Turner's Take: Justin Time

August 9, 2014 | Football, Featured Writers, Turner Walston

By: UNC Athletic Communications

by Turner Walston

The foundation of the 2014 Carolina football defense is being built right now, in training camp. With seven defensive starters returning, there is reason for optimism. The Tar Heel secondary is in good hands with senior Tim Scott leading a group of talented young players. Norkeithus Otis and Jeff Schoettmer lead an exciting bunch of bandits and linebackers. Up front, however, it's a different story. Senior Ethan Farmer is the only returning starter along the defensive line. No matter how talented the Tar Heels are on the second and third levels, it won't matter if they aren't able to create pressure and stop the run. And so with Kareem Martin and Tim Jackson (67 combined starts) gone, a new group of players must step forward.

One candidate to be an impact player is Justin Thomason. The junior defensive tackle from McDonough, Georgia (outside of Atlanta), is quiet and unassuming, something of a gentle giant off the field. In fact, he's a bit like Martin in that manner. Thomason has seen spot duty through his first two seasons and now has an opportunity to start at defensive tackle. With both Martin and Jackson gone, plus some addition attrition during training camp, defensive line coach Keith Gilmore's group has had to be adaptable. Erstwhile defensive end Jessie Rogers has become a three-technique tackle (lining up on a guard's outside shoulder), and Thomason has learned the nose tackle position.

“He's doing both (defensive tackle positions),” Gilmore said of Thomason. “I think it's going to make him a better football player. He's versatile and he's really gained some bulk and some strength this year and he had some good games last year where he got some experience and got a chance to gain some confidence so I think he's just taking that next step and getting ready to go to the next level.”

Thomason played in all 13 games a year ago, notching 22 tackles in a reserve role. As a freshman, he appeared in five games and broke out in a big win Charlottesville against Virginia, with three tackles and a sack. “I say two sacks, they called it a half and a half a sack (two separate plays on which he teamed with another player to stop the quarterback in the backfield),” he said. “That was sort of my starting point.”

Two short years ago, Thomason was not quite in the kind of shape he needed to be, at least not to see significant time on the interior of the defensive line. “I was skinny, man, just running around trying to make a name for myself,” he said. Now, he's pushing toward 290 pounds, as opposed to 250 or 260, his weight in his first two seasons. “Sophomore year, I played a little more behind Tim Jackson at three-technique and got more comfortable with the three-technique. This year, I see myself as more of a leader role, playing three-technique and nose, just trying to make us all better.”

Thomason had that leadership modeled for him in his first two seasons by Martin and Jackson, who taught him that every rep in every practice was important; to be intentional with every movement. “You've got to practice hard every day. Being a freshman and sophomore you don't realize that,” he said. “You think you can just turn it on when the game starts. You can't.”

Because of the group's collective lack of starting experience, they've had to rely on each other. The defensive line has taken some hits, but they've closed ranks and plan to emerge stronger. It's showing: they're a unified group, on and off the field. The Tar Heels closed practice with a two-minute drill, which ended when Nazair Jones 'sacked' quarterback Marquise Williams. Devonte Brown pushed back the center, which allowed Jones to rush under and get to Williams. “When we can be effective together instead of just being just one individual, we're more dominant, we're more forceful, we're more scary,” Brown said.

That attitude of playing together, for each other, can carry the defensive line and the defense as a whole a long way. The group is well aware they don't have a 'name' player in 2014 - at least not yet. There's no Kareem Martin, no Sylvester Williams, no Quinton Coples among them. But that's OK. Maybe it's Dajaun Drennon that emerges. Maybe it's Jones. Maybe it's Brown. Maybe it's Thomason.

Thomason is perhaps a bit tired of those types of questions. After media day, he went back to the defensive line meeting room with a new charge to his teammates. “They keep asking me about Kareem Martin, Sylvester Williams, all those,” Thomason said. “I said, 'We can all be a Kareem Martin. We can all be a Sylvester Williams. We can all compete just like those guys, and we can only get better.'"