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Bill Belichick’s first spring game didn’t tell us a whole lot.
Sure it was cold, about 50 degrees, but several thousand brave fans turned out to see what has become of Tar Heel football. Belichick was dressed like December in Foxboro in a dark blue puffy coat, hood hanging from the collar with a Carolina blue stripe on it.
He had a whistle around his neck for one hour of almost complete mystery. The players had no numbers or names taped across the front of concussion-proof helmets that may have been invented when Kevin Guskiewicz was a head trauma expert at UNC, before being chancellor.
It was a glorified practice with special teams, offense in light blue (except for quarterbacks wearing red “don’t tackle me” vests) and defense in white with some others in “no touch” yellow jerseys doing their things.
The PA announcer (an unfamiliar voice) kind of told us what was happening on the field, but he also did not say a single name.
His spiel started with earlier results on other nearby playing fields, where lacrosse beat Duke, baseball crushed Wake Forest, women’s tennis shut out Miami and softball edged Georgia Tech. Great Day to be a Tar Heel.
He welcomed the sparse crowd with some thanks for your “unwavering support,” which must be about the spiking season ticket sales since 50,000-seat Kenan Stadium was 90 percent empty. Not any worse than the variations Mack Brown tried to make his spring game more like Texas.
On the video boards were pictures of a younger Belichick with slogans like “Tough, Smart, Dependable” and “Be A Pro!” The crowds at open practices for the NFL Patriots were much larger and knew a lot more than we did.
Besides the head coach, who also had on a baseball cap, several assistants were recognizable like lone holdover offensive coordinator/tight ends Freddie Kitchens and defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, whose long blond hair in a bun has been in the news. Former Tar Heel running back Natrone Means was out there somewhere as well as former Patriots linebacker Jamie Collins.
And, of course, Belichick’s girlfriend Jordon Hudson was standing behind the home end zone wearing a stylish long coat over her white boots. She also has some official football duties like reviewing all emails before they are passed on to the head coach.
Our peeps at Inside Carolina say the quarterback position heading into training camp is between 6-4 sophomore Purdue transfer Ryan Browne, who looks like he has a good right arm and can take off on option plays, and true freshman Bryce Baker, 6-3 and athletic by air and ground. Other QBs might portal to Chapel Hill.
There was no score on the digital boards because no one kept score. In short, it left us with a long time before TCU is here on Labor Day and we know for sure what the puffy Hoodie has.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
I Google “Bill Belichick” quite often to see what he’s up to where UNC is concerned, especially involving recruiting, but all I ever get is that he’s feuding with former players, what he’s saying about previous mistakes he made, books he’s written, and ESPECIALLY his 24 year-old girlfriend!
Hasn’t she at least had a birthday and has become 25 since he was hired at UNC? I know I can check out the “premium” sites to find out about recruiting but I don’t for 2 reasons: (1) It costs and it really doesn’t matter because things are going to happen or not happen whether I know about it or not, and (2) if I did that I wouldn’t get to see various and sundry pictures of the 24 year-old who’s really the best recruit he’s got!