I think they're really going to beat us badly.

I really hope I'm wrong.

Ted breaks down the D heading into Game 7 at Miami.

Breaking Down the Defense

 

It is evident to anyone that has followed Carolina football closely in the 2005 season that the defense has clearly carried the team. However, on Saturday, the Tar Heels lost their second original starter for the rest of the season. Below is a breakdown of Carolina’s depth at both the middle linebacker and cornerback position after these injuries.

 

Going into the season, everyone was familiar with Doug Justice, a three year contributor for the Tar Heels. Justice had started 20 games in his Carolina career and was slated to be the “quarterback” of the Tar Heels defense. When Justice went down with injury, Victor Worsley moved into the starter’s role. Worsley, a junior, was highly recruited coming out of High School and rated as a three star prospect. However, he had yet to make a significant impact before this season. Worsley has surprised many and played well this season, recording 20 tackles. Yet, he himself would succumb to injury, giving the starter’s job to sophomore Durell Mapp. Mapp is a former walk-on who played primarily on special teams last season. At the beginning of 2005, he was listed as third-string at both outside linebacker positions. The loss of Justice sparked the move of Mapp over to middle linebacker to provide depth behind Worsley. Mapp got his first start on Saturday against Virginia and played very well. Currently working behind Mapp at middle linebacker is freshman Mark Paschal. Paschal has seen time this season primarily on special teams. Currently, the starting linebackers are Mapp, Tommy Richardson, and Larry Edwards. The second unit features Paschal, Chase Rice, and Jeff Longhany. Richardson and Garrett White are the nickel linebackers.

 

Carolina suffered another devastating injury on Saturday when Jacoby Watkins went down with a broken bone in his leg. Replacing Watkins in one of the starting cornerback spots will be former nickel back Quinton Person. Person is a sophomore who saw time last season on special teams and at cornerback against Miami. He has played well so far. After the injury, Trimane Goddard, who had just won the starting strong safety position, moved down to nickel back and Mahlon Carey came back in at strong safety. Goddard played nickel back all of last season and is very familiar with the position. Cedrick Holt is the other starting cornerback at the moment. The primary backup at cornerback will now be Bryan Bethea. Bethea is a sophomore who primarily played halfback in High School. Also helping out will be Linwood Williams. Williams is a walk-on senior who started a few games last season at free safety.

So the Heels beat Virginia for the first time in a while. A long while.

The Cavaliers (or Wahoos; pick one please) came into Kenan today with momentum from a big win over previously-undefeated Florida State last week. That was a game in which Marques Hagans looked great. The UVa defense looked great. But the Heels were not to be denied.

Coming off a timely bye week following a horrible loss at Louisville, the Heels needed to strap in and play big to beat this rival.

The scoring was low. Obviously. Rikki Cook's touchdown was the only one of the game, from either side. But the Heels were able to chew up clock on the ground against Virginia, and the defense played their best game in a long, long time.

Mike Mason made a mental mistake at the end of the game, kicking a live ball in punt coverage after time had expired, but it ended up okay. Could be costly in another situation, but he'll learn.

One thing I'd like to see from the Heels is taking advantage of opportunities created by the defense. On any given Saturday (heh), a team will make you pay if you miss chances.

Offensive player of the game: Ronnie had 118 yards. That's big. Didn't get in for six, but frustrated the Cavaliers enough to open up the passing game. Dropped passes by the wideouts are another story.

Defensive player of the game: Off the top of my head, Trimane Goddard. It seemed like the sophomore safety was in on a lot of the stops, and his tipped pass led to one of the biggest plays of the game, as Cedrick Holt intercepted Marques Hagans, killing a drive that likely would have brought a Connor Hughes go-ahead field goal attempt.

Grades:
Offense: C-
Matt made some good throws and was able to scramble to make plays when things broke down. The running game was there, but dropped passes turned into missed opportunities. Still, the touchdown was all we needed. However, if Virginia makes a field goal to go up 8-7 with four minutes to go, I wasn't feeling too confident.

Defense: A
How can it be anything else? They held the #24 team in the nation to 199 yards of offense, and gave up just three points on the day. Big plays from Trimane Goddard and Kareen Taylor, and it seemed like Kentwan Balmer's name was called alot on the PA.

Special Teams: C-
Tate's fair catch inside the 10 was costly. The high snap on the punt team gave UVa two points. Connor missed two field goals. What's going on here? Mike's mental mistake. Special teams didn't give up a return score, or the grade would be worse.

Overall: A win is a win is a win, and it's big in the Coastal Division of the ACC. And it's nice to beat a team you haven't since 2001. And it's nice that it's Virginia.

Check out Adam Lucas' article on the game, with quotes from Trimane Goddard and Barrington Edwards.

The Heels hit the grid against Virginia Saturday. The Cavaliers got a nice win last week against Florida State (not as close as the final score), but the Tar Heels are coming off a bye week following a blowout loss. John Bunting has a good history in this scenario, so confidence should be high. Heels take this one by 10.

Basketball commits
Unless you've been under a rock, you know that Roy Williams and the basketball Heels recently got commitments from three post players from the class of 2006, likely rounding out recruiting for next season. Deon Thompson had been flying under the radar, but made a strong push late. Alex Stepheson, and Brandan Wright is the #1-rated PF in the class. This gives the Heels 3 of the top players at their positions, as Wright joins Tywon Lawson and Wayne Ellington as the best at what they do in the country.

My Tar Heel bias aside, this looks to be one of the best classes in Tar Heel history, up there with McInnis-Stackhouse-Wallace, Jamison-Carter-Okulaja, and May-Felton-McCants.  And there's six of them, with William Graves of Greensboro Dudley. Check out the 2006-2007 roster as it would stand right now:

Freshmen:
PG Tywon Lawson
SG Wayne Ellington
SF William Graves
F Alex Stepheson
F Brandan Wright
C Deon Thompson

Sophomores:
G Bobby Frasor
G/F Danny Green
G/F Marcus Ginyard
F Michael Copeland
PF Tyler Hansbrough

Juniors:
PG Quentin Thomas

Seniors:
F Reyshawn Terry
G Wes Miller

That's a squad. Young, but this year's team will carry experience into 06-07. Nasty.

14-69. That's bad. That's really bad.
Louisville wanted to make a statement against an ACC opponent and the Tar Heels were the victims. In a big way.
Fourteen to sixty-nine.
The most points ever allowed by a Tar Heel football team.
Coming off two big wins, against a rival and over a tough WAC team, this is what we get. Fourteen to sixty-nine.
Unfortunately (or fortunately in this case), I didn't get to see much of the game at all due to a crazy work schedule. So fill me in.
Was it worse than the score was? How did Ronnie play?
I know sometimes you need to get knocked in the face to get up and get motivated, but did we really need this?

Fourteen to sixty-nine.

Ted was in the right place to catch this pic of Willie Parker at the Utah game on Saturday. With all the recent media attention toward Willie's lack of playing time at Carolina, it was great to see him on the Tar Heel sideline.

Ted checks in with a nice piece about how recruiting gurus can't predict the future. Thanks for the insight, Ted!

Beyond the Stars

When evaluating recruiting classes, many people get caught gazing at the “stars”.  However, like many things these “stars” can be deceiving. Several players on the Tar Heel’s current roster from the class of 2002 are prime examples of why star ratings do not always accurately predict the future success of a player.

On the defensive side of the ball, several former one and two star recruits stand out. One of the cornerstones of Carolina’s secondary is Cedrick Holt. Holt is a former two star recruit from Wadesboro, North Carolina who had offers from only North Carolina, East Carolina, and Wake Forest. Currently, he stands third on the team in tackles with 23 and also has 1 interception. More valuable perhaps is his ability to cover the opposing team’s number two and sometimes number one receiver. In addition to Holt, Mahlon Carey is a former two star recruit from Austell, Georgia. Carey began his career at Carolina as a halfback, but transitioned over to defense as a sophomore. On the season, he is fifth on the team with 19 tackles and more importantly brings a physical presence to the secondary.

The most important player on Carolina’s defense is team captain and defensive signal caller Tommy Richardson. Richardson is a former one star recruit out of Miami, Florida. A former safety, Richardson has fit in nicely as linebacker and currently leads the team with 36 tackles.

The Tar Heel’s starter at defensive end was also once a relatively unheralded recruit. Brian Rackley was rated a one star and received only an offer from Cincinnati besides his North Carolina one. Currently, he anchors one side of the defensive line and boasts 7 tackles and 1 sack on the season.

These players are prime examples of how “diamonds in the ruff” do exist and how star ratings do not always make the player. One can look more recently to the Tar Heel’s 2005 recruiting class and see Garrett White, Garrett Reynolds, E.J. Wilson, Brandon Tate, and Nick Starcevic, all three star recruits who have played this year as true freshmen for the Tar Heels.

So what do we know about our football team after the Tar Heels knocked off a very good Utah team?
I don't care what people say about our opponents beating themselves. The fact is this: if our opponents are making mistakes, it's because the Tar Heels are forcing them to do so. Whether by making a strip, picking off a pass, or simply intimidating a quarterback to bobble a snap at the line of scrimmage, the defense is better and they are making noise.
Matt Baker had another good game. Two picks, but at least one of those was deflected.
What the Heels need to do in order to win down the road is take advantage of every opportunity, and turn those opportunities into points, whether it's 3 or 6. I don't know what's up with Conner Barth, but he's got to get back to the kicker we know and love.
Twice in the first half the Heels had the ball inside the Utah 30 and were unable to convert. These are things we can't afford against Louisville, BC, Miami and Virginia Tech. If we want to compete, we have to take every opportunity to score.
It took six quarters for the Heels to get an offensive touchdown in Kenan, but the offensive fireworks were there in the second half.
The ground game has to improve. Another average day for our backs. On the other hand, every wide receiver came to play against Utah, and each made big plays.
Hats off to Brandon Tate. I look forward to 'many happy returns' for that young man in Carolina blue.
A great win overall, one that we needed to build on the N.C. State win. Louisville will be tough, but the Heels are surprising people this season.