University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: Do Your 'One-11'
September 17, 2011 | Football, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
Sept. 17, 2011
Do your 'One-11.' Everett Withers talks about it all the time with his team. Know your role. Be one man of 11 on the field, and do your job. Take care of your own business, trust your teammates, and good things will happen. Saturday, Carolina earned its first win in an ACC opener since 2000, in large part because the players on the field took care of their own responsibilities and played within themselves.
Early this week, Withers talked about `MOBPs,' or missed opportunities for big plays. By the time they finished reviewing tape of last week's game against Rutgers, Withers and the coaching staff had identified three MOBPs on defense and a fourth in special teams. This week in practice, the emphasis was on taking advantage of those opportunities. "When you turn an MOBP into a BP or big play, that's just capitalizing on the opportunities that present themselves and I think we did that today," said senior safety Matt Merletti. "Coach Withers harped on it all week and said that the turnovers are going to come, and he was exactly right. They did today."
Merletti would know. The senior safety notched his third and fourth career interceptions on consecutive Michael Rocco passes in the fourth quarter, sealing the game for the Tar Heels. He did it by knowing his role, playing centerfield, relying on teammates up front to pressure Rocco and letting the ball come to him. "When you're out there on defense and you try to start making plays and kind of going out of your job description, that's when bad things start happening," Merletti said. "That's when they start hitting big plays, so you really can't do that. You really kind of have to let it come to you."
A.J. Blue let the game come to him. The sophomore tailback, two years removed from a devastating knee injury, waited for his turn in the backfield behind Giovani Bernard and Ryan Houston. Blue got some late carries against James Madison, but was relied upon to move the chains and the clock in the fourth quarter on Saturday. Blue quietly waited for his opportunity, though he did try to subliminally plant a signal that he wanted to play. "I just stayed beside Coach Browning," he said. "I followed him all the way through the first half up until I got in. I always follow him, just in case when he turns around and sees me, he'll be like, `A.J., go in,' so every time, I follow him. The opportunity was great. I took it and I ran with it and I tried to do the best I could so I can get more time."
Blue rushed for 40 yards on nine carries, likely earning him more carries in future games. Saturday, the fans rewarded him by showering with shouts of `Bluuuuuue,' the long `oooh' sound at one time associated with Bruuuuuce Carter and Qqqqqquentin Thomas.
Week after week, the Tar Heel offensive linemen each do their `one-11,' run-blocking and buying time for Bryn Renner to find his receivers. The players that are written about have carries, passes and catches, but they owe a lot of credit to the big men up front. "Obviously you want to be a great player, whether that comes with a lot of glory or not," said left tackle James Hurst. "Individually, that's something everyone has to deal with but I think everyone realizes their role."
Ryan Houston too realizes his role. The fifth-year senior tailback could easily become frustrated watching the freshman Bernard become a star. But no, Houston understands the role he has to play - that of a goal-line, short-yardage back, and a between-the-tackles runner. Houston scored his 20th and 21st career touchdowns on Saturday, and it didn't matter that he only netted 17 yards on the day.
Senior cornerback Charles Brown said this year's team is a collection of individuals concerned with doing their jobs, and the results are bearing that out. The Tar Heels are off to a 3-0 start for the third time in four seasons. They don't care who's racking up stats because the team is performing well. "We just want to win games; that's our main goal," Brown said. "Next week we want to be 4-0, just like this week we wanted to be 3-0. So we don't really care who makes the play as long as somebody's making the play for us."
"Coach Withers really broke it down to guys, `Play your role,'" said junior linebacker Kevin Reddick, counted upon for his defensive leadership. "`If this is what we want you to do, do this.' He really focuses on that a lot, and I think guys know what it is. If this is what Coach wants you to do, do it, and don't worry about everybody else. Just do your one-11."
Turner Walston is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly. Turner's weekly Tar Heel football podcast, The Walkthrough, is available on iTunes.
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