Nov. 7, 2003

Carolina's defense has been at forefront of many questions this week from Tar Heel fans, and with good reason after Saturday's horrible performance against Maryland. One issue broached frequently is the Tar Heels' substitution patterns--the shuffling of groups in and out depending on down-and-distance.

Carolina has a personnel group on defense known as "Rabbits" that attempts to get faster players on the field on second- and third-and-long situations. This groups calls for a four-man line, two linebackers and five defensive backs. The Tar Heels also have a personnel group called "Dollar" that uses a three-man line with two linebackers and six defensive backs.

On the "Rabbits" calls, the "Sam" linebacker (or strongside linebacker) will come out, to be replaced by another defensive back; right now D.J. Walker is that nickel back, although Derrick Johnson and Jacoby Watkins have played that spot as well. Middle linebacker Devllen Bullard comes out and Doug Justice comes in. Jocques Dumas comes in at tackle. Alden Blizzard will be one of the ends. Madison Hedgecock, whose strength is defending the run, will come out and Victor Worsley will come in. When Carolina uses the "Dollar" call, the three-man line has Dumas at nosetackle and Chase Page lining up at end.

"Playing this style is not our first choice," defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable says. "You would prefer not to have to make wholesale substitutions. You'd like to bring in a nickel back, take out a linebacker and leave it at that on passing downs. The simpler, the better. But we think this gives our kids the best chance to be successful."

There is no question it can get dicey trying to run groups on and off the field, depending on the tempo of a particular offense. There is no question that Clemson, which does not use a huddle, could have reeled off a snap while substitutions were coming on the field for the Tar Heels. But the Tigers chose not to do that. Their procedure was to come to the line, to get the signal from the sidelines, and to use most of the play clock. Had they elected to force the issue, the Tar Heels would have been forced to adjust and simply stick with their base defense, no matter the down-and-distance.

A logical question at this point might be why use Justice at linebacker in a personnel group emphasizing speed? Justice might not list speed as a strength but smarts are definitely his strong suit.

"To ask Fred Sparkman to learn both our base and all the pass coverages as a true freshman would be a bit much," says Huxtable. "So right now we want him to concentrate on learning our base defense and we use Doug in the 'Rabbits.'"

The Mike Man - Will we ever see him again? Danny Bibb, Winston-Salem
Interesting question. The Mike Man, for recent Carolina grads and newcomers to the Tar Heel football scene, was a hybrid of a cheerleader, master-of-ceremonies and standup comedian who performed at Carolina games for many years until 1996. He wielded a microphone--hence the name--and worked from the walkway in front of the student section in Kenan Stadium. Students auditioned for the job each year and one was chosen to be the Mike Man for that particular season.

The incumbent in 1996 became too ribald and the students seemed to have lost interest in the role of the Mike Man, so he was discontinued for five years. Then in 2001, John Bunting and the UNC Sports Marketing Office began looking for ways to improve the atmosphere in Kenan Stadium and decided to resurrect the Mike Man. They invited Greg "Lump" Lunsford, a renowned Mike Man of the early 1980s, to return to his old role for an early season game while he helped audition and train a new Mike Man.

Unfortunately, no one from the student body stepped forward and the experiment fizzled after a few games. In the right time with the right person, the Mike Man could return again to Kenan Stadium.

I would like to know what happened to Kory Bailey. I heard that he went to play for some professional football team in Canada. Is this true?
KeNila Taylor, Rocky Mount

Kory Bailey was a wide receiver at Carolina from 1998-01. He originally signed with the New York Jets of the NFL as a free-agent and was a late cut from the 2002 training camp. Bailey signed last April as a free-agent with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. This season, he caught 12 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns and returned one punt for nine yards. He was injured with a thigh contusion and missed several late-season games. An Eskimos spokesman said this week that Bailey "impressed the right people and should challenge for a starting role next year."

Freshmen Quinton Person and Bryan Bethea are both listed on the roster as "athlete" rather than with a specific position. Are both of these players red-shirting this season, and at this point is there any word on what position each will end up playing next season?
Wayne Killian, Wilmington

Both Person and Bethea are red-shirting. Person has played cornerback this year and Bethea has been with the running backs, though he's been injured for some of the season. They are among a number of players whose positions will settle out come spring practice in 2003.

What has happened to Fred Sparkman? After the Virginia game, I thought he would be in the rotation at linebacker. Since then I have not seen him, other than in special team situations. Laurens Wright, Newport News, Va.

Sparkman is a true freshman at middle linebacker, and his lack of playing time is mostly a factor of being in the most difficult position for a true freshman. The middle linebacker is essentially the "quarterback" of the defense. He gets the call from the sideline, barks it out to his teammates, then reads the offensive personnel group and formation and makes adjustments prior to the snap of the ball. It takes quite a bit of learning, and junior Devllen Bullard is ahead of Sparkman from this mental perspective. The weakside linebacker position, manned by true freshman Larry Edwards, is easier to slip into for a first-year player. Sparkman nonetheless is making good progress and will be an outstanding player for Carolina.

For the second time this season, a punt has hit a Carolina player, been ruled a fumble and the other team has recovered. How can we keep making bone-headed plays like these?
Martin Jarvis, Elizabeth City

One of these was a freshman mistake. One was just pure, dumb, bad luck.

Whenever the return man on a punt sees that the punt is coming up short or drifting too far for him to catch, he yells as loudly as possible, "PETER, PETER, PETER." (Don't ask where the code-word comes from; no one seems to know.) That is an alert to his teammates, particularly the ones nearby blocking the gunners on the opposing team, that the ball is uncatchable and to get out of the way.

Against Syracuse, Michael Waddell saw the punt was a short one and yelled "PETER, PETER, PETER." Derrick Johnson was to one side, heard him yell and quickly scattered out-of-bounds. But freshman Mike Mason did not hear Waddell and did not get out of the way. The ball bounced, hit Mason and was recovered by Syracuse.

Saturday's miscue was a little different. The punt was a 40-yarder and eminently catchable by Jarwarski Pollock. But it had such great hang time that one of the Maryland gunners had time to run downfield and be within a whisker of Pollock as the ball landed. Pollock never thought the ball was uncatchable, so he never yelled to warn off Johnson. Johnson was blocking the Terrapin gunner, and you cannot block and watch for the football at the same time. So Johnson just happened to drift into the path of the ball as Pollock was settling under it to catch it.

That was a one-in-a-thousand bad break. What Johnson should have done was a better job blocking the gunner and keeping him away from Pollock and his effort to catch the ball. But blocking a fast athlete when he going full-speed and you are back-pedaling is a difficult procedure. That's why you sometimes see a team returning a punt double-team the gunners. That takes away from your ability to rush the punter and to block the interior players on the punt-cover team, but it does a better job of holding off the gunners.