What to watch for as UNC football workouts culminate with spring game at Kenan Stadium
The work Mack Brown saw his North Carolina football team complete a year ago in spring practice led to memorable accomplishments.
The Tar Heels won nine of their first 10 games last season with national freshman of the year Drake Maye at quarterback.
The problem, though, is that work didn’t lead to the kind of finish a 9-1 start should.
Coming off a 9-5 campaign and carrying a four-game losing streak into next season, Brown has his Tar Heels focusing on playing as well at the end of the season as they are at the beginning.
“The guys played well,” Brown said, “Did a lot of good things. Did a lot of things that haven’t been done around here in a long time. What we didn’t do is finish. So that’s been something that we’ve talked about the entire spring.
“Championships are won in November and we didn’t play well down the stretch.”
UNC wraps up its 15 spring practices this week, culminating with Saturday’s 3 p.m. spring game at Kenan Stadium. It’s a chance to show the progress Brown is confident his team has made.
“We said our focus is on continuing to have fun but you want to finish,” Brown said. “We’ve got to finish. We’ve got to finish everything we do to go from good to great. And that’s what we didn’t do last year. So that’s why we’ve talked a lot about mental and physical toughness, because we need to get tougher so we can finish down the stretch.”
UNC’s offense is expected to be strong again with Maye heading into the season as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
The defense is under scrutiny, though. Last season, the Tar Heels allowed more points than any other ACC team (431), surrendering a league-worst 30.8 points per game.
Their work this spring, under defensive coordinator Gene Chizik and a revamped staff, has been critical.
“We’ve got the same guys in the front seven, and that’s where we need to get better,” Brown said.
Here are some other things to watch and know about UNC’s spring game:
Can the public attend?
Yes. Admission is free and parking is also complimentary at the following locations: Bell Tower Deck (which handles ADA parking needs), Bowles Lot, Cardinal Deck, Craige Deck, Jackson Deck and Manning Lot.
How to watch from home
UNC’s spring game will be streamed online via the ACC Network Extra channel. It’s available via the ESPN app or at espn.com/watch.
QB room set
Maye is, of course, entrenched as starting quarterback after leading the ACC with 4,321 yards while throwing 38 touchdowns with just seven interceptions.
Brown said the second-string job is now locked down by Conner Harrell, a redshirt freshman. After a good spring a year ago, Harrell showed inconsistency in practices during the regular season and struggled in bowl practices prior to UNC’s Holiday Bowl game with Oregon.
That concerned Brown.
“It was frustrating for us,” Brown said, “because we said “Ok. We got to have somebody out of this group be the next guy.’”
This spring, Harrell showed the staff he’s capable of taking over if Maye leaves after this season for the NFL.
“He’s just gotten better and better all spring,” Brown said.
More dynamic running game
While Maye led UNC in rushing last season with 698 yards, Brown anticipates more production from the running backs this season.
Even though rising sophomore George Pettaway is slowed by a sprained ankle, fellow running backs Omarion Hampton and Elijah Green are playing well in an expanded rushing offense.
“We’ve expanded it some and we’re running more plays than we did,” Brown said. “We basically were a four play running game team for the last four years. We feel like change is good sometimes, so you just add a different flavor.”
British Brooks is even back getting some on-field work after suffering a season-ending knee injury last August.