It’s a little more than a month before we’ll see UNC take the field in Charlotte against South Carolina. The already considerable hype for the game got a boost earlier this month when it was announced ESPN’s College GameDay would be on site in the Queen City to preview the matchup.
Tar Heels everywhere can only hope the game looks more like the beginning of the 2022 season than the end, when Carolina lost four consecutive games. But even during the 9-1 start to last season, UNC’s defense stood out as a glaring weakness. Head coach Mack Brown has stated time and again the team will no longer be satisfied with nine wins, and shoring up the defense would go a long way toward eclipsing that mark. At the ACC Kickoff, Brown delivered a confident message about the unit.
“I think we’re gonna be good on defense,” Brown said. “[Defensive coordinator Gene] Chizik’s got another year under his belt, the staff will be good together, and I feel like we’ll be good. And we’ll get tested early. We’ve got a really tough schedule to start the season. So it’ll be a great four games to start out, to see if we’ve improved like we think we have on defense.”
One known quantity on the Tar Heel defense is All-ACC and All-American linebacker Cedric Gray, who led the conference with 145 total tackles last season. Gray is entering his fourth — and likely last — year with the program, and said he wants the poor narrative surrounding the defense to end this season.
“It definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth when people talk about our team, and talk about how bad of a defense we’ve been at times,” Gray said. “Especially being the leader of the defense, I take that personally. I think now that we’ve got a year under our belt with Coach Chizik and this new defense, I think you’re gonna see a defense that’s a lot more comfortable and confident in what we’re doing.”
Linebacker Cedric Gray led the conference with 145 total tackles in 2022. He was named first team All-ACC and second team All-America. (Image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati)
Of course, the man of the hour was the quarterback. Drake Maye enters the season as the reigning ACC Player of the Year, a candidate for the Heisman Trophy and a likely Top-5 pick in next spring’s NFL Draft. In short, the pressure is on Maye to show last season was no fluke. QB1 is surrounded by several new coaches on offense, including coordinator Chip Lindsey and analyst Clyde Christensen. Maye was heavily involved in Lindsey’s hiring, and spoke highly of the new energy his coaching brings.
“It’s been awesome,” Maye said. “Right off the bat, [we’ve been] hitting it off. Just getting new knowledge from a different offensive coordinator. Obviously, [former offensive coordinator Phil] Longo’s great, but just hearing somebody else’s voice, you pick up new things.
“That’s the great thing about having a new offensive coordinator: he’s calling the shots, and you get to hear his perspective of things. It may be different from Coach Longo’s, or it may be the same. You get the full swing of what two great offensive coordinators think.”
Maye, a Charlotte native, will hope September’s opener against the Gamecocks won’t be the only game his team plays in the city this season. The Tar Heels would love nothing more than to atone for their deflating 39-10 loss to Clemson in last year’s ACC Championship Game. With divisions no longer in play, the road back to the title game looks to be significantly more difficult, but Maye said last season’s losing streak is more than enough motivation to get there again.
“That’s all we talk about,” he said. “We were 9-1, rolling into Georgia Tech, and we finished 9-5. Just finding ways to use that as motivation, but at the same time, getting over that hump and looking forward to this season. We’re excited. That’s our goal: to get back to the ACC Championship. I don’t think Coach or any of the guys care who we play, as long as we’re in it.”
The South Carolina game will neither help nor hurt UNC’s chances of reaching the conference championship, but the primetime performance will go a long way toward determining whether the Tar Heels have what it takes to earn the spotlight, and — unlike last year — stay there.
Featured image via Associated Press/Jeff Siner
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