Difference makers: Freshmen save UNC’s beleaguered defense
That North Carolina could feel confident defensively after already allowing more than 500 yards through three quarters says all you need to know about the short-term memory of their young players. And explains how they managed to shut down the Demon Deacons long enough to rally for a 59-53 win on Saturday.
The Tar Heels (6-2, 6-2 ACC) saw many of their freshmen make big plays in critical situations and plug all the holes in what had been a defensive sieve unit in real time. UNC coach Mack Brown said he had to catch himself from taking them out of the game.
“I looked out there some when the game’s on the line and I see five or six freshmen out there,” Brown told reporters in his postgame video conference. “I’m about to get on the phone and say, ‘Take them out man. This is a critical time of the game, get those young ones off the field.’ And I didn’t.”
It’s a good thing that he didn’t.
He would have missed freshman tackle Myles Murphy forcing Wake quarterback into an intentional grounding penalty. And freshmen safety Ja’Qurious Conley stuffing Wake running back Christian Beal-Smith for a 1-yard gain. Or freshmen nose tackle Kevin Hester Jr., getting a tackle for loss on Beal-Smith on the three consecutive drives that ended in punts.
They were difference makers.
Maybe Wake (4-3, 3-3) lost a bit of its urgency offensively when it took over the ball with 4:33 left in the third quarter. After all, the Deacs were up two touchdowns and gained 516 total yards at that point in the game.
UNC hadn’t really shown an interest in stopping them, much less the discipline and technique to actually pull it off. But right there, on that series, is where Carolina’s comeback started.
The only three-and-out drives Wake had in the first half came when it scored touchdowns of 80 and 65 yards on three-play drives. Yet Carolina had two straight three-and-outs lead to punts to end the third quarter.
“The biggest difference between the first and second half defensively was third down,” Brown said. “We could not get off the field on third downs in the first half. In the second I think we had four or five three and outs and did a tremendous job.”
It was more than just that though.
Carolina couldn’t get stops early on because it wasn’t fundamentally sound. Time and again, Beal-Smith and other Wake runners gained yards when the initial direction of the play was stuffed only to see the Heels did not have any containment when they cut back and ran to the opposite side.
Wake’s receivers also were allowed to run free, benefiting from either poor coverage technique or miscommunication in the secondary.
Senior cornerback Patrice Rene said they had difficulty covering when the Deacons’ bunched their receivers at the line of scrimmage. The Heels secondary has been decimated more than any other unit by attrition this season. It got to the point where using the youngest member of the team made sense.
“We even put Tony Grimes in there as a high school senior and said, ‘Go, man, just go,’” Brown said. “And it looked like he did a good job.”
Grimes was considered the top-ranked cornerback in the nation in the Class of 2021. He reclassified in order to enroll at Carolina in August. But despite the fact that he should still be playing in high school, he came through. When Wake threw his way, he didn’t give up any catches while the Heels were still mounting their comeback.
“It just came down to 1-on-1 matchups, really,” UNC linebacker Chazz Surratt said. “We put our corners out there on islands and a lot of time. They were able to make some plays and cover guys and in turn, we were able to get the offense off the field.”
Wake Forest finished with 606 yards in total offense. Only 79 of those yards came in the fourth quarter -- and 75 yards of that total came on its final drive after the Heels held a comfortable 59-45 lead with 2:39 left. Wake had minus-11 rushing yards in the fourth and converted just one of four third downs.
It was a complete turnaround for the Tar Heels defense, but one Rene said they saw coming.
“We believe in our defense, we believe in our guys,” Rene said. “It’s part of football, it’s not always going to go as planned, but that’s what makes it fun... we’re all locked in, all believed and we just knew that we’re gonna come out with a dub (win).”
This story was originally published November 14, 2020 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Difference makers: Freshmen save UNC’s beleaguered defense."