Heel Tough Blog: Stock Report- Notre Dame
The Tar Heels competed hard on Saturday in Kenan Stadium against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the No. 3 team in the country, but ultimately fell short. Now, the team turns its attention to another undefeated team, the Pittsburgh Panthers. Here is a look at who we have trending up and trending down going into that road trip to Acrisure Stadium.
⇩Kaleb Cost
The Tar Heel secondary struggled as a whole, but no one struggled more than Cost on Saturday. While he was only targeted three times, he allowed all three of them to be caught for 61 yards and two touchdowns. The biggest mistake came in the second quarter when the Tar Heels went with a Cover 0 blitz and he mistakenly passed Notre Dame receiver Jordan Faison off to no one resulting in a 39-yard touchdown. Cost’s start to the season has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but they are going to need him to rebound quickly in this game against Pitt.
⇩Starting Corners
Cost wasn’t the only corner that had issues. After a rough showing against Clemson, Jaiden Patterson was better in coverage, but he still had issues tackling, missing a team high three tackles. Opposite of him, Tre Miller got the start after Peyton Waters started against Clemson and had his challenges. In 46 total snaps, Miller was only targeted twice, but allowed both to be caught for 39 yards and a touchdown. Late in the game, he was replaced by Kenton Dopson III, who has seen some important snaps down the stretch of the last two games so it will be interesting to see what happens opposite of Jaiden Patterson in the next game.
⇩Interior Defensive Line
The interior defensive line has been the strength of the defense so far this season, but Saturday was the first time they were really pushed around. In the third quarter, the Fighting Irish offensive line began to lean on that Tar Heel defensive line and run it right at the A and B gaps. In 23 carries, the Irish were able to run for 122 yards and five first downs in those gaps with the majority of those carries coming as that group got worn down. The fact that the group got worn down for a second straight game might be concerning, but the good news is that this was the most talented offensive line that you will face this season. The Tar Heels need this unit to return to what they did in the second half against the run in both the TCU and East Tennessee State games if they want to beat Pitt.
⇩Starting Edge Rushers
The return of Melkart Abou Jaoude was a big deal on Saturday, but it was a quiet day for the team’s two primary pass rush. Abou Jaoude only played 41 of the 77 total snaps on Saturday, failed to register a single tackle and had just one total quarterback pressure. Opposite of him, Jaylen Harvey was a little more active in the run game, finishing with four total tackles, including two total tackles. Rushing the passer, it wasn’t as easy for him, though, as he registered just one total quarterback pressure and his lone penalty on the day was the offsides that turned out to be a three-point play after Marcus Freeman revealed that the team was planning to take the delay of game and kick the field on 4th & Goal and kick the field goal. The team needs this group to be more impactful in the Pitt game against a quarterback making his first start, especially with the issues in the secondary.
⇩Linebackers
If you looked at a regular box score, you would believe that this group had a big day, but the advanced stats and eye test told a different story. While the trio of Derek McDonald, Peyton Seelmann and Jonathan Agumadu finished with a combined 28 total tackles, they did not register a single tackle for loss and had just three defensive stops (tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense) the entire day. It was very evident on Saturday that the team does not have the sideline-to-sideline speed that is needed to make plays on the edge in the run game or stay with receivers on crossers over the middle of the field. These are limitations that the team will have to deal with the rest of the season, but the Tar Heels need this unit to be more productive playing downhill in the run game than they have been out of the gate this season against the Pitt run game if they are going to pull the upset.
⇩Offensive Line
The Tar Heel offensive line had issues in pass protection against Clemson, but blocked well in the run game. While the pass protection was marginally better on Saturday against Notre Dame, the run blocking was as disappointing as it has been this season. After running for 214 yards at 5.3 yards per carry at Clemson, the team was only able to run for 77 yards, a season low, at 3.3 yards per carry. The team was without starting left tackle Jordan Hall, meaning the group had to be shuffled, and Notre Dame is one of the toughest defensive lines that the Tar Heels will face all season, but the fact of the matter is that this team will simply have to be able to get more push up front and protect their quarterback even better than they did Saturday if they are going to pick up their third win of the season this weekend.
⇩Trech Kekahuna
Last week, we focused on the quiet start that Mason Humphrey has had to the season and this week, it is Kekahuna’s turn. Kekahuna played just 28 snaps on Saturday and was targeted just one time in 17 pass snaps as he failed to register a single reception. In 74 pass snaps this season, Kekahuna has been targeted just nine times and caught just six passes for 71 yards in the first four games. Right now, this passing offense is being carried by Jordan Shipp and Jelani Thurman and teams have to be seeing that and working to take those two guys away. That duo needs some help and the hope is a guy like Kekahuna, who was seen as a big offseason portal addition and has a relationship with Edwards from their time at Wisconsin, can be part of the solution.
⇩Peyton Waters
Waters ends up here, but it depends on how much responsibility you give him for the first touchdown of the day for Notre Dame. On the play in question, Waters was playing the middle of the field in zone defense watching the eyes of the quarterback. Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr did a great job of looking Waters into the middle of the field to the slot receiver freeing up just enough space to drive the ball in to Jordan Faison for his first touchdown of the day. Even if you credit that more to Carr being special than against Waters for getting suckered in, he did miss two important tackles. He is currently questionable for the game against Pitt, but if he is going to be in there, they need him to be more consistent than what he has shown early in the season.
⇧Jordan Shipp
The biggest positive from this game has to be the performance of the man they call “Mr. Carolina”. Shipp opened the day with a one-handed grab on the first offensive play of the game for the Tar Heels and just built from there. He caught all seven of his targets for a career-high 109 yards, the first time in his career that he has a game with 100+ yards. This is impressive regardless of the circumstances, but especially when you consider the inconsistent quarterback play that he has had to deal with the last two years. Expect Shipp to be targeted a ton of times in this game against Pitt on Saturday.
⇧Jelani Thurman
Maybe besides Shipp, Thurman has been the most consistent player so far this season. Against Notre Dame, Thurman got back to his usual production after a quiet week at Clemson, catching five of his team-high eight targets for 50 yards and two touchdowns. It wasn’t a great day for him in run blocking, but we’ll give him a pass with how well he played as a receiver. If he can keep this up on Saturday in Pittsburgh, this offense might be able to put up just enough points to beat this undefeated Pitt squad.
⇧Jaden Jefferson
Jefferson touched the ball for the first time in his college career on Saturday against Notre Dame as a kick returner and immediately made an impact. He took the opening kickoff of the second half 98 yards to the house, giving the Tar Heels the chance to tie the game at 21 with an extra point. Jefferson, a California 100m record holder in track, showed off that pure speed, reaching a top speed of 20.5 mph on the returner. He feels like the perfect guy to have returning kicks right now with his track speed and the hope is that he can be a game changer on kick returners to help set this team up with a short field.
⇧Shamar Easter
Easter has received a lot of criticism so far in his first year and a half in Chapel Hill, but he had the best performance of his young career against Notre Dame. He caught three of his four targets for 24 yards and the opening touchdown of the game. With Jordan Washington and Jaxxon Warren remaining on the shelf, Easter has gotten his chance and been really solid. His stats aren’t mind-blowing, but the progress is very notable when you watch him on Saturdays.
⇧Billy Edwards Jr.
No one needed a bounce back performance more than Edwards after Clemson and while it was a rollercoaster, it was a step back in the right direction. Edwards helped drive the team down the field on the opening drive for the touchdown, but had two crucial turnovers that put the team in the 21-7 deficit midway through the second quarter. After the defensive stop on 4th down by the defense in the first half, Edwards got one last drive to reset and end the half on a positive note and he did just that. He was 7 for 8 for 76 yards and ran for 10 yards on one carry, capped off by a 14-yard touchdown to Thurman. He would put together another scoring drive in the middle to late portions of the 4th quarter. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a step in the right direction and proved it was the right decision to stick with him at quarterback. The Tar Heels are still searching for consistency with him and the hope is that they can find some on Saturday in Pittsburgh.
⇧Cristian Alvarez
The offensive line had a rough day as a whole against the Fighting Irish, but Alvarez is personally trending up after that performance. In his first career start, the former low end 3✮ recruit that joined the team as a late enrollee this offseason graded out very well. He wasn’t great in run blocking, but no one on the Tar Heel offensive line had that good of the day and he still graded out as rather average. Where he really shined, though, was in pass protection where he played 31 snaps and allowed just one total quarterback pressure. It was a little baptism by fire for him against the No. 3 team in the country, but he responded well. Now the question is can he carry this over in this game with Pitt and build upon it.
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