GoHeels Exclusive: Tackling This Time Of Uncertainty

Photo by: UNC Athletic Communications

April 15, 2020 | Football, Featured Writers

By: Pat James

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

If not for the time he spent at Army, Jay Bateman might be quite anxious right now, as many coaches across the country surely are during this spring without football.

But as many things as there are to worry about amid the coronavirus pandemic, one thing North Carolina's defensive coordinator isn't dwelling on is his players losing reps. His five seasons in the same position at West Point taught him not to.

"At Army, it was not uncommon to get, 'Hey, you're not going to have your sophomores on Tuesday,'" said Bateman, entering his second season in Chapel Hill, during a videoconference with reporters on Monday. "You could spend your whole day complaining about it or just say, 'OK, how do we make this work?' And I feel like that's kind of how we've attacked this."

Since the ACC canceled all athletic-related activities on March 17, the day UNC was scheduled to begin spring ball, Bateman said he's met with each position group twice a week via the Zoom app. The rest of his time has been primarily spent watching film of NFL defenses and studying the Tar Heels' first few 2020 opponents, searching for anything that might give his unit a leg up.

Most springs, Bateman uses 12 of the 15 allotted practices to install his scheme. Not being able to do that this year certainly isn't optimal. One thing working in Carolina's favor, though, is most of the players are familiar with his defense, which has helped him keep adding to it.

"Some of it's new stuff, some of it's stuff we haven't done before," Bateman said. "We've got other colleges' or NFL teams' film in there with it, and we just kind of go through it with them for about 45 minutes to an hour. We do that twice a week, so it's about six weeks worth of work."

"It's not the ideal situation because we haven't been able to practice it. But whenever we get back we're going to be able to hit the ground running with what we want to do on defense."

Most of that centers around the defensive backfield.

Injuries ravaged an already thin secondary last season, with Patrice Rene, Myles Wolfolk, Trey Morrison, Bryson Richardson and Cam'Ron Kelly combining to miss 43 games. All five will be back this season, though. UNC will also return rising sophomore standouts Don Chapman and Storm Duck, among others, and will have Kyler McMichael (Clemson) and Bryce Watts (Virginia Tech) available after sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer rules.

Few secondaries in the country, let alone the ACC, will likely boast as much depth and talent. And that should enable the Tar Heels to counter spread offenses with more defensive backs.

"When you're able to go put five or six DBs out there and play a little bit more aggressive coverage, it gives you a lot more things to pick from," Bateman said. "We were kind of forced into playing a lot of zone coverage last year. We got good at it, but if you can be a little more aggressive and force the issue a little bit, it helps you a lot."

Schematically, that'll be the biggest change for Carolina, Bateman said. But after a season in which he felt as if his unit experienced some lulls, especially early in second quarters, due to exhaustion, it also stands to benefit from more depth at linebacker and along the defensive line.

According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), Jeremiah Gemmel and Chazz Surratt respectively played 816 and 744 of UNC's 917 defensive snaps last season. Both will continue to shoulder a heavy load in 2020, given how productive they were. Bateman, however, said he'll also rely more on Eugene Asante and Khadry Jackson after they each played fewer than 60 snaps as true freshmen.

"Hopefully they will be able to take some snaps off Gemmel and Chazz's plate. …" Bateman said. "And I think they do some things better than Chazz and Jeremiah Gemmel do. So, I think we've got to find ways to get them in a position to do what they do better.

"But certainly, I have no pause whatsoever with one of those kids going in the game, where a year ago we would've been pretty nervous."

That sentiment also applied to most of the defensive linemen.

Last spring, Bateman said there was a fairly large talent gap between Aaron Crawford and Jason Strowbridge and the rest of the defensive linemen. And that remained noticeable throughout the first few games last fall. By the end of the year, though, Tomari Fox, Jahlil Taylor and Raymond Vohasek had established themselves as viable rotational options.

Those three now face the unenviable task of replacing Crawford – who led all FBS interior defensive linemen in run-defense grade (91.3) last season, according to PFF – and Strowbridge – a potential Day 2 pick in the NFL Draft. But Bateman believes they can.

"I think Tomari is going to really be a dynamite player, Ray is going to come along really well and Jahlil by the end of the season was one of our best 11 players," Bateman said. "I feel really good about that, and I think that's a position that Tim Cross has done a great job recruiting. So, we're excited about those kids coming in so there won't be that gulf in our depth."

Adding to the Tar Heels' depth will be A.J. Beatty, Kedrick Bingley-Jones, Desmond Evans, Myles Murphy and Clyde Pinder Jr. – who were all highly-recruited defensive linemen in the Class of 2020. Bateman also praised two returnees who are coming off redshirt seasons.

"I thought at the end of the season, those bowl game practices that we had, a dozen or so, I thought Kristian Varner and Kevin Hester Jr. … I was so impressed with how they worked in those practices," Bateman said. "Kristian Varner has changed his body; I mean, he's big. He's 290-plus, I think, for sure. Kristian Varner and Kevin Hester and Kedrick Bingley-Jones, those three kids are physically the size, the body types that you want to play with.

"The thing with Kristian Varner that's impressed me the most is Brian Hess. Brian Hess just raves about how hard he works and how strong he's gotten. So, yeah, I can't wait to get back to work with that kid when we get back together."

Unfortunately, there's no telling when that will be.

As optimistic as he is about the defensive line, Bateman said that's the position group that'll be most affected by the lack of spring practices. Unlike the linebackers and defensive backs, the defensive linemen won't be able to participate in 7-on-7 exercises or perform certain drills while the players are away from campus.

"The D-line is a physical, hand-to-hand combat kind of thing," Bateman said. "I think it's harder to simulate that than anything else on defense without practice. And that's our youngest (group). … So, I think that will be a key when we get back, to manage getting reps for those guys at the cost of not stressing out the other positions. But certainly, that's the position I'm most upset not being able to practice with."

Bateman, however, isn't letting that frustration get him down. Instead, he's tackling this time of uncertainty the only way he knows how: head on.

"We spent two hours this morning as a defensive staff trying to find a way to make the film better when we're doing Zoom meetings with our players," Bateman said. "I don't know if everybody is doing that. So, I think when it comes back around and we are back together, then hopefully the work we've put in is going to pay dividends. And I feel like it will."