GoHeels Exclusive: Spring Practice Preview

March 2, 2019 | Football, Featured Writers

Tar Heels To Host Spring Game On April 13 Extra Points: To The Edge

By: Mark Kimmel

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

Three months into his second stint as North Carolina's football coach, Mack Brown remains just as enthusiastic about his decision to come out of retirement as he was in November.

"There's absolutely no doubt that I'm loving every minute of this," said Brown during his pre-spring football press conference Friday. "The best thing for (Brown's wife) Sally and I was to be back in coaching. We missed the kids, we missed mentoring the kids (and) we've had a blast.

"Coaches coach, and this is what I need to be doing, and I'm so happy and blessed (Director of Athletics) Bubba (Cunningham) offered us this job and so glad that we took it."

Since then, Brown's assembled a staff. He's also found success on the recruiting trail. And on Sunday, he'll step inside the Tar Heels' new indoor practice facility and lead his first practice in a little more than five years.

UNC opens spring practice Sunday afternoon, with players in shorts and helmets. That'll be the case on Tuesday, as well, before Carolina holds its first padded practice on Thursday. Eleven more practices will follow between then and the spring game on April 13, and along the way, the coaching staff plans to install the base offense, defense and special teams.

But Brown isn't looking too far ahead.

"I can't wait until Sunday," he said. "It's going to be so much fun to see them out there. I didn't know for sure I'd ever be back out on the field with them again. So Sunday will be another dream for me."

Here are three more takeaways from Friday's press conference:

'Earning the right'

Brown said the Tar Heels won't have starters this spring. Players won't be designated as first-, second- or third-team members, either. Instead, they will be split into a Blue team, White team and Gray team, with the Blue team earning the first set of reps, the White team receiving the second and the Gray team getting the third.

All of them will be competing to "earn the right," as Brown said, to dress for home games, travel and ultimately play however many plays they prove they can handle.

"We're demanding that the guys simply earn the right for everything they do, and that's on the field and off the field," Brown said. "So if they're going to class, if they're acting right, if they've busted their rear end throughout the offseason program, then they have a better chance to get more playing time in the spring than if not. And if they haven't earned that right, they won't be out there early. That's just part of it.

"That's what they've been told, and they understand that and they know it. We're not giving away reps. They have to earn those reps."

Quarterback competition

Among the biggest questions facing UNC entering the 2019 season, if not the biggest, is if it can find consistency at quarterback.

Carolina averaged 35.9 points from 2012-16. But after Mitch Trubisky forewent his final season of eligibility and was selected second overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, the Tar Heels averaged 26.6 points over 2017 and 2018. In that span, six quarterbacks took a snap, including five last season.

With Manny Miles graduating, Chazz Surratt moving to linebacker and Nathan Elliott announcing on Friday that he's withdrawing from grad school to become a graduate assistant coach at Arkansas State, the three players expected to compete for the starting quarterback job are Cade Fortin, Jace Ruder and Sam Howell.

"They've all three done really well in the offseason program," Brown said. "They've done everything right off the field. So, I don't have any masked feel (about) which one's going to step up first. It doesn't matter because we'll evaluate them throughout the spring."

Fortin, Ruder and Howell will spend much of the spring getting acclimated to new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Phil Longo and his system. But although there won't be clarity at quarterback until the fall, Brown defined what he wants from the eventual starter.

"What we're looking for in a quarterback is who's going to move the ball and score points, period, and we've told them that," he said. "It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how old you are. Who moves the ball and scores points.

"We had a rule at Texas: If you're moving it and scoring points, you stay in. That's what we're looking for. It's about winning. It's not about anything else. And the guy who can get us in the end zone is the guy we're going to play."

'Developing depth'

Before Friday's press conference, UNC announced Allen Cater, Austin Dowler, Tyrone Hopper, Jason Strowbridge and Wyatt Tunall will miss spring practice with injuries. Myles Dorn, Antoine Green and Myles Wolfolk will be limited to non-contact.

Brown also said Jonathan Smith "got behind academically" and is out of school this semester. He's expected to rejoin the team in June, and in between now and then, he can work with Tommy Thigpen and the strength and conditioning coaches individually.

Some of those players figure to be starters this fall. But with them either out or limited this spring, Brown said Carolina has "a great chance to start developing depth."

As part of their evaluation of personnel, Brown said he and the rest of the coaching staff will be examining what positions best fit certain players. In many ways, that process has already started. Brown said offensive lineman Avery Jones will also practice at nose tackle and Devon Lawrence has moved from running back to slot receiver.

"Depth helps team morale," Brown said. "We've had a lot of injuries the last couple of years. Depth helps eliminate more injuries than not because you're not tired on the field. And with these tempo offenses, especially on defense, people get tired, and we lost a lot of games late.

"So, we need depth, we need morale, we need confidence. And all of those things are what we're looking for in the spring."