April 8, 2004

By Adam Lucas

You can't make this stuff up.

Wednesday marked the final practice session of spring football. It's been three and a half weeks (15 practices) of intense focus on the defense, of new defensive co-coordinators John Gutekunst and Marvin Sanders installing their new system, of players getting adjusted to new positions. It has been, most importantly, a time to focus on regaining aggressiveness on defense and forcing turnovers. One key way the Tar Heels hope to do that is by getting more pressure on the quarterback from their defensive line.

So you can excuse defensive line coach Brad Lawing if he couldn't hide a smile at the conclusion of Wednesday's practice. On the very last play of the spring, the very last snap of a 90-minute workout at Kenan Stadium, the Tar Heel offense was working on their two-minute drill. They were approaching the red zone, and Gutekunst called for a basic four-man rush.

The result? Defensive end Tommy Davis slammed through the line--and this is a Tar Heel offensive line that should be a team strength in 2004--and crushed quarterback Matt Baker, sending the pigskin flying through the air. A takeaway on the last possession of the spring, and one that came without any blitzing or any smoke or mirrors.

"That's a good way to end the spring," Lawing said.

Entering his second season in Chapel Hill, increased depth has allowed Lawing to move Chase Page back to his natural position, tackle, after spending last season at end. Davis was the team's MVP in offseason conditioning, scoring a perfect 10 points on each of the Tar Heels' 11 conditioning tests. True freshman Khalif Mitchell has been impressive at end, and rising sophomore tackle Isaiah Thomas is down to 315 pounds after starting school at 340 last summer.

Thomas played the entire spring game last weekend without a substitute, something that would have been out of the question last season.

"I wouldn't have made it two series last year," he said. "This year chasing down runners is a lot easier for me because I've lost weight. When you go full speed, good things happen."

For Thomas, those good things frequently seem to happen in goal line defense situations. He made several key stops to prevent scores last season and did it again in the spring game. The Winston-Salem native is listed at 6-foot-4, but his low center of gravity enables him to dig in his heels and keep leverage in close quarters.

Thomas, a highly-touted recruit when he signed out of Carver High School, knows that tackles don't always get the publicity of sack-happy ends. But after a 2-10 season, he's not concerned about individual accolades.

"If I can clog the A gap and take on a double team so that the linebacker can make the tackle, I've done my job," Thomas said. "I'm just there for the goal line and to hold those blocks."

He'll learn from Page this year on the interior of the line. The senior from Mt. Pleasant, SC, has just 2.5 career sacks, but Lawing says he's one of the most advanced players on the team in getting pressure on the quarterback in other ways.

"We have a goal for rushing the quarterback," the defensive line coach said. "For every 10 passes, you should get a sack. If there are 50 passes in a game, that leaves 45 passes when you don't get a sack. Our goal on those passes is to affect the quarterback on every pass. Get in his line of vision, get in the passing lanes, affect him in some form or fashion.

"Chase Page is very good at that, and Khalif Mitchell will be very good at that as he learns the game."

Things aren't perfect on the line--the depth to rotate eight or nine players each game may not be on campus yet, there's a chance true freshmen could see the field this fall, and a handful of players need to improve their conditioning this summer. But for the first time in a couple years, the Tar Heels may have playmakers in their front four.

The coaches hope that will enable them to attack opposing offenses simply, but effectively.

"We blitzed too much last year, and we got burned because we were trying to cover some deficiencies," John Bunting said. "Some of the best defenses I've coached have been very vanilla. Their personnel is that good. We're probably not there yet, but we're getting there."

Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.