GoHeels Exclusive: Football's Return

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

The past three months felt like old times in the Fox household, with both Tomon and Tomari Fox back home in Lawrenceville, Georgia amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Seemingly every day, the brothers were in the weight room with their father, Tony, going through the sorts of intense workouts that have become notorious among their North Carolina teammates. But no matter how enjoyable the extra time was with his dad and the rest of his family, the longer Tomon was at home, the more he worried about if he'd get to play his redshirt senior season.

That concern was finally quelled Wednesday, when the NCAA Division I Council approved a six-week preseason practice plan for football, a significant step toward playing the 2020 season.

"It was always in the back of my mind," said Tomon during a videoconference with reporters on Thursday. "I try to stay positive about things, but that thought was always in the back of my mind. And to just know we will have a season crushed all the doubt I had and gave me more motivation to keep working hard and finish up this last year."

The NCAA DI Council's ruling came five days after UNC's coaching staff and its first batch of players, including the Fox brothers, returned to campus last Friday. With that came a sense of normalcy, but only to a small degree.

From 2-4 p.m. Friday, UNC tested its players for the virus, then asked them to stay away from each other over the weekend. (The athletic department is following University protocols and not releasing testing results to the public, although the University will notify the Orange County Health Department when a positive test occurs and conduct contact tracing of those individuals.) On Monday, the players began working out in small groups with head strength and conditioning coach Brian Hess, who reported to Mack Brown that the players were in good shape.

Brown and the coaches underwent testing Friday, as well, from 9-11 a.m. They've since started phasing back in, working from home on Monday and Friday and practicing social distancing while holding meetings at the Kenan Football Center on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

"We're learning how to stay safe, and the first group of players who have come in are going be the ones who teach the next group how to make sure they go by the guidelines …" Brown said. "I really feel like our first week has been a huge success. If you had asked me last week what I wanted for this to be like after a week, it couldn't have been any better for us."

The second group of Tar Heels returned to Chapel Hill for testing on Friday. The third group will arrive on June 26, followed by the fourth and final group on June 29. Even after all the players return, the coaches won't be able to meet with them in person through at least the end of June due to NCAA rules, a point of frustration with Brown.

"Right now, all of our meetings with our players are still on Zoom," he said. "Even if they're in the building, they can go sit in their meeting room, but the coach has to be in his office and he can Zoom with them, which I don't understand. I wish we could sit down and meet with the kids because I think it would be better to have football meetings in person and get to see them and talk to them. They can come up and meet with us, but they can't talk about football with us.

"So, I look forward to the day we can have our meetings in person, I look forward to the day that we can have our walkthroughs because, right now, they've got voluntary workouts and they've got their player-led practices and that's what we're doing."

With the approval of the six-week preseason plan, mandatory workouts will begin on July 12. Then, from July 23-Aug. 5, players may be required to participate in up to 20 hours of athletic-related activities per week. That includes as many as eight hours per week for weight training and conditioning; six hours per week for walkthroughs, which may include the use of a football; and six hours per week for meetings, which may include film study and various types of meetings. Players are required to get at least two days off during that 14-day period.

Brown expressed some criticism of the NCAA for denying Carolina's request to begin training camp a week before its scheduled start date of Aug. 6, four days before classes start. But the Hall of Fame coach praised the organization for approving the six-week preseason plan.

"They've given us a roadmap," he said. "There's no playbook for all the things we've been going through for the last three months. This really helps us because we can sit down with each player and show them exactly when this is going to happen, what you've got to be ready for when we go to this phase and then this phase.

"I'm excited that the NCAA did it early enough that now all the universities, even the universities that haven't brought their teams back yet, have a plan."

Ahead of bringing UNC's first batch of players back, Brown said the team doctors met with the players' parents virtually. Not only did they speak once without the players, but they also talked without the coaches, giving the parents the chance to ask any questions they might have.

So far, Brown said no players or parents have mentioned any concerns about the players returning to campus or to football amid the pandemic.

"I just think we need to be smart about it," said sophomore quarterback Sam Howell. "Obviously, everyone wants to play football, but at the end of the day we've just got to do things the right way. We've just got to understand football is not the most important thing in the world right now. Our health is the No. 1 thing."

Over the past month, Brown has often acknowledged how there are a variety of opinions among Americans about how dangerous the virus is and how that will surely be the case among a group of 100-plus players and staff. Still, taking all those viewpoints into account remains one of the team's biggest challenges. So does educating everyone on how to stay safe.

"Some people take it very seriously," Brown said. "Some say, 'Ah, I'm fine. It's not that big of a deal.' It started with our staff. If I see a guy in a position where he doesn't have a mask on, it's my responsibility with a player or coach to say, 'Put your mask on. This is in that guideline.' And the second part of that is honor your differences. If Jovan Dewitt is more susceptible because of his cancer last year to getting COVID and you don't want to wear your mask in the hallway and you see Jovan, put it on for him. Don't put it on for you."

Players won't be required to wear masks during drills, but Brown said it's yet to be determined if coaches will. On the other hand, everyone will be expected to continue following the social distancing guidelines that are being put into place in the football center.

Brown said the wide receivers have already been moved to the offensive line room for more space, while the offensive line has shifted to the team auditorium. The first group of players are using the normal locker room, while the second group will use the lacrosse locker room in the Loudermilk Center. The third and fourth groups will also be assigned to different areas.

The Tar Heels' ultimate goal is to create a bubble around them to isolate themselves from the rest of campus. But in order to do that, each player is going to have to take the necessary precautions to ensure their and their teammates' safety is top of mind.

"It's kind of scary because no matter where you go, you've got to have (a mask) on, and you're still at risk," said senior running back Michael Carter. "I think it's reaching out to each other and trying to make sure nobody gets sick and trying to make sure everybody is safe, that way we can play this fall because that's what everybody wants to do."

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