University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: Cover Your Ear Holes
September 23, 2011 | Football
Sept. 23, 2011
Everett Withers addressed the media prior to the start of Thursday's practice. “Thursday,” he said. “It seems like they come around every other day now.” It does seem like the 2011 Tar Heel football season is moving quickly. Carolina is 3-0, 1-0 in ACC play, and heads to Georgia Tech to face the 3-0 Yellow Jackets in a Coastal Division battle.
For the Tar Heels' first road game, Withers is preparing his team to get used to some unfriendly confines. This week, the team has practiced with the added distraction of artificial crowd noise. Thursday, staff member Andrew Gibson was at the controls for the added decibels: very loud crowd noise on top of rock music (I think I heard blink-182).
But it wasn't constant: The noise was piped in for a few seconds at a time while the team got set at the line of scrimmage and when quarterbacks Bryn Renner and Braden Hanson called for the snap. The noise wasn't necessary when the plays were being signaled in, as they are communicated visually from the sideline. Still, Renner has a habit of covering the ear holes on his helmet so that he can focus.
The head coach said he was confident in his sophomore quarterback making his first road start. “I think Bryn's one of those guys, if you're at home or way, you hope your whole team's like that. Being on the road, we're not going to run through the smoke, so hopefully we're just going to go out and play the game.”
Across Ridge Road, the Carolina baseball team held a fall scrimmage in Boshamer Stadium. Diamond Heels head coach Mike Fox commented on the intermittent loudness coming from Navy Fields: “They must be expecting a big crowd in Atlanta.”
Withers would prefer the crowd weren't making noise at all, and said he'd like the Tar Heels to be playing well enough to hold a silent practice. “That's our goal, is to silence the crowd,” he said.
Defensively, the Tar Heels are relying on the scout team to mimic Georgia Tech's wing-T offense. Freshmen Marquise Williams and Sam Smiley alternated playing the part of Yellow Jackets quarterback Tevin Washington. Smiley, a defensive back on the Tar Heel roster, played quarterback at Raines High School in Jacksonville, Fla. “I think we've had the best look scout team offense since I've been here,” Withers said. “I think we've gotten a lot of work done, and to me that's the key, getting a lot of work done on actual plays, and I think we've gotten that this week.”
Briefly
•Sophomore cornerback Jabari Price had surgery to repair a tendon in his left hand on August 19. Price had been listed as out for the first three games of the season. He is listed as doubtful for tomorrow's game.
•Kicker Casey Barth left last weekend's game at halftime and is out this week with a thigh injury. Freshman Thomas Moore converted on two extra-point attempts against Virginia and will step in again in Atlanta.
•Barth, Cam Holland and Kevin Reddick were named permanent captains prior to the start of the season. Each week, the coaching staff selects a fourth captain for the next upcoming game. Thursday, junior linebacker Dion Guy was chosen for tomorrow's game at Georgia Tech. How have the three prior captains fared in their games?
SS Matt Merletti vs. James Madison: Had three tackles, two of them unassisted. Combined with Zach Brown on a tackle for loss on JMU's first play from scrimmage. Forced a JMU fumble in the third quarter.
LG Jonathan Cooper vs. Rutgers: Helped pave the way for 405 yards of total offense. Had a solo tackle after a Rutgers fumble recovery.
DB Pete Mangum vs. Virginia: Appeared on kickoff teams. Had a tackle on kickoff return after penalty pushed the kickoff back to the Carolina 15. The tackle combined with a holding penalty forced Virginia to start at their 22.
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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