UNC excited about new football schedule, and Top 25 ranking, on first day of practice
The University of North Carolina football team’s first practice of the season Thursday was bookended by good news: the release of the Tar Heels’ official 2020 schedule and the news that the team had made the USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll.
“[The players] were really excited to see the schedule this morning,” coach Mack Brown said. “As soon as we got it we gave it to them; and our coaches were not planning on opening up with Syracuse, so that’s a new game for us that the guys have not worked on. So they’ve got a short window here to start working on that a lot. Then I just told them at the end of practice that they were 19 in the Coaches Poll, so they’re excited and have a lot to play for.”
The preseason USA Today Coaches Poll was released Thursday at noon. UNC did not appear in the poll at any point last season, but debuted at No. 19 this year. The only ACC team ranked higher than the Tar Heels that they play is Notre Dame at No. 10. Clemson, not on UNC’s schedule, was No. 1. Virginia Tech was No. 24, and Miami, Virginia, Pittsburgh and Duke received votes.
A week after announcing a reworked scheduling model during the coronavirus pandemic with lists of opponents for each team, the ACC on Thursday released detailed schedules with game dates for all 15 teams. Games will start Sept. 12, with UNC hosting Syracuse.
Brown said coaches will get to work immediately on prepping for the opener. Syracuse wasn’t originally on UNC’s schedule, so the team hasn’t had as much time to plan for their personnel. Brown did note that Syracuse has a new defensive coordinator, Tony White, who the Orange didn’t get to work with in the spring as it would in a normal season.
“There’s more pressure on getting ready for the opener than any other team just because there’s a short span of time between now and then,” Brown said.
In terms of UNC’s personnel, Brown has consistently emphasized a need for depth leading up to and following the first day of practice.
“We’d like to have 22 guys that can play on both sides of the ball and get out of this first team, second team stuff and get into who can play,” he told reporters. “Who’s gonna help us beat Syracuse? And then you get into how many plays each one of them plays. And I know everybody gets so hung up on, ‘Is he a starter? Who’s gonna start?’ Well, that’s one of our problems. We just had starters last year, but didn’t have enough depth. So we really need to create that.”
Quarterback Sam Howell and running back Michael Carter are expected to be leaders on the offensive side of the ball. Howell will again hold the starting slot, with redshirt sophomore Jace Ruder and freshman Jacolby Criswell battling to be the backup. Despite it being his third season, Ruder’s played only a handful of snaps thanks to two season-ending injuries: his leg last year and his collarbone in 2018.
“[Ruder] had a good day today,” Brown said. “He and Jacolby are working more right now than the others, but we’ve got to get a quarterback ready to go. We were really lucky last year that even with the amount of sacks we had early that Sam’s so tough he stayed healthy.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Brown said Patrice Rene and Myles Wolfolk will also take on leadership roles. The two are also both returning from season-ending injuries last year. Chazz Surratt, who made the switch last season from quarterback to linebacker, was also a player Brown said he expected to speak up more this season.
Another defensive player who’s stood out to Brown is linebacker Tyrone Hopper.
“He can really run, and he’s bigger and stronger,” Brown said. “This is the first time he’s been healthy, really healthy, for a long time, so I thought he was very impressive today. He gives us a lot of flexibility with the defense we’re looking at.”
Brown said the defensive line is where the team is least experienced, although coaches were impressed with Raymond Vohasek’s performance in the final four games of last season. Jahlil Taylor will once again be more of a run stopper for UNC on first and second downs.
As for the younger players joining the team, their game involvement will most likely be limited early on. They’ve had less time with the team than they would in a normal season.
“What we’re going to do is work really hard with the older guys to get them ready to play Syracuse, and work a lot with the younger guys to get them to back up,” Brown said. “That’s what we’re working on. We’ll work the younger ones more in some drills than we work the older ones.”
While UNC faces a faster turnaround in preparation for Syracuse, it most likely will face the same with its week two opponent. The Tar Heels are scheduled to face an undecided nonconference opponent at home Sept. 19, and Brown said he’s still not sure who that opponent will be.
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 2:39 PM.