At this time last year, Carolina was viewed as a trendy pick for the ACC title and a dark horse for the College Football Playoff.
What a difference 365 days can make.
The Tar Heels arrived at the 2022 ACC Kickoff in Charlotte in a position they’re more accustomed to: lumped into the middle of the conference pack, largely viewed as a team that could make a bowl if things go right. Mack Brown seemed comfortable in the position of just another team. So comfortable, in fact, he said he’d like his team to be ranked even lower.
“I love it, because we were criminally overrated last year,” Brown said. “I tried to get us to be the 130th team with the expectations this year, but we’re a little bit higher than that. Last year’s team… [it] really went unnoticed, the positive things they did. They beat Miami for a third time in a row. They beat Duke for a third time in a row. They beat a top 10 Wake Forest team. What we didn’t do is, [be] consistent. And that’s my fault.”
Consistency is a point Brown and his new staff members have hammered home this offseason. And it’s clear some of last season’s losses still bother Brown to this day – to the point where the team’s three main talking points have centered on turning around those results.
“Our guys have been talking about three things: they’ve been talking about passion, they’ve been talking about accountability and they’ve been talking about toughness,” he said. “If we’d had more of those three things last year, we could’ve won at Pitt, when we were in overtime with the conference champ. We could’ve won at NC State, when we had a nine-point lead with two minutes left in the game. We’ve got to go back and make sure we’re addressing all the little things on and off the field that we need to do to play to a standard.”
The most glaring absence on UNC’s roster is a sure thing at quarterback. Sam Howell is gone for the NFL, meaning Carolina is now in the middle of its first real quarterback competition of the Mack Brown Era 2.0. Rising junior Jacolby Criswell and rising sophomore Drake Maye, brother of former UNC basketball star Luke, are the two top candidates for the job.
Criswell and Maye have a combined one start between them, which came last season against Wofford. Criswell got the start and played the entire first half, before Maye played the second. It was, in effect, a dress rehearsal for 2022.
Junior wide receiver Josh Downs, who has already been named to watchlists for the Biletnikoff and Maxwell Awards, is perhaps the only Tar Heel to generate any buzz this summer. The projected first-round NFL Draft pick showed confidence in the team, no matter who is lining up under center.
“They’ve just been getting ready for the position,” Downs said of Maye and Criswell. “I was sitting behind Dazz Newsome two years ago, and nobody knew who I was, so I feel like it’s a similar situation. I’ve known Jacolby since I came here. We came here together, so that’s my dawg. And I’ve known Drake for a while, too. So seeing both of those guys get better, and being able to display their talent this year, it’s gonna be something great to see.
“I’m not really worried about the quarterback position, as a lot of people are, because I know we have talent there.”
As one of the most experienced players in the offense, Downs will no doubt be a key cog in Brown’s plans for this season. But if the on-the-field talent may be more unknown than in previous years, Brown said the intangibles of this team give him confidence 2022 will be a memorable season.
“It just makes me sick when our team doesn’t play with passion every week. And that’s what I’ve seen these guys do every day of spring practice. That’s why I’m so much more excited about where we are.”
Carolina’s season begins in just over a month, when the Tar Heels host Florida A&M in Kenan Stadium on August 27.
Featured image via Inside Carolina
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