UNC football head coach Mack Brown, senior offensive lineman Charlie Heck, and senior defensive back Myles Dorn all spoke with the media during the second day of the ACC Kickoff event in Charlotte, NC. In one of the first media availabilities since the spring, the trio talked about the program’s transition with Brown’s staff, the new offensive scheme, and anticipation for the upcoming season.

With Carolina Football program having won just five games in the last two seasons and its last bowl game victory in 2013, Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham dismissed head coach Larry Fedora and hired Brown in November 2018 to turn things around. Both Dorn and Heck shared how they have already seen noticeable differences within the team thanks to Brown’s presence.

“He’s exceeded all my expectations and everybody’s on the team,” Heck said. “He brought an excitement to the team that I haven’t seen before, and not just on the team, but also in the community.”

Dorn said his father Torin Dorn Sr., who played four years under Brown when attending UNC in the 1980s, gave him some pointers on what Brown is like to prepare him for the coach’s arrival. He said Brown has made an environment for the players where they want to be there and work hard, but one thing he wasn’t prepared for was how honest Brown is with them.

“He is the most honest coach and that’s something you don’t see in most coaches these days,” Dorn said. “He’ll tell you what you need to hear and not necessarily what you want to hear, and that’s all you can ask for as a player. He’s a man of his word.”

Mentoring young people means a lot to Brown. He said Thursday that after his induction into the 2018 College Football Hall of Fame and having conversations with many of his former players, he realized how much he missed it.

“Walking out of that building,” Brown said, “Sally said, ‘there’s two things I learned tonight. First, you better not tell a kid something as a coach unless you mean it, because they’ll remember it. And second, there’s a void in your life because you love mentoring young people and you can’t do that right now with TV.’ I understand that better now. I hated to see Larry [Fedora] go, but when Bubba [Cunningham] called and asked us to come, I thought it was the only place I could coach and we’ve got some unfinished business.”

Brown faced many questions about his decision to return to coaching after working as a television analyst for ESPN the last five years. He said he always kept an open mind when job opportunities presented themselves, although his wife Sally only wanted him to coach in either a tropical location or Chapel Hill. He said one benefit of his break from coaching was the chance to look at football with a wide perspective and examine the changes to how teams play the sport.

“One of the advantages I had over a lot of coaches,” said Brown, “is I had five years to sit and watch young coaches I liked, their concepts and practices, and all those things have helped me be a better coach.”

From those observations came the choice of an air-raid style offense for Brown’s Tar Heels. Joining the program is new offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who coached at the University of Mississippi in the same position for two seasons. Longo is known for implementing an air-raid offense, which spreads out the offensive line and puts a heavy emphasis on passing plays. Brown said he wants to move away from that classification, however, and create a more balanced offense by using a power rushing attack to open up passing lanes even further.

“To me, you need to be able to run the ball to win all the games,” said Brown. “I’ve been impressed with what Phil Longo has brought, it’s a very simple concept but it puts a lot of pressure on the defense. You can throw the ball deep, you can get it to [a running back like] Michael Carter in space, but at the same time, you can run the ball off-tackle.”

Heck echoed the simplicity of the offensive scheme, saying the talented trio of running backs on Carolina’s roster makes blocking for them fun and makes establishing the run game even more important. The senior also said, though, that Brown has emphasized attention to detail across all aspects of the sport.

“It’s extremely important,” said Heck. “That can cause the difference between going 2-9 and winning almost every game, it’s attention to detail. Eliminating penalties and turnovers have been huge throughout the spring and summer. Everything is related to finishing in the fourth quarter and attention to detail.”

It will be even more important for whoever starts at quarterback for the Tar Heels to do this. Similar to his predecessor, Brown did not commit to any of UNC’s young quarterbacks as the favorite to start. Between redshirt freshmen Cade Fortin and Jace Ruder, as well as true freshman Sam Howell, the Tar Heel staff have promising options, which Brown described as a “blessing in disguise.” He said he’s preaching to the players the importance of learning the schemes instead of worrying who will start, but acknowledged the difficulties of balancing playing time, as more college players enter the transfer portal after feeling like they failed to get enough playing time with a school.

“The biggest decision we’ve got to make in the next month-and-a-half is who starts at quarterback against South Carolina,” said Brown. “All three are talented enough, all three are good enough, all three are young. It’ll be the guy who moves the team the best and gets them into the end zone.”

UNC will kick off its season in Charlotte on August 31 against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Brown’s first home game back as a Tar Heel will come on September 7, when the Tar Heels face the Miami Hurricanes in Kenan Stadium.