the 2006 Carolina football season. Kentwan Balmer began on the back side of one snap but ran down a wide receiver across the field and made the tackle. Larry Edwards bit on a play-action fake on another. Nonplused, he wheeled, sprinted downfield and swatted the football to the ground
"Our players understand now our culture of giving effort on every snap - whether it's practice or a game," defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders says. "They know what is expected from an effort standpoint. We had to teach our expectations a couple of years ago. That's not an issue any longer."
Sanders is running slow motion of the Balmer play on his computer screen. He points to No. 90, aligned at left end, and watches as the reverse evolves to Brooks Foster toward the defense's right side.
"Kentwan slants into the B-gap ... here comes the reverse ... here's Brooks ... here's Kentwan ... here's Kentwan ... here's Kentwan ..."
Balmer barrels from at least a yard deep into the backfield, across the grid and some 20 yards downfield, where he snares Foster after the runner had paused to sidestep another defender.
"Holy cow, is that fast or what for a defensive end?" Sanders effuses. "That's a great effort play."
Also noticeable in the field of vision around Foster are three offensive linemen - guys carrying nearly 300 pounds who've followed the play downfield, ever alert to behead an unsuspecting defender. New offensive line coach Mark Weber, who donned a plastic construction hard-hat with an NC logo for an early spring practice to underscore his unit's mindset, demands his linemen aggressively follow every play downfield.
"I've seen guys pushing people, I've seen long runs being broken and I've seen linemen down field following the play," says center Ben Lemming, who missed spring with continued shoulder injury. "It an aggressive mindset we have this year."
"If a tackle's made 10 yards or 15 yards down the field now, you're going to see O-linemen right around the ball," Sanders adds. "Those guys are right down the field with the D-line. That's exciting to see that kind of mentality."
Sanders locates another snippet of digital imagery and points to No. 32. The senior linebacker watches from the right edge as QB Joe Dailey appears to hand the ball off to the tailback. Edwards steps up quickly to make the play but then realizes it's a fake as Dailey looks downfield to pass. Edwards spins to the outside, sprints 20 yards downfield and looks over his inside shoulder to find the ball. He locates it, times his jump and knocks it down.
"Larry's caught," Sanders says, pointing to Edwards' reaction to the play fake. "For some guys, that's it. They're done for that play. But not Larry. Look at that recovery speed. He goes from being totally out of position to making the play.
"That's ability and that's effort. We've got more ability than we've had. We still need more. We're not as deep as I'd like us to be. But I can't fault our effort at all. That's a nice change."
The 2006 spring was indeed about change and evolution: Three new assistant coaches, two new quarterbacks, a brand new offensive playbook, young faces throughout vying for playing time, older players watching from the boundary as they nursed all manner of injuries, position changes for a half-dozen players.
And it's been about the continued maturation of the culture John Bunting has been working to develop for five years.
"I like what I've seen out here this spring," Bunting says. "We've been very physical. We've worked extremely hard every day. Nobody questions what hard work means any more. That's the culture change I've been talking about for years. We had a lot of whiners, guys we had to re-teach that hard work is good. It's good. It makes you better.
"Well, we know how to work hard now."
It's all adding up to a noticeable buzz around the program. Don't look now, but Bunting and the Tar Heels are gaining on the rest of the world. They're 9-7 in the newly expanded ACC over the last two years (fourth best among 12 teams). The staff has recruited well for three years now and this year closed better than ever with the high-profile targets. The University has provided the funds for retaining and hiring quality assistant coaches.
"Next fall can't come soon enough," says Don McCauley, an All-America running back 36 years ago and today a key Rams Club executive. "I've not seen as much optimism for an upcoming season since John's been here. There's a lot of work left to be done. But if everyone does their part, it could be a very interesting season."
The Tar Heels to a man recognize that everything's been ratcheted up around Carolina football: the tempo, the demands, the intensity, the expectations, the energy.
"It's a different feel this spring," says Lemming. "People are excited. There's a breath of fresh air around the program. We have a fresh offense, fresh new coaches. You can see it permeate through all the players. People are flying around, hitting each other. There is definitely a new sense of purpose."
"There's a new aura around the program," says tackle Brian Chacos. "We had a lot of success on defense last year and have a lot of guys coming back. The additions of Coach Cignetti and Coach Weber on offense are going to be tremendous. Things are really exciting, really enthusiastic. We're anxious to share them with the fans in September."
The offensive staff has had an 80 percent turnover over the last two years, with Cignetti replacing the retired Gary Tranquill as coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Weber replacing Hal Hunter, who moved to the NFL, and Dave Brock and John Gutekunst taking the receiver and tight end reins one year ago. The defensive staff has evolved totally from the washout of 2002-03 (the days of 475 yards allowed a game), and new this year is Danny Pearman, who's coaching ends following the departure of Brad Lawing to South Carolina.
"I think the University of North Carolina has gotten a rebirth, a great burst of energy," says senior Jesse Holley. "We've won some games and we've had some new coaches come in who exude excellence. The team is starting to feed off their energy. You look at them and say, `How can your coach be more excited than you are?' It makes you up your ante a little more."
Bunting says this spring has been the most of fun of the six he's presided over since taking the Tar Heel job in 2001. He believes there's a sense of camaraderie and shared mission in the fourth-floor staff meeting room that's permeating the program.
"I had fun this spring watching the kids compete and watching the new coaches work," Bunting says. "Anytime you have something new and you see it starting to work and you see progress day to day, that's exciting." The No. 1 question for the 2005 Tar Heels is this: What will the new offense look like and feel like? And question 1-A is this: Who will pull the trigger at quarterback?
The offense is built around running the ball hard and often between the tackles and setting up a cavalcade of throws off play-action fakes. It will employ multiple personnel groups and stretch the secondary vertically and horizontally. Cignetti and Weber like to point to their Fresno State team's victory over Virginia in the MPC Computers Bowl one year ago and the telling statistic that the Bulldogs ran the ball 38 times and threw it 38 times - gaining 222 yards via the ground and 235 via air.
"It's a very physical offense," says Weber. "It's a downhill running game with lots of personnel groups and formations. It's a very aggressive offense. We try to stay balanced. We'll mix it up and, most importantly, get the ball in the hands of our playmakers."
The Tar Heels are sold.
"It's a lot more up-tempo," says tailback Ronnie McGill. "It's about getting out of the huddle, getting to the line and setting the tempo and the pace at the beginning of every game. There's more downhill running instead of running to the outside. It's a tougher mentality than we used to have."
"We've watched tons of Fresno State film, and you can see for yourself it's an attacking offense," says Holley. "The game that sticks out in everyone's mind is the way they attacked USC [42 points, 427 yards]. They didn't back down. I love the mindset of this offense."
"I love the new attitude," says tailback Barrington Edwards. "We're going to be aggressive with the ball and we're going to run it. Coach Cignetti has an attitude. Sometimes he wants to put a helmet on and get out there himself. We just feed off him. We're going to line up and come after you."
Dailey, the Nebraska transfer, and red-shirt freshman Cam Sexton, whose spring was ruined last year with a broken ankle, are listed in a dead heat in competition for the starting quarterback position. Both are quality players, and the Tar Heels can move the football with either. Both have good arms, though neither is particularly tall in the classic sense (each stands 6 foot 1). Both are mobile (Dailey was clocked in the 40 at 4.41 and Sexton at 4.5) and both are intelligent. Bunting acknowledges that Dailey might have an edge because of his having started 11 games for Nebraska in 2004. But it's a long way to Sept. 2 and Rutgers.
"I'm very pleased with their progress," Cignetti says. "I see two guys that know how to prepare and that love the game. When you talk about the mental preparation of a quarterback and functional intelligence, I see two guys that have what you want. They have great escapability, they can run, they play within the pocket as well as outside the pocket. I'm very excited to see where we're going to be come August with these two young men."
Sanders says that Dailey and Sexton both can be the kind of players to give opposing defensive coordinators fits. No one likes to play against a mobile quarterback. There's too much to worry about if he can run. It's particularly difficult if the quarterback has a good arm as well. Sanders is particularly familiar with Dailey; both were at Nebraska for the 2003 season, and Sanders introduced Dailey to Bunting, Tranquill and to the Carolina program when Dailey decided to transfer a year ago.
"Dailey will keep you awake at night," Sanders says. "A guy who can run and throw has an answer for anything you can do to him."
Spring is always a time for tinkering with personnel, and a handful of Tar Heels are in new positions. Cooter Arnold is now a backup free safety to senior Kareen Taylor, and Sanders sees great things for him. Balmer is playing some defensive tackle in addition to end; passing situations that work his speed and power on the inside with the quickness of Hilee Taylor on the edge could be a thing to behold. Joey Bozich has moved from quarterback and auditioned at fullback and made some splattering hits in the kicking game. Bobby Rome has shifted from quarterback and taken snaps at tailback and fullback. Martell Thatch has moved from safety to linebacker. Guard Calvin Darity has moved to center in Lemming's absence this spring, and defensive linemen Kenny Price and Aaron Stahl moved to offense.
The battle for backup tailback behind senior Ronnie McGill will continue through August. Edwards and Richie Rich had good performances in the Blue-White scrimmage, with Edwards notching 58 yards on 11 carries and Rich coming on strong the last two weeks of spring practice. Tailback, receiver and defensive line are three positions where Bunting is hoping for help with in the incoming freshman class.
Now that spring practice is over, Bunting will take to the road for a month of Rams Club speaking engagements and then another few weeks of May recruiting. The assistants go recruiting immediately, and the players focus on final exams.
"It's up to these kids to take it to another level, for the leadership to step up," Bunting says. "It's all about doing the right thing - in the classroom, in the weight room, everything else we do in the off-season. We need a great off-season of bonding, of growing together. I fully anticipate a very cooperative and workmanlike summer. It's important to our future."
Last summer the Tar Heels exhibited a sense of cohesion and esprit de'corps around the weight room, the football field, the running lanes, the backyard barbecue, the bowling alley and other spots where athletes gather that carried over to Saturdays during the fall. Seniors like Matt Baker, Tommy Davis and Chase Page led the way, and now the mantel is passed to Holley, Jon Hamlet, Melik Brown, McGill and others.
"We have players today buying into the whole concept," says Hamlett. "Everyone has to do the right things between now and August. The seniors will lead the way."
"It's all about bonding and trusting," says Brown. "The way we bond off the field helps us bond on the field. If you trust your teammates off the field - to study and do the right things - then you trust him to be there on the field."
It all sounds very good: the talent level, a quality staff, the incoming freshmen, the commitment to excellence and a tough-minded work ethic. But as Bunting cautioned Saturday in the wake of the final scrimmage, "We've got a long, long, long ways to go."
Cignetti has preached to this offense the notion of "the journey," that each day and each snap of the football is one cornerstone to the opener Sept. 2. Cignetti and the newcomers are lucky; they have no idea how far Bunting and the program have actually traveled.
