Extra Points: Fresh Start

August 7, 2018 | Football, Featured Writers, Lee Pace

By: Lee Pace

By Lee Pace

Anyone standing in the southeast corner of Kenan Stadium late Sunday afternoon was treated to a version of pitch-and-catch and circus aerials not seen in these parts since Mack Hollins and Ryan Switzer beep-beeped their way into the NFL. It's called "1-on-1 pat-and-go," a drill where receivers square off against defensive backs on "go" and "fade" routes, each starting from a static position on the same yard line, the object being for both players to (legally) wield their hands and bodies at full speed and see who can find the football.

On one stretch of eight balls, Tar Heel receivers reel it in seven times, the only miss when Thomas Jackson would have drawn a pass interference flag. Anthony Ratliff-Williams wards off a defender with his right arm and reaches to haul the ball in over his inside shoulder. Beau Corrales and Roscoe Johnson jostle for inside position, slow down a hair to meet the ball and catch it under the defender. Toe Groves jukes his man inside and cuts outside to open some room and make a catch. Dyami Brown grabs the pass with his left arm while subtly keeping the defender at bay with his right. Dazz Newsome turns to face the ball, jumps backward to create some air and makes a leaping grab. And J.T. Cauthen bends his head straight backward to find the ball in the bright sky and snare it just inside the sideline.

Asked about the Tar Heels' deep reservoir of pass catches, QB Nathan Elliott's eyes light up.

"We have some great weapons out there," he says. "I'm really excited about it. It's going to help our offense stretch the field."

Adds receivers coach Luke Paschall: "It was good to see what our guys could do putting the pads on the first time this camp. We made some nice plays. We competed. That's what you'll get from our room more than anything: We're going to compete."

And yet, there was a caveat. "Honestly, that drill doesn't show you a whole lot," says Paschall. "It's stacked against the defense. There's no one else helping, and the receiver's not having to read any coverages. And if you can't get open 1-on-1, you're not very good anyway."

And so it goes this time of year. If you're applauding one side of the ball, you're fretting about the opposite. But if nothing else, coach Larry Fedora and the Tar Heels have a fresh start after their nightmarish 3-9 season in 2017. You remember that one—everywhere you turned, a Tar Heel was headed to the training room. Eerily, there's some carryover on the eve of 2018. Defensive line coach Deke Adams had double knee-replacement surgery in the offseason, and tight ends/hybrids coach Chad Scott, a 4 a.m. weight room rat, tore a pectoral muscle trying for a personal best in the bench press.

"They said I couldn't do it," said Scott, whose left arm's in a sling for two more weeks.

He smiled. "And they were right."

"Better us than them," Adams adds, implying he'll hobble all day if Aaron Crawford can stay healthy for 12 games.

Many of the medical dominoes that fell as 2017 and the offseason evolved are back on the field—Jackson, Groves, William Sweet, Cole Holcomb, Jay-Jay McCargo and Tyler Powell among them. Fedora and the Carolina strength and conditioning and medical staffs have wracked their brains for a common thread but couldn't find one—beyond emphasizing the basics of hydrating, rest, foam-rolling and other simple recovery protocols.

"Guys are taking care of themselves and understanding that being in the training room is the best thing for you rather than just relaxing and being off your feet at home," Ratliff-Williams says. "You can be making sure your hamstrings feel better, your knees are iced. Things like that."

Through Sunday the Tar Heels had practiced three times and then took Monday off for meetings, a walkthrough, team and position photos and a session with the news media. The latter event was dominated by the news and ensuing reaction to 13 Tar Heels being suspended for from one to four games for selling team-issued shoes in January. Among the most significant of the suspensions are the four games each by defensive ends Malik Carney and Tomon Fox and the receiver Corrales. Nathan Elliott emerged as the starting quarterback the last month in 2017, and Chazz Surratt's suspension leaves the back-up position in the hands of walk-on Manny Miles and a pair of January enrollees, freshmen Jace Ruder and Cade Fortin.

"I'm extremely disappointed by our players' actions," Fedora said. "Each year, every player is educated about the rules regarding apparel and equipment, specifically that the sale of apparel and equipment is an NCAA violation. Every player signs an agreement acknowledging those rules. These young men know better and should not have made the choice they made.

"I do want you to understand they are young men. My responsibility is to help grow them into men. They're going to face the consequences of their actions, we're going to move forward, and it's going to be a great teachable moment for our football team."

Suspensions aside, make no mistake that the 2018 offense is not going to in any way resemble the unit that eeked out only 370 yards and 26 points a game last year, both numbers deep into the NCAA national rankings and certainly the most tepid of Fedora's six years at Carolina.

That receiving corps is talented and deep, albeit young. A one-two punch at tailback of Jordon Brown and Michael Carter was amped up with the spring transfer of Antonio Williams, a native North Carolinian who moved from Ohio State and was given an NCAA waiver to be eligible immediately. Williams' story is particularly interesting because he committed to the Tar Heels as a high school freshman at North Stanly in 2013, only to cast his eyes to the smash-mouth mentality of the Big Ten and Wisconsin and then later Ohio State.

"Antonio's very bright, gifted, and he's got great quickness and balance," Fedora says. "The great thing is that smile on his face is even bigger now that he knows he can play this year."

The Tar Heels have 19 offensive linemen and another to arrive when classes start. The left tackle Sweet and center McCargo are healthy after missing spring practice, and Carolina has a number of signees from the last two highly regarded recruiting classes who find might a role this year. Most notably, Marcus McKethan has moved his 6-6, 340-frame from tackle inside and is competing for the starting spot at right guard.

Meanwhile, the defense is built around a front four that includes veterans Crawford, Carney, Powell, Jalen Dalton and Jeremiah Clarke, plus the explosive Fox on the edge and a junior who could have a breakout year in Jason Strowbridge. The Tar Heels have a solid two-deep at safety with Myles Dorn, J.K. Britt, Myles Wolfolk and D.J. Ford. They need to develop consistency at cornerback, nickel and depth at linebacker.

"A bunch of those front guys have been here since I first got here," says defensive coordinator John Papuchis, who came to Chapel Hill in 2015 as linebackers coach. "We're experienced and deep up front. We're looking to those guys to have a great year."

The defense would be helped if Holcomb, a senior linebacker, can stay healthy. Holcomb walked onto the team in 2015, earning a spot first by being smart and second by being fast. But his playing time decreased as the 2017 season wore on and he battled a chronic shoulder injury. He's had offseason surgery and gained some weight and feels significantly more solid to stand up to the rigors of 12 games.

"One thing that will help with Cole is if we don't have to play him so many snaps," Papuchis says. "For that to happen, we've got to bring some young guys along and develop some depth."

The Tar Heels will start to get some real answers on Wednesday when they don full pads for the first time and then on Saturday when they scrimmage, all of this taking place in Kenan Stadium given that construction on the new practice complex and indoor facility is a couple of months behind schedule. Two weeks of freezing weather in January idled workers who couldn't pour concrete, and it seems that the site of the old Navy Field had been something of a junkyard repository back in the early 1900s when South Campus was in fact a forest. Among the artifacts found beneath the ground was an abandoned automobile and contaminated diesel deposits that took time to remove.

But as Larry Fedora likes to say, if it's not one form of adversity smacking you in the teeth, it's another. Hopefully the 2018 Tar Heels will be a bit wiser, older, deeper and motivated to batter that old foe into submission.

Chapel Hill-based writer Lee Pace enters his 29th year writing Extra Points and 15th covering the sideline for the Tar Heel Sports Network. You can reach him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him at @LeePaceTweet.