The UNC football team officially opened its 2021 season on Thursday, as it held its first practice of the season in the Bill Koman Practice Complex in Chapel Hill. The team practiced both inside and outside the massive facility, moving between positional drills and 11-on-11 plays.
First day vibes ☀️ #CarolinaFootball 🏈 #BeTheOne pic.twitter.com/WcagMFDQ1s
— Carolina Football (@TarHeelFootball) August 5, 2021
All eyes were on junior quarterback Sam Howell, who was recently placed on the Manning Award watch list for the nation’s top quarterback, adding to his growing list of preseason accolades. But the star signal-caller said he isn’t letting the talk get to his head.
“I wouldn’t say there’s any added pressure,” Howell told reporters after practice. “Obviously this season’s a little different. People are saying a lot of things, but I think I’ve done a really good job my whole entire life of blocking that stuff out and focusing on what’s really important, and that’s what people internally are saying… so that’s where my mindset is with all that.”
UNC quarterback Sam Howell practices with the team on August 5, 2021.
Hopes around the football program are as high as they’ve been since the turn of the century, with the Tar Heels coming off their first-ever berth in the Orange Bowl and likely opening in the top 10 of preseason polls.
Head coach Mack Brown is no stranger to preseason hype, and he said he always relishes the first day of a new season.
“Opening day is like the opening day of baseball,” he told reporters. “It’s fun, it’s exciting, you can’t wait to get out there… everybody’s fighting for a position, so it’s a fun day. And it should be. It’s an emotional day… when people walk out and say we had a great first practice, if you don’t have a great first practice you’re probably gonna get fired.”
Carolina begins the season September 3 at Virginia Tech, marking the seventh straight year the Tar Heels have opened with a Power 5 opponent. Howell said he prefers starting with a bang.
“I think it’s good… to not play a lesser opponent just because there’s kind of a sense of urgency,” he said. “We’re gonna get tested early on and we know that… We’ve got to go play in Blacksburg and it’s a hard place to play. Virginia Tech’s a great team and they do a good job… me personally I like that big game early on.”
And while full crowds will be back at the beginning of the season, Brown expressed frustration with the lack of progress around the country combating the delta variant of COVID-19.
“I think the thing that may happen is that we as coaches may be sitting there again Saturday morning trying to figure out who’s gonna play in the game… and I thought we were past that,” Brown said. “So that is frustrating, but instead of whining about it or griping about it, what we’ve got to do is… if there’s a player that’s vaccinated and one that’s not… you can’t depend on the unvaccinated player one hundred percent.”
Through all these challenges, Brown lauded his team’s medical staff.
“The medical staff along with the county health department has done an amazing job of working it out so we can move back in… but we’ve got to be smart and we’ve got to be careful to be able to continue to work in the more normal space.”
Preseason practice for the Tar Heels continues until August 30, when the team’s game week schedule begins in preparation for the Hokies.
UNC defensive lineman Kristian Varner (#93) goes through a drill with Tomari Fox (#56) on August 5, 2021.
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