UNC football defense, under Geoff Collins, hopes to create mayhem in 2024 season
Geoff Collins says he doesn’t know where the “Minister of Mayhem” tag originated, but he doesn’t shy away from using it.
It’s on his X.com (Twitter) handle. It’s on his Instagram account. He apparently likes it.
But it also fits Collins, North Carolina’s new defensive coordinator, and the way he wants his guys to play: fast, aggressive, physical, smart and violent.
Violent? Nothing illegal, Collins says. Just violent collisions with, you know, offensive guys that can cause chaos and turnovers.
Collins is charged with remaking Carolina’s defense, which was too porous at times last season and especially late in the season. He is charged by UNC head coach Mack Brown with using more players on defense and developing depth. He is charged with stopping the run much better this season — that’s No. 1 on Brown’s wish list for the defense.
Collins has gone about it vigorously, moving about the practice field with a look of controlled intensity. You can see it in his eyes, his demeanor.
“I’m having so much fun coaching this group of guys,” Collins said Tuesday. “They’ve got a chip on their shoulder, they’ve got an edge. They are flying around, communicating at a high level. What I’m seeing — the speed, the execution, the camaraderie, all those things — has been a real positive.”
‘The kids love it’
Collins and his system have rubbed off on the players, who mention his energy, his passion, his approach to playing defense.
“He’s just letting us go. It’s not so much a scheme thing or anything,” defensive end Beau Atkinson said. “The mentality behind the scheme is … to attack all the time. When you don’t have to hold back, ever, that’s pretty cool.”
When Collins was the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State, in his younger coaching days, he called it “Psycho Defense.” It was about playing with some swag, some juice, busting up offensive plays, dismantling offensive possessions.
Collins, 53, likes a defense that appears complicated, especially to quarterbacks, but is actually simple to learn and implement. He likes to disguise pass coverages, disguise blitzes, to come at you from unexpected angles at unexpected moments.
“The kids love it,” Brown said.
It seems that way. Ask a defensive player about Collins and “freedom” is a word often heard — as in, the freedom to use their talent, make plays and not overthink everything.
Collins has likened it to playing “Rock, Paper and Scissors” at a “ridiculously high” level, noting it can stress different parts of your defense. There is some risk involved.
The defensive objective: Create fear in the quarterback. Make him guess. Make him guess wrong.
“Get after the quarterback, let our D line go hunt,” cornerback Alijah Huzzie said.
Familiar with UNC
Collins, a Georgia native who played linebacker and defensive back at Western Carolina, put in his time as a defensive coordinator at WCU, Florida International, Mississippi State and Florida before getting his first head coaching gig at Temple in 2017. After two seasons with the Owls, he was named head coach at Georgia Tech, where he went 10-28 overall and did not have a winning record in any of his four seasons — he was fired after four games in 2022.
Arguably Collins’ best win at Georgia Tech was a 45-22 victory over then-No. 21 UNC in Atlanta in 2021 as quarterback Jeff Sims was a handful for the Tar Heels, running for 128 yards and three touchdowns and passing for a fourth. The Yellow Jackets sacked UNC quarterback Sam Howell eight times and recovered three Howell fumbles.
While at Temple, Collins took some graduate courses in educational psychology. One of his favorite books, which he often mentions, is “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell, which centers on having a cognitive understanding of what’s about to occur and how to react quickly when it does.
Case in point, an offensive play. Collins wants his guys, through thorough pregame preparation, to have a mental picture of what’s about to be run. His instruction then: “Don’t think, act.”
The last thing he wants is guys being “robots” on the field. He wants guys being, as he put it, a “complete pain in the butt for the offense.”
“Create mayhem,” he said.
Using Tar Heels’ depth
Collins said he plans to get 20 to 24 players in games, building depth, allowing some players to build more trust with their D.C. He also noted he’d like to use 10 defensive linemen in games.
Collins has said he uses a “DDF” approach, especially up front with his linemen — deliver the blow, disengage, and finish. Attack the blocker, he said, get out of the block and make a play.
Collins likes to use a press defense with his defensive backs — again, a more aggressive approach.
“As a cornerback, the more man (defense) you can play it makes it easier, because you’ve got to just guard the dude in front of you,” sophomore corner Marcus Allen said. “It also allows us to disguise our defenses.”
Being dismissed at Tech and sitting out the 2023 season allowed Collins to be introspective.
“In my entire career, it has just been consistent success, success, success,” Collins said. “Then, you go through that and you become very self-reflective. What a lot of people can do is they can just point fingers and complain and just deflect everything instead of (looking) inside and going through the process of what you could have done different and done better.
“The benefit for me is that I got to take a year to regroup, be very reflective. And then I get to come work for (Brown), a Hall of Famer, and watch how he does it on a daily basis. it has been wonderful for my career, wonderful for my soul.”
Collins is back in the game, determined, that glint in his eyes. He replaced Gene Chizik as defensive coordinator at UNC, but has only good words for his predecessor. He’s happy to be back in his defensive “lab,” as he likes to call his office.
Did the time away change Collins? Not according to wide receiver Nate McCollum, who played at Georgia Tech for Collins before transferring to UNC.
“He’s got a fire up under him every day,” McCollum. ”He has brought that to our defense.”
McCollum smiled.
“And he’s still crazy. You can tell him I said that.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2024 at 3:26 PM.
