Extra Points: Intentional

By Lee Pace

Marcus Allen was on a mission. At the end of spring practice and the first semester at Carolina in May, Allen cued up YouTube and entered the search: Best protein shake for weight gain. He found a concoction made of bananas, banana milk, condensed milk, honey, peanut butter and protein powder. He purchased a blender for his apartment, went grocery shopping and took in a supply of protein powder from the Tar Heel football team's nutrition staff.

And thus began a three-month ritual before bedtime: a 3,000-calorie shake to supplement the 3,000 calories he'd consumed during the day, a diet focused on lean protein and fresh food. Allen consumed an average of 250 grams of protein a day.

"I was 171 pounds," Tar Heel junior cornerback says. "I was too skinny and too weak. My focus over the summer was put on weight and gain strength."

Saturday morning, he weighed 184 pounds. He'd like to be 195 by the end of the football season. The combination since May of focused nutrition, lifting and running with the strength and conditioning staff and rehab from an injury sustained in spring ball stake Allen to a prime candidacy for makeover-of-the-year as the Tar Heels hit the halfway point of August training camp.

"I feel more explosive, my legs are stronger, my arms are stronger," Allen says. "I like hitting, and this weight will help me. With more strength, you can knock receivers off their landmarks, which is the most important thing. When he releases, you can mess up his timing with the quarterback. I didn't have that before."

Ask strength coach Brian Hess and chief nutritionist Amber Rinestine-Ressa about Allen's summer resolve, they'll both use the word "intentional"—as in every minute, every action being very deliberate and focused and with a goal in mind.

Secondary coach Charlton Warren recently told Allen that entering year three of college ball was his time to make a quantum leap.

"I think you're going to see a more focused and diligent guy with more game experience, where nothing surprises him," Warren says. "Marcus understands what's coming at him. He's changed his body and is much more physical. Before he was a physical skinny guy, now he's a physical thick guy."

Hopefully for the 2024 Carolina football team, Allen's metamorphosis can serve as a metaphor for the entire secondary, with each player in his own right having a success story over the last seven months.

The defensive backfield since Mack Brown's hiring in 2019 has been a work in progress, with fits and stops born of coaching turnover (with both safeties and cornerbacks coaches changing since 2022); injuries (Ja'Qurious Conley and Storm Duck among previous Tar Heels and DeAndre Boykins and Will Hardy on the current roster); and transfers out of the program (among them Duck, Cam Kelly and Tony Grimes).

The Tar Heels have recruited well and used the transfer portal to their advantage, with three of five probable starters coming from other schools (safety Jakeem Harris from N.C. State this offseason, safety Stick Lane from Georgia State last year and cornerback Alijah Huzzie from East Tennessee last year as well). Warren and cornerbacks coach Jason Jones are in their second year together at Carolina, and everyone has embraced the energy and schematic foundation from first-year coordinator Geoff Collins.

"I love the way Coach Collins runs it, he's really aggressive, he's all about getting to the quarterback, bringing new pressures, letting us have fun and play ball," Huzzie says.

"We're a lot more aggressive," safety Will Hardy echoes. "It's more aggressive with disguises, too. I turn on the tape and can't tell what play we're about to run because of the way we disguise things. We're always bringing the house, bringing a corner or a nickel, blitzing out of nowhere."

Huzzie was outstanding in his first year as a Tar Heel in 2023 before being hurt in the Clemson game in November and missing the rest of the season. Now he and Allen are healthy and mature enough to give the Tar Heels a quality tandem at cornerback. You're likely to see them play more press-man coverage than in any time around the Tar Heel program since Ron "Hands-Man" Case was the defensive backs coach from 1996-2000.

"This day and age of college football, you cannot allow easy access," Collins says. "You cannot allow it. You cannot play off a receiver and allow them an easy throw and catch."

"I think we can be lock-down corners on both sides of the field," Huzzie adds. "I think we're going to be very productive at the point of attack and be very successful this year."

Hardy is healthy and Boykins returns from a year of injury rehab. They are among a number of players who can mix-and-match at the two safety positions and the "Star" position, as the fifth defensive back is termed in the Tar Heels' nomenclature. Kaleb Cost, who played in Carolina's bowl game and was on the baseball team in the spring, is a leading contender at Star. In Lane and Harris, Carolina has two players with extensive experience.

It adds up to a level of ability, depth and confidence the Tar Heels haven't had in recent years. Warren calls it "swagger."

"When you play with swagger, it makes all the difference," Warren says. "I see a group of DBs playing with a tremendous amount of swagger, and it's real, they believe, they've earned it. Now we just have to go out and do it on a week-to-week basis."

Allen cites a player like Jalen Ramsey, a two-time NFL Pro Bowler who's played seven years in the pros, as exhibiting the kind of ability and mindset the Tar Heels aspire to.

"He's the most confident DB I've ever seen," Allen says. "He knows what he can do, and he knows his skills. He just goes out and competes every play. You have to have confidence that you're going to make the play. That's the most important part of playing DB. If you're timid or scared with your technique, it doesn't work. To dominate, you have to feel dominance."

Collins is asked if there's been an ah-ha moment since he came to Chapel Hill when he looked at his group of defensive backs, compared them to what he saw watching tape of the 2023 squad and came to the conclusion, "This group could be decent."

His eyes light up and he answers, "Thursday night," referring to the Tar Heels' scrimmage in Kenan Stadium in the misty back-sludge of Hurricane Debby.

"They were pretty good," Collins says.

Pressed for specifics, he says: "I'll let other people say it, but it was really good. Really good. Tight coverage, communication, execution. Really good. It was awesome. They had a blast."

Music to the ears of Tar Heel fans, certainly. Now to see it in action later this month.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has been writing about Tar Heel football under the "Extra Points" banner since 1990 and reporting from the sidelines on radio broadcasts since 2004. Write him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him @LeePaceTweet.

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Marcus Allen

DeAndre Boykins

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