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GoHeels Exclusive: Football Notebook
March 8, 2019 | Football, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
For the first time since the 2018 season ended, the North Carolina football team strapped on the pads Thursday for its third spring practice.
And as expected, there came some adjustments with that.
"The first time in pads, it's always a little bit rough because they're just not used to them," Mack Brown told reporters after practice. "They haven't been in pads for a long time. Energy was good. Enthusiasm was good. I thought they really tried. So the effort was good."
Brown said there were still too many penalties Thursday. But he added that there weren't many turnovers by the offense and that "overall, it's (been) a good three days."
"It will give us a lot better feel for who we are and what kind of team we have," Brown said, "because two days in shorts and one day in pads and then you've got a week off to really study the guys and see exactly who they are and have a better idea when we come back of who we need to work more or less or what we do with them. And I think that will help us."
Here are five more notes from Brown's Thursday media availability:
Kicking questions
During his pre-spring practice press conference last Friday, Brown said the Tar Heels have big question marks in the kicking game following the departures of Freeman Jones and Hunter Lent. After three practices, Brown said he's pleased with half of the kicking game.
"Noah Ruggles has been a plus as a kicker," he said. "He hasn't missed a field goal or an extra point in three days. So that's really good, a positive in our kicking game. Punting has been a little inconsistent. We've still got to figure out which one of those guys can do it. We have a punter coming in in the fall, as well."
Linebackers looking to 'step it up'
When asked which position groups have stood out or need to improve, Brown said he didn't believe "anybody has done enough yet to say that we've stood out." But he did go in-depth on one unit.
"I'm a little concerned at linebacker," he said. "I think they have to step it up the most. I have been impressed by Chazz Surratt and his move over there. He can run, he's 225, 230 pounds, he looked like he hit people today, just standing out there and watching practice. So I think he'll be a plus. But that's probably the position that's got to step up the most."
Special guests
Among the attendees at Thursday's practice were two former Tar Heels, Malik Carney and Rasheed Wallace.
Carney participated in last weekend's NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, where he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.73 seconds and completed 25 reps on the 225-pound bench press, matching the third most by any edge rusher. Wallace played for the men's basketball team from 1993–1995, during Brown's sixth and seventh seasons at UNC.
"It was fun to have Malik Carney back out," Brown said. "I wish he could play. And Rasheed Wallace, we'd put him at wide receiver – he might be a tight end, he could be a defensive end or maybe just a jumper in the middle to bat balls down. Rasheed was in school when we were here before, and it was great to see him."
Brown said ESPN sideline reporter Maria Taylor, who is in Chapel Hill for the men's basketball game against Duke on Saturday, also attended practice. She then spoke with the team in the afternoon.
"She's going to talk to our guys about social media and handling the media this afternoon with media training," Brown said. "She's the best at what she does. … She's a friend of ours, and she'll do a great job with them."
Becoming 'the cool place to be'
Brown said he's meeting with the Rams Club Board of Directors on Friday to request funding for new lockers and an overhaul of the weight room. In regard to the former, he asked players for their input.
"We've got to be the cool place to be in recruiting," Brown said, "and the lockers are old and they're outdated and they don't have a cooling system to dry all the shoulder pads and knee braces and helmets when they're in there. … They don't have a place to plug in their iPads and their phones, and you know how drastic that is for young people right now.
"We're checking with people who have made the best lockers in the country, and that's what we want to give our guys. If we're going to ask them to be the best, we need to give them the best."
A well-timed break
With three of their 15 allotted spring practices down, the Tar Heels will take next week off for spring break. But the coaching staff will be making the most of that time to be even more prepared when practices resume on March 19.
"What we'll do is really look at this video hard and we'll look at this one more than the two days in shorts, obviously," Brown said. "But we've got a full week now just to evaluate every little detail. And what we will do is take all of our coaches that are here and they'll all look at it separately and then come together and collectively everybody will kind of vote and see who feels like they need more reps and who needs less and it helps us separate.
"I really like the fact that we've got three days and time off because we need a lot of film study on all these guys and now we can do that."
For the first time since the 2018 season ended, the North Carolina football team strapped on the pads Thursday for its third spring practice.
And as expected, there came some adjustments with that.
"The first time in pads, it's always a little bit rough because they're just not used to them," Mack Brown told reporters after practice. "They haven't been in pads for a long time. Energy was good. Enthusiasm was good. I thought they really tried. So the effort was good."
Brown said there were still too many penalties Thursday. But he added that there weren't many turnovers by the offense and that "overall, it's (been) a good three days."
"It will give us a lot better feel for who we are and what kind of team we have," Brown said, "because two days in shorts and one day in pads and then you've got a week off to really study the guys and see exactly who they are and have a better idea when we come back of who we need to work more or less or what we do with them. And I think that will help us."
Here are five more notes from Brown's Thursday media availability:
Kicking questions
During his pre-spring practice press conference last Friday, Brown said the Tar Heels have big question marks in the kicking game following the departures of Freeman Jones and Hunter Lent. After three practices, Brown said he's pleased with half of the kicking game.
"Noah Ruggles has been a plus as a kicker," he said. "He hasn't missed a field goal or an extra point in three days. So that's really good, a positive in our kicking game. Punting has been a little inconsistent. We've still got to figure out which one of those guys can do it. We have a punter coming in in the fall, as well."
Linebackers looking to 'step it up'
When asked which position groups have stood out or need to improve, Brown said he didn't believe "anybody has done enough yet to say that we've stood out." But he did go in-depth on one unit.
"I'm a little concerned at linebacker," he said. "I think they have to step it up the most. I have been impressed by Chazz Surratt and his move over there. He can run, he's 225, 230 pounds, he looked like he hit people today, just standing out there and watching practice. So I think he'll be a plus. But that's probably the position that's got to step up the most."
Special guests
Among the attendees at Thursday's practice were two former Tar Heels, Malik Carney and Rasheed Wallace.
Carney participated in last weekend's NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, where he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.73 seconds and completed 25 reps on the 225-pound bench press, matching the third most by any edge rusher. Wallace played for the men's basketball team from 1993–1995, during Brown's sixth and seventh seasons at UNC.
"It was fun to have Malik Carney back out," Brown said. "I wish he could play. And Rasheed Wallace, we'd put him at wide receiver – he might be a tight end, he could be a defensive end or maybe just a jumper in the middle to bat balls down. Rasheed was in school when we were here before, and it was great to see him."
Brown said ESPN sideline reporter Maria Taylor, who is in Chapel Hill for the men's basketball game against Duke on Saturday, also attended practice. She then spoke with the team in the afternoon.
"She's going to talk to our guys about social media and handling the media this afternoon with media training," Brown said. "She's the best at what she does. … She's a friend of ours, and she'll do a great job with them."
Becoming 'the cool place to be'
Brown said he's meeting with the Rams Club Board of Directors on Friday to request funding for new lockers and an overhaul of the weight room. In regard to the former, he asked players for their input.
"We've got to be the cool place to be in recruiting," Brown said, "and the lockers are old and they're outdated and they don't have a cooling system to dry all the shoulder pads and knee braces and helmets when they're in there. … They don't have a place to plug in their iPads and their phones, and you know how drastic that is for young people right now.
"We're checking with people who have made the best lockers in the country, and that's what we want to give our guys. If we're going to ask them to be the best, we need to give them the best."
A well-timed break
With three of their 15 allotted spring practices down, the Tar Heels will take next week off for spring break. But the coaching staff will be making the most of that time to be even more prepared when practices resume on March 19.
"What we'll do is really look at this video hard and we'll look at this one more than the two days in shorts, obviously," Brown said. "But we've got a full week now just to evaluate every little detail. And what we will do is take all of our coaches that are here and they'll all look at it separately and then come together and collectively everybody will kind of vote and see who feels like they need more reps and who needs less and it helps us separate.
"I really like the fact that we've got three days and time off because we need a lot of film study on all these guys and now we can do that."
Players Mentioned
Defensive End
/ Football
Place-Kicker
/ Football
Punter
/ Football
Place-Kicker
/ Football
Quarterback
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