Spring Practice: Run Defense a Priority for UNC Football

Just over a year ago, UNC head football coach Larry Fedora—seeking a fix for a defense ranked among the worst in the country—went bold and hired defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, who masterminded the nation’s most improved unit in his first season on the job.

Now in Year Two of the Chizik Era, the Tar Heels–amidst changing expectations–have an amplified focus on stopping the run during spring practice.

Chizik and head coach Larry Fedora are turning from the bigger picture toward the finer details after winning 11 games and the ACC Coastal Division in 2015.

Ranked 120th nationally in scoring defense in 2014, allowing 39 points a game, the Tar Heels jumped to 42^nd last season, giving up 24.5 per game.

With the major issue—preventing the other team from having a lot of points–taken care of, Fedora has said he most wants to see improvements against the run on first and second down—an issue that plagued his team in its late-season losses to Clemson and Baylor.

In those games UNC gave up a combined 964 yards on the ground.

With that said, Fedora is aware that fixing the leak up front may not happen overnight.

“I don’t know if [we’ll] have the same level of improvement,” Fedora said. “We came a long way last year. We gotta be better than we were last year. If we keep building that, we’ll keep climbing that ladder and we’ll be a good football team.”

The thing is, the measure of what a “good football team” is for UNC has changed with last season’s success.

To beat high-level teams with elite speed and ground attacks the Tar Heels will need solid output from an inexperienced front seven, which loses linebackers Jeff Schoettmer and Shakeel Rashad–along with linemen Junior Gnonkonde and Justin Thomason—to graduation.

Chizik will have to rely heavily on junior defensive linemen Dajaun Drennon and Naz Jones to lead that effort.

“You’ll hear Coach Chizik say he’s just trying to set a standard,” Jones said after Tuesday’s practice. “We created that standard already so it’s just about getting new guys to live up to that standard.”

One reason the focus on the run has been prioritized is because cornerbacks Des Lawrence and MJ Stewart—expected to form the ACC’s top tandem at their position–are two of three returning starters in the secondary.

UNC ranked 18^th in the country in passing yards allowed last year and topped the ACC in interceptions with 17.

Lawrence hasn’t shied away from expectations, admitting he knows he and the rest of the defensive backs will have to help Jones and the inexperienced front.

“We understand that our front seven isn’t the same as what it was last year—not saying that it’s not gonna be better—but we understand that it’s gonna take some time,” Lawrence said. “The experience on the back end has to be even better. That way any miscues they have we can save.”

Another big-time playmaker in the secondary is safety Donnie Miles, a rising senior.

The team’s leading tackler a year ago, Miles has proven to be outstanding in run support. He’s made it a point to complement that ability by working on his coverage skills this spring–as the Tar Heels work toward their ultimate goal of fielding a dominant all-around defense.

“We left a lot of plays out on the field last year—especially in big games,” Miles said. “So that’s our mindset now is just to dominate and make sure we’re getting everything perfected.”

All of the improvement–and potential for improvement–has been made possible by Chizik and his simplistic, no-nonsense approach to coaching.

The former school teacher has gotten the players to fully buy in—no matter how tough he gets on them–and the results are showing.

“He’s definitely gotten to know us, we’ve gotten to know him, and we know that’s just how he is,” Jones said of Chizik’s hard demeanor. “That’s just his personality.

“We’ve kind of all adjusted to each other and feel like we’ve got a good thing going.”