Mental Preparation the Key for UNC Offense During Strange Spring Season

With the coronavirus pandemic cancelling spring practice, the UNC football team has had to find unique ways to prepare for next season. Offensive coordinator Phil Longo and quarterback Sam Howell each met with the media this week via Zoom to discuss how the Tar Heels are handling the situation on that side of the ball.

UNC brings back 35 returning players on offense in 2020, including its top two running backs and its top three wide receivers from last season. Howell will also be coming into his sophomore season with sky-high expectations after setting a new FBS record with 38 touchdown passes as a true freshman—a number that also ranks third all-time in ACC history regardless of age.

Heading into the second year of Longo’s air-raid system—one which prides itself on simplicity—it’s familiarity that has the coach feeling good about where the team is right now, despite only being able to meet with the players for four hours each week through Zoom.

“We would much rather have spring ball, and get the reps and get the physicality and do all of those things,” Longo said. “But we’re not re-inventing the offense. We’re not installing all kinds of new stuff. So, we’re probably ahead of the game mentally. I think we’ll probably get into the groove a little bit sooner in camp in August than others would. Because the offense hasn’t changed.”

The coaching staff also uses digital playbook technology to keep the team sharp on their knowledge of schemes while they’re unable to physically practice them on the field. This, along with watching enormous amounts of film, has made up the bulk of the work for the offense so far during the spring.

Howell noted that he and top receiving target Dyami Brown—who are both from the Charlotte area—have set up a schedule where they can get throws in with each other twice a week. In addition, he’s done a thorough film analysis of last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow, watching each of LSU’s games three times as he hopes to string together a historic season of his own in 2020.

Of course, Howell has also studied his breakout freshman season as well to try and avoid any kind of sophomore slump.

“Mainly, it’s all mental,” Howell said. “During this time, that’s something I can really focus on just being in the house so much. I can really just sit down and focus on every single mistake that I made last season. And just try to figure out what I did wrong. I mean, I know what I did wrong at this point. And I know what I need to do to fix it.”

With an offense built around a limited number of concepts, Longo said the main thing he wants his players to work on is their instincts. The better they know the schemes inside and out, the easier it is for Howell to rush the team up to the line and get the right play call off as quickly as possible—making it that much harder for defenses to adjust.

Because so much of that is related to the mental aspects of the sport—not to mention Howell’s immense skillset as a quarterback—Longo feels the Tar Heels are in a good position right now, and will simply need to work on their timing once they’re finally allowed to practice together on the field again.

“It’s definitely the silver lining with the issue that’s going on right now,” Longo said. “We’ll still have to recover mentally and recover physically just like everybody else in the nation when we get back, but I think the mental curve is going to be much shorter just because that’s always been an advantage in this offense.”

Photo via Dakota Moyer

Mental Preparation the Key for UNC Offense During Strange Spring Season

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