UNC’s Mack Brown still prepping for football season as students shift to online classes

Less than 24 hours after North Carolina announced it was moving all undergraduate classes online due to clusters of the coronavirus among its students and employees, football coach Mack Brown seemed unphased.

He was told his team will move forward with the season as planned, seemingly unaffected by a massive change affecting the rest of the student body and university community as a whole. Most of the players were already in online classes, and they’d been on-campus without their peers for both summer semesters.

“For our guys, sadly enough, this is more the norm right now than it would have been going into the classrooms,” Brown said.

Despite there not being any major changes to Brown’s plan for his team — at least at the moment — he knows there will be bumps in the road. The best way to prepare for those bumps, Brown said, is to create depth by cross-training.

“We’re looking at a lot of different people in different positions just so we can try to figure out who’s best and then who would play if somebody else came out or got hurt,” Brown said.

Though Brown has lauded his team’s depth so far this season, especially on defense, injuries are inevitable. Brown also has to worry about players being sidelined by the coronavirus.

“We’ve always done (cross training) when we didn’t have a lot of depth because it’s really important you get your best 11 players on the field,” Brown told the media. “So what we’re trying to do right now is get the initial 11 on the field and then have the ability with cross training to get the best 15. And then maybe the best 17.”

Two of UNC’s best: Trey Morrison and Chazz Surratt

Two of those “best 11” players are defensive back Trey Morrison and linebacker Chazz Surratt.

“I think someone that’s gonna have a really good year is Trey Morrison,” quarterback Sam Howell said. “He moved back inside to nickel where he played his freshman year. He’s a really, really smart player. He’s probably one of the best defensive players I’ve ever seen.”

Morrison told reporters on Aug. 8 that he’s playing nickel this year, but he played corner last season and Brown said if they need him at safety, “then it’s a very, very easy decision” to move him inside.

“Playing corner helped me a lot with my man-to-man skills,” Morrison said. “In our defense freshman year, it was really man-to-man all the time, so that really prepared me for playing corner a lot. But I think corner helped me a lot in just my man to man and working with coach (Dre) Bly, he’s helped me so much in my press man on man and playing the ball and everything.”

Surratt will likely spend most of his time at inside linebacker with Jeremiah Gemmel, but he could also play at defensive end as well. It’s a tactic Brown used with defensive lineman Aaron Strowbridge last year, lining him up against weaker offensive linemen in an attempt to get him to the quarterback quicker.

“Chazz is a great pass rusher,” Brown said. “We want him at linebacker. We want him playing all over the field so he can make a lot of plays instead of being at an end, but in second and long situations, third and long situations, he’d be really hard to block.”

Cross training heightens UNC’s competition

UNC’s offensive lineman are also getting reps at multiple positions. Josh Ezeudu and Marcus McKethan are both playing guard and tackle. Freshman Jonathan Adorno is seeing snaps at both center and tackle.

“One of the blessings for us having a little bit longer opportunity to practice here because our game was moved back a week is that we’re able to look at a lot of these young guys at different spots too,” Brown said.

Another benefit of cross training and having a smaller group of guys play multiple positions is that it heightens the competition. If only the best 11 players are seeing the field, everyone wants to be in that best 11.

“There’s no question that when you’ve got competition it’s easier to coach,” Brown said. “And right now we’re having a lot of competition at every position, and I think that’s why the practices are so spirited and the guys are really getting after it.”

UNC is just under a month away from its Sept. 12 season opener at home against Syracuse. The university has yet to announce what capacity Kenan Stadium will operate at if fans are allowed to attend games.