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If early reviews are any indication, Carolina may have found a diamond in the FCS rough.
In the four years since Mack Brown has been back as the head coach, the Tar Heels have had All-ACC talents on the defensive line and in the linebacking corps, but have struggled to find consistency in the secondary. It’s been a far cry from Brown’s first go-round in Chapel Hill, when he recruited and signed cornerback Dre Bly, one of the best defenders in Carolina history.
But Brown and defensive coordinator Gene Chizik have been very high on one of UNC’s newest cornerbacks: East Tennessee State transfer Alijah Huzzie. Huzzie has only been a Tar Heel for a few months, but according to Brown is already playing the ball better than anybody on the team. Make of those comments what you will.
Said Chizik on Huzzie, “He does a great job of just feeling things in the secondary that we can’t teach. He’s got a sixth sense for the ball in the air. He’s been everything we’d hoped he’d be so far.”
Huzzie’s accomplishments at ETSU speak for themselves: 30 consecutive starts, first team All-Southern Conference and first team FCS All-America as a senior. Huzzie picked off six passes last season, the second-most of any player in the FCS. As a team, the Tar Heels had just nine in 14 games.
Huzzie has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining and hopefully can provide some stability for a Carolina secondary which has undergone a facelift since the end of last season. A winter exodus saw both starting cornerbacks and several reserves enter the transfer portal. The final shoe to drop was Bly, who came in with Brown to coach the secondary in 2019, leaving his post to pursue other opportunities. Again, make of that what you will.
A frequent refrain last season was that if Carolina had shown just some semblance of ability to stop an opposing offense, the Tar Heels could have won more than the nine games they ended up plateauing at. It’s probably a bit ambitious to imagine one of the poorest defenses in the FBS suddenly morphing into the ’85 Bears in the course of one offseason, but the addition of Huzzie and others has coaches excited. Chizik even stated that while the team has a long way to go, they’re further along than last year’s group was.
Pair one of the best quarterbacks in the country with a defense finally able to hold its own? Tar Heel fans everywhere would be all in.
Featured image via East Tennessee State Athletics
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