University of North Carolina Athletics
Football Facelift
January 28, 2015 | Football
Larry Fedora's makeover of Carolina football continues this month after a lackluster 6-7 2014 season. Last Monday, the program officially announced the arrival of Gene Chizik as defensive coordinator. Chizik brings a championship pedigree to Chapel Hill: As head coach at Auburn, Chizik led the Tigers to an undefeated season in 2010 and the 2011 BCS national championship, and in 2005 he was the defensive coordinator for Mack Brown's Texas Longhorns, who won the 2005 national championship.
“Gene Chizik believes in competing at the highest level both on and off the field and is another highly regarded leader for our program,” Larry Fedora said in a release on GoHeels.com
But even prior to Chizik's announcement, the Tar Heels added ten January enrollees to the roster - the most in Carolina history. Two offensive linemen, a defensive back, deep snapper, defensive end, linebacker, wide receiver, running back, quarterback and athlete joined the mix and began taking classes on Wednesday, January 7.
Mason Veal, a first-team all state offensive lineman at Charlotte's Ardrey Kell High School was one of those ten. He said Fedora's passion for the program was what sold him on Carolina. “I know he has a direction and a vision for this program,” Veal said of the Tar Heel head coach. “He's doing everything he can to execute that vision.”
That includes recruiting inside the state of North Carolina –particularly the Charlotte area– and out. It helps that the Chapel Hill setting sells itself. “It's hard to beat the whole Carolina atmosphere, not just at athletic events but around the whole campus, and being here is a great experience,” Veal said.
Six of the ten early enrollees hail from inside the Tar Heel state, but two, Andre Smith and William Sweet, come to Chapel Hill from Jacksonville, Florida. “I love Carolina, and I could see myself coming here even if I wasn't an athlete,” Sweet said. In high school, Sweet prayed for a scholarship offer, and he got one within 24 hours. The offers kept coming, and though Sweet garnered a four-star rating from Scout.com, he said that doesn't matter now. “I appreciate it, but I don't have any stars,” he said. “There are a lot of hard working guys in that offensive line group, and I'm just excited to add along and work with them, learn from them and compete with them.”
Quarterback Anthony Ratliff-Williams, a Matthews native, said he fits right in with the Tar Heels' preferred up-tempo offensive style. “It fits perfect,” he said. “It's like macaroni and cheese with a fried chicken dinner, you know?”
Ratliff-Williams knows that there is plenty of competition in the quarterback room, with incumbent starter Marquise Williams returning, Mitch Trubisky on the rise, Caleb Henderson coming off a redshirt season and Kanler Coker at the ready. “That's what I came here for is the competition,” Ratliff-Williams said. “They recruit a high level of talent and highly-touted players and once you get that all on the same team, magic happens.”
Clemmons' Jalen Dalton is ready to compete at defensive end. He chose Carolina because it was not too close, but not too far from home, and the sincerity of the coaches. He chose to enroll early, because “they told me that if I came early and I was a part of spring practice and my body was physically able to play on Saturdays, then I would play, and then if it wasn't then I wouldn't,” he said. “That challenged me to self-motivate. You can play if you can put in the work.”
And so the early enrollees are on campus, putting in that work that will take them into spring practice, summer conditioning, training camp and eventually, Saturdays in the fall. The first game of 2015 is more than seven months away, and there are classes to excel in, playbooks to learn and conditioning to master. Though these young men want to make an impact, they're not worried about playing time just yet. “There's a time and place for all that,” Sweet said, displaying an attitude that can be applied to his classmates. “There's a lot of steps in the process before that even takes place, so I'm just working on what I've got now, and I'm just trying to make the best of the day. If I can get better every day, that time will come.”
