Nov. 3, 2003

Nov. 3, 2003

by Lee Pace

It's challenging to keep the faith as this miserable defensive season slogs on--particularly after Saturday's performance at Maryland. But there remains a concrete vision for the future of a Tar Heel defense that now is allowing 514 yards and 39 points a game.

Head coach John Bunting and defensive staff members Dave Huxtable, Jim Fleming and Brad Lawing have each coached quality units in their careers. They understand the building blocks, the schematic nuances and the heartbeat of good defenses. Last week they talked of the qualities they're working to develop.

"We want to be a smart, aggressive defense that will be able to play multiple schemes, multiple blitzes and pressure coverages," Bunting says. "We will play man-to-man, mixed with some zone, and we'll disguise those coverages well. We will play bump coverage with our cornerbacks. You have to do that. You have to disrupt receivers. We cannot sit back and play soft coverage like we've done this year.

"Our blitz game will be fast. We blitzed Syracuse and couldn't get there. We've blitzed other teams and couldn't get there. We're within a hair of getting the quarterback but we're just quite fast enough. You look at Larry Edwards. He is fast enough, no question about it. But he's never even been coached in blitz technique. We need a whole spring with him. I can't imagine how much better he'll be in a year."

For Huxtable, the template for the future is the 2001 Carolina defense. He coached the linebackers under coordinator Jon Tenuta and remembers the simplistic beauty of a unit that included star quality like Julius Peppers, Ryan Sims, David Thornton, Quincy Monk, Merceda Perry and Joey Evans.

"We were very simple that year on defense," Huxtable says. "Our game-plan board didn't change much week-to-week. We'd erase the name of one opponent at the top and write the name of the next one and say, 'Let's go.' That was about it. We played a majority of four-man rush, played coverage and still got pressure on the quarterback. When we did pressure, our key guy was David Thornton, and he had the ability to get there. That's where we want to get--to be so good and so confident that the kids just go play. With that will come the attitude that we're going to win every snap on defense."

For Fleming, the ideals are the fiery defenses he either coordinated or coached the secondary for at Sacred Heart, East Carolina and Boise State. Each ranked among the nation's best in total defense, scoring defense or turnovers forced. The buzzwords come easily as Fleming recites those units' hallmarks:

"A million turnovers.

"Very, very physical. Tenacious.

"Assignment conscious.

"Fierce. Unbelievable pride.

"Safeties had an enforcer mentality.

"Corners could light up the world."

Carolina's All-ACC free safety, Dexter Reid, exemplifies those qualities. Far too few other members of the Tar Heel secondary do--at least right now.

"We're looking to get a bunch of guys who love to play, who love to play physical," Fleming says. "They will play at a very high speed with tremendous, tremendous emotion. They will have confidence when they walk on the field that no one is going to score."

And for Lawing, the vision hearkens back to the defenses he helped mold in the mid-1980s at Appalachian State, which led the nation in Division I-AA scoring defense two years running, and those at Michigan State in 1999 and 2000 which led the Big Ten in rushing defense or total defense.

"At Appalachian, we had four defensive linemen that no one could block," Lawing says. "We had a linebacker named Dino Hackett who played 10 years in the NFL, played in the Pro Bowl. We had speed at cornerback. And we had two safeties who were cold-blooded.

"At Michigan State, we had players with an attitude. We had the attitude that no one was going to be more physical than us. And, we had some ability. If you're going to blitz and pressure, your linebackers and the people you bring have got to be able to get there. We had guys who could do that. We had guys with quickness who could change direction. Because they had quickness and good change-of-direction skills, they were good tacklers."

As painful as Carolina's defensive woes have been, many Tar Heel fans forget that we've been here and done this before. Carolina in 1983 was ranked in the Top 10 much of the year but five short years later fielded an abysmally slow and awkward defense, making coordinator Carl Torbush to look the fool. That problem was solved over time with excellent recruiting and vigilant discipline and player development. Now the Tar Heels have gone from fielding the country's No. 1 defense in 1997 to once again looking clueless at times.

Bunting is a hands-on head coach, particularly on defense. He gives the staff certain freedom but his thumbprint is clearly on the operation--from personnel to schemes to hands-on coaching during the week. The inferior product the Tar Heels have produced for two years is not acceptable, and Bunting most of all knows that. That it is unacceptable to you or me is beside the point and of no consequence. The only standard-bearer that matters is Bunting himself.

"I live with our problems morning, noon and night," he says.

The end product in time will reflect the Bunting code: Intelligent, sound, tough.

The Tar Heels have a quality freshman class already getting its baptism-by-fire. Other newcomers are being red-shirted. Bunting and staff have more than half a dozen defensive linemen and linebackers committed--players with potential coveted by many arch-rivals as well.

Bunting looks at his best young players and those with commitments in hand and the energy crackles in his voice as he looks toward the future:

"Pass-rushing specialist.

"Loves the game of football.

"You tell him what to do, he understands.

"So quick-he can outrun the offensive line to the quarterback.

"He's aggressive-has speed and instincts.

"A big-time motor and a body like Julius Peppers."

The vision is there. It just takes a little faith to get a clear view.