Oct. 2, 2008

by Lee Pace, Extra Points

It was just over a decade ago that the Tar Heels played a ferocious brand of defense, riding outstanding talent and an aggressive, eight-man front scheme to the top of ACC and national lists for total defense and scoring defense. Eras like that don't come along very often: 11.5 points allowed per game and 217 yards over two seasons from 1996-97.

Since then, Carolina has had one good defense, that the 2001 unit led by Julius Peppers, Ryan Sims and David Thornton that allowed 305 yards and 22 points a game. The Heels have had a couple of okay units in the interim and a bunch of really bad ones.

The Tar Heels under head coach Butch Davis, defensive coordinator Everett Withers and their staff are showing signs of building something lasting and solid. So far this season, they have made bone-jarring hits (Kendric Burney at Rutgers) and have overwhelmed their opposition (Virginia Tech in the first half). Fully a dozen players on the two-deep roster who are getting significant playing time are sophomores and freshmen. And Carolina is within a whisker of first nationally in a key metric: Its nine interceptions in four games are tied for fourth nationally.

But next to the topic of generating a better running game on offense, the issue of the Tar Heels' perceived "softness" on defense is the most popular topic among those hitting "send" to my e-mailbox. I addressed the Tar Heels' big-picture look on defense two weeks ago, but still folks have comments and questions like the following from Phil Coe:

Why on earth does any team put only four down lineman and expect them to hold up against 330-pound offensive line charging at them while they hold a gap? It doesn't make any sense. Why do the Tar Heels not attack on defense instead of playing this laid back bend-but-don't-break defense?

One reason Carolina Athletic Director Dick Baddour was aggressive in pursuing Davis in October 2006 was that he knew Davis had a plan and a system for building a quality program. From the schemes on offense and defense to a protocol for evaluating and wooing high school players to how he wants the football office to function, Davis has a precise vision and method for getting there. One element of that is a 4-3 scheme based primarily on playing zone defense behind a deep and talented defensive line.

It looks different from crowding the line as the Tar Heels did 12 years ago. But with the right talent and seasoning, it can be quite effective. The same scheme and mindset worked in winning Super Bowls in Dallas in the mid-1990s and building Miami to national title contender half a decade later. It's what Davis believes in and what he'll continue to use as he builds the Tar Heel program.

Look no further than the nine interceptions for evidence that zone coverage can be quite lethal. Withers talks about putting a face in every "window" that the quarterback is looking through as he tries to find an open receiver.

"It's about seeing the quarterback throw the football and knowing the route concepts," says Withers, who like Davis has extensive NFL experience and a good base and belief in the 4-3 and "Cover 2" scheme. "We practice the route concepts all the time, and our kids have a good handle on them. In college football, most quarterbacks are not good enough to look here, then go somewhere else with the ball. If you see where they're looking and understand the routes, you can make plays on the ball. That's what's happening this year. We are getting guys in the windows at the right depth. When we play with discipline and in the windows, we have a chance to make plays. Or we force the check-down and tackle them."

That doesn't mean the Tar Heels won't blitz and won't crowd the line at times. In fact, they jammed the line of scrimmage more during the second half at Miami last week in an effort to slow the lethal running game from tailback Graig Cooper. And it worked reasonably well.

"It's a philosophy that Coach Davis and Coach Withers believe in and have a lot of background in," says linebacker Mark Paschal. "You want to take away the deep threat and tackle the short stuff. Coach Davis really believes you can apply pressure with four down linemen. I think we have the skill and ability to do that, week in and week out. We're still young along the line and we're only getting better."

No matter the scheme or philosophy, though, it always gets back to talent. The Heels could have used a dozen X-and-O ideas with the likes of Dre Bly, Vonnie Holliday, Greg Ellis, Brian Simmons, Kivuusama Mays and Robert Williams back in 1996-97 and still played lights-out defense. And some of you might remember a certain game at Maryland in 2003 when the Heels tried to play press-man coverage and suffocate the line and the Terps blew past them like cotton candy--to the tune of a 59-21 loss.

It always gets back to the players: How good are they? How old are they? How smart are they? How confident are they? How fast are they? How committed are they? How healthy are they?

How much of our new-found toughness and speed can be attributed to Jeff Connors and what he brings in the way of individualized workouts, nutrition and just plain motivation, versus better recruiting and Butch Davis' emphasis on speed?
Ann Kovan, Murrells Inlet, S.C.

Connors, the Tar Heels' strength and conditioning director, came to Carolina in 2001 shortly after John Bunting was hired as head coach. He survived all six years of the Bunting era--despite widespread staff attrition among position coaches--and was retained when Davis came to Chapel Hill in late 2006. Connors and Davis had a prior relationship as Davis offered Connors a job at Miami in the late 1990s; Connors declined primarily because of family relocation issues.

Connors has, for the most part, been given a free hand in operating his program by both Bunting and Davis--particularly where the off-season conditioning and development is concerned. In-season conditioning (particularly running) is a point of wide and varied opinion among coaches nationwide. Still, Connors has paid close attention to Davis's priorities and philosophies and tweaked his program in various areas. And yes, his program today is more closely aligned with the things he did under head coach Steve Logan at East Carolina to emphasize running and speed.

"Coach Davis wants our team to be strong, but he's less concerned with numbers (i.e, how much a player power-cleans) than he is with a guy being more athletic, more flexible and able to play the game faster," Connors says. "He wants a guy to be more functional as a football player opposed to putting up big numbers."

Connors is using more plyometrics and Olympic lift exercises as they help develop quick, powerful movements. A computer program in the weight room can measure the speed of a certain lift--it's not just important the weight and number of reps but the quick pace of the reps as well. One specific change in developing body types is that instead of trying to get linebackers up to the 250 or 255-pound neighborhood, Davis is more concerned that they be fast, explosive and strong.

"I really like the things he emphasizes," Connors says. "There is a real sense of energy and urgency and enthusiasm in practice and in training. Coach Davis is a stickler for taking advantage of every single minute you have to practice or train. Our training sessions are more intense. If we are doing sets of a primary multi-joint movement, instead of standing around between those sets, we'll be doing something else."

The nutrition angle is another part of the story but is beyond Connors' domain. It falls under the auspices of Jen Ketterly, who is in her fourth year as the athletic department's staff nutritionist. Davis has a keen interest in how a player's diet affects his performance and has given Ketterly a wide berth to implement a highly structured program that has helped some players gain weight, others lose it and all of them maintain constant levels of energy, hydration and diet composition.

The Tar Heels are educated and shown through clinical studies the degree to which performance improves when their bodies are lean and strong, they are properly hydrated and they eat the right nutrients at the right times.

"This is the last legal edge we have," Ketterly says. "All of these players want to excel. They want to play. We have shown them how proper nutrition and the training regime from Coach Connors and his staff will help them reach their goals. Once that light goes on, it's a pretty easy sell."

Why do "sacks" count against rushing yard totals? Unless the quarterback tries to run, it would seem to me that a sack shouldn't count against the total yards rushing.
Bob Orr, Raleigh

The record-keeping hierarchy in the NFL agrees, as a quarterback's rushing yards lost on sacks in the pros are subtracted from his team's passing totals. In college, it's the opposite and does lead to misleading statistics. I cannot tell you why beyond that's just the way it's been for time, in memoriam. And occasional efforts over the years to change the rule have been met with resistance.

To change a stats category in the NCAA requires an individual conference to take the lead and make an appeal to the NCAA. Steve Kirschner, Carolina's associate athletic director for communications, has tried over the last decade to generate interest among his fellow ACC sports information directors in championing the cause.

"So far, there's not been enough agreement to take it further," he says. "But it's probably worth revisiting. I just think it's a bad stat. It's not hard to tell when a quarterback is making a legitimate attempt to throw the football. If the play doesn't work and he gets sacked, that should go against the passing game."

Two questions: One, why isn't Casey Barth handling the short range field goals and extra points? We have not seen him since McNeese State. And two, who is the third string QB now?
Phil Stout, Wilmington

The place-kicking duties have been fluid and a matter of competition between Barth, the true freshman from Wilmington, and Jay Wooten, the red-shirt freshman from Laurinburg. They started the first game with Davis saying that Barth would kick extra points and short-range field goals, and Wooten would handle long-range field goals and kick-offs. Wooten's leg strength is better than Barth's, but a tendency to pull his kicks gave Barth an opening.

But after the opener, the staff decided to go with Wooten for all the place-kicking duties. He is 4-of-6 in field goals, his longest being from 43 yards. He had plenty of distance on a 53-yarder last week at Miami but missed it to the left.

The third-team quarterback is Braden Hanson, a 6-6 left-hander from Charlotte.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace is in his 19th year of chronicling Carolina football through "Extra Points." He'll answer questions about the Tar Heels weekly throughout the season through his "Extra Points Mailbag" and on the pregame show for the Tar Heel Sports Network. Email him at leepace@nc.rr.com and include your name and hometown. No recruiting questions, please.