Senior defensive tackle Ethan Farmer and junior wide receiver T.J. Thorpe each lead on different sides of the football, but both Tar Heel veterans are driving home the same message to their teammates.
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One is more outspoken; the other, more of a stoic example. But both leaders are preaching the same doctrine this week in practice.
Personal accountability and self-discipline are their two pillars.
Thorpe believes the Tar Heels have been burdening themselves far too much with aspects of the game that are out of their control. He says his teammates need to focus all of their energy on their own respective assignments.
“We look too much into the big picture and try to control more than we’re able to control. I talked to some of the receivers about it. My main focus when I go out there is to control the things that I can control. I can’t control how Marquise [Williams] throws the ball or what he sees. You focus on your assignment,” Thorpe says.
Thorpe in practice
Thorpe’s analysis could help explain the disjointed, inconsistent nature of a UNC offense that has been just as capable of a three and out dud as an electrifying touchdown play this season.
Farmer says the performance of the defensive linemen last weekend at Clemson, where the Tar Heel defensive front shut down the Tiger rushing attack, is a prime example of the success that can be achieved when everybody is handling their own gap assignments.
“It was a big-time difference. We filled all our gaps. We got lined up. It was really great for the front seven,” Farmer says.
Thorpe couldn’t agree more with Farmer. He says the receiving corps had 20 missed assignments against Clemson, contributing to the up-and-down play of the offense.
“We had situations in the game where we had receivers blocking on pass plays. We want to get on Marquise [Williams] for incompletions or starting slow, but that’s part of the problem. He doesn’t have anybody to throw to if you’re blocking. Things like that, we have to be sure to correct and make sure they don’t happen. Against good teams like Clemson, those mistakes will get you beat,” Thorpe says.
Ethan Farmer (Courtesy of GoHeels.com)
Farmer refuses to point the finger at the UNC secondary for letting the defense down at Clemson. He says everybody makes mistakes and needs to take care of their own business.
“It’s frustrating, but we’re all going to learn from our mistakes. As a front seven, we make mistakes. Everybody as a defense is all as one. Mistakes are going to happen, but we’re going to learn from it this week,” Farmer says.
But one thing is for certain. The Tar Heels will definitely need to continue to clean up their act if they harbor hopes of taking down an always well-coached Virginia Tech team Saturday.
Thorpe says the key is to learn from past errors and correct them going forward.
“There’s always a sense of urgency. We don’t want to be in the situation that we were in last year. With that being said, you have to take each week at a time. We have to continue to learn from the mistakes we made in previous weeks and make sure we don’t continuously repeat those mistakes,” Thorpe says.
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