Mack Brown’s first fall back in Chapel Hill got underway early on Friday morning at the Tar Heel new practice facility. The players split time indoors and outdoors running thru position and team drills before closing down practice as they did in the fall with special teams drills. Here are the top storylines from the Tar Heels first fall practice of the 2019 season.
Quarterbacks Took That Next Step Over the Summer
No one was expecting the Tar Heels quarterback race to be decided on Friday, but there was some good news regarding the quarterbacks. Mack Brown said that all three quarterbacks were much better today than they were when spring practice broke, a good sign for a group of young quarterbacks who are learning a new system. None of the three appeared to be the leader in any of the drills according to the multitude of sources that were in attendance for today’s practice and Brown reiterated, as he talked about on Wednesday in his pre-camp press conference, that the team is in no rush to make a decision between the three. This is a promising start, though, for each of the three quarterbacks competing to start in Bank of America Stadium on August 31st.
The Defense Is Back at Full Strength
After a spring camp that was riddled with injuries to projected starters, the Tar Heels opened fall camp with as healthy of a defense as they’ve had in the last three seasons. A pass rush that was ravaged in depleted in the spring returned three players in Jason Strowbridge, Allen Cater and Tyrone Hopper who were all expected to play sizable roles on this 2019 team prior to their injuries. Not only is the defensive line back at full-strength, but the secondary saw both of it’s starting safeties, Myles Dorn and Myles Wolfolk, back as full participants after both were limited in the spring. There will be injuries along the way in fall camp, but as of right now with a defense that is as thin depthwise as the Tar Heels are, health is the most important factor for success.
Cam’Ron Kelly Is Not Cleared Yet
One of the more intriguing prospects in this Tar Heel secondary, Kelly is still awaiting a decision from the NCAA. Coach Brown addressed his eligibility in a post-practice interview, stating his frustrations with the fact that the NCAA has yet to make a decision. “You would like to think that when somebody starts practice, you would know if they would be eligible to play or not.” Kelly would be a nice addition to a secondary that is lacking significant depth at both corner and safety and the hope is that a decision will be made soon.
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