UNC Football Adjusting on the Fly as Preseason Training Camp Opens

Fall training camp began for the UNC football team this past week, as head coach Mack Brown and the 19th-ranked Tar Heels try to prepare for what could be one of the strangest seasons in college football history.

A little over a month remains until the team’s scheduled season opener on Sept. 12 at Kenan Stadium against Syracuse, but the cloud of uncertainty surrounding the sport amid the ongoing pandemic has yet to disappear.

The ACC’s decision to switch to a 10-game conference schedule — which was just released earlier this month —closely resembles that of the other Power Five leagues and was made to try and limit travel and potential exposure to the virus.

As a result, players and coaches have had to adapt on the fly in more ways than one — fitting practices to meet safety protocols while preparing for opponents who weren’t on the schedule until now.

Brown said the players were excited to be back on the field, though, as they attempt to get back in a somewhat normal routine.

“I think it kind of came to reality today that, ‘Hey, we may actually play, it’s important we better go to work,’” Brown said after the team’s first practice. “So, I think this was a really good day for our football team. Because they see some exciting challenges ahead that they weren’t sure where that was a week ago.”

When it comes to the schedule, the Tar Heels have the benefit of playing in Chapel Hill for their first two games.

Following the opener against Syracuse, Charlotte will travel to Kenan Stadium for the first meeting ever between the two schools. Neither opponent was on UNC’s schedule prior to this month.

This leaves Brown and his staff scrambling to put together last-minute gameplans, which is yet another task to take care of in a wild offseason full of wild developments.

Even with all of that going on, the Hall-of-Famer is doing what he can to remain calm and committed to the process.

“Our coaches now know who to prepare for,” Brown said. “We didn’t know whether we would have a team that we hadn’t been preparing for in the opening game and we’ve got that now. So, our coaches have to look at all of our practice stuff, but they’ve got to go home and start working on Syracuse immediately.”

News of both the schedule release and their place in the preseason coaches’ poll had the players in a good mood at practice according to Brown.

On the field, coaches liked the leadership they saw from veterans like Sam Howell, Michael Carter and Myles Wolfolk. The amount of reps these players are getting has been affected by the uncertainty, however, as the team attempts to get young players developed in the limited time available.

With the possibility of players missing games due to COVID-19 — or choosing to opt out later on — depth will play a larger role than ever should this glorious mess of a season end up taking place.

“A lot of our players are back and there’s a lot of recall with the guys who’ve been around,” Brown said. “What we’ve got is some really good young guys that need a lot of playing time that don’t know what to do.

“So, we’re in a little bit of a bind where we’re going to have to work the older ones,” the head coach added. “But also to really work the younger ones on fundamentals, technique, how to practice in college, out of high school and get them ready to play in a ballgame.”

Featured image via Matthew Fedder/UNC Athletics

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UNC Football Adjusting on the Fly as Preseason Training Camp Opens

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