North Carolina kicker Jonathan Kim led the nation last season with 76 touchbacks on kickoffs. That ends the portion of Tar Heels highlights on special teams. The rest of the units ranked in the middle or lower tier of the ACC, which is why coach Mack Brown has put such a big emphasis on them this preseason.
While Brown was at Texas, his teams were known for blocking punts. He’d like Carolina to develop at least one area that defines its special teams.
“I am really excited about our special teams and want it to be a group that wins games, instead of is in the middle of the league — and that’s what we’ve been,” Brown said.
They’ve been near the bottom of the ACC too, ranking 13th in kickoff returns last season and 12th in field goals. The Heels were seventh in the league in punt returns and kickoffs, and ninth in punting.
Brown blames the pandemic for some of that lackluster showing. Without spring practice or much time to work in the summer, Brown believed special teams took a drop throughout college football. The best teams were the ones who had veteran players and coaches that had been in place a while.
Carolina had a new special teams coach in Jovan Dewitt and a lot of young players, which equated to having an unremarkable performance. Brown has shaken things up a bit in order to get better results.
“We’ve never worked best against best this much in special teams and we’ve never worked this much live in preseason,” Brown said. “So we have really made an effort to see progress. And and I like our plan better. I like our philosophy better. We’re all on the same page.”
Adding to Brown’s optimism is the hiring of running backs coach Larry Porter from Auburn. Porter coached special teams for the Tigers and Brown made him an assistant special teams coordinator to work alongside Dewitt.
“Not only can they separate duties and get more done individually, but they they can have a collaboration of, of just thoughts,” Brown said. “We’re just better all the way around.”
Dewitt believes the Heels have a chance to be more explosive on punt returns in particular, with receiver Josh Downs as the primary returner.
Dewitt went over 43 punt returns in college football last season that gained more than 20 yards to see what worked and what they had in common. What he came up with was a plan custom-made for Downs that he hopes will end in some big returns this season.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can get accomplished in terms of how we’ve changed a little bit on punt return,” Dewitt said. “We patterned some of stuff off of how he operates as a slot receiver.”
Brown said UNC should be getting more from its punt return game — and that’s after Dazz Newsome led the ACC in punt returns last season. Newsome averaged 9.9 yards per return, but it was mainly on the strength of one 38-yard return, which was his longest of the season. Take that one away and he averaged 8.1 yards per return.
“We didn’t do a good enough job with Dazz getting him free,” Brown said. “I thought we had a better returner than we had results.”
Brown said one pathway to getting better punt return results this season is developing the threat of blocking punts like his teams in Texas. When an opponent is more concerned with simply getting the punt off, it hurts their coverage ability.
The Heels have spent more time going live in practice with their punt units to identify who could be good punt blockers.
“Unless you’re doing that live in practice, you can’t figure out who they are,” Brown said. “So who are they? And let’s play them. And let’s be aggressive, let’s don’t be afraid that we’re going to get running into the punter. Let’s coach it well enough in practice that we feel really, really good about being aggressive in the game.”
Projected UNC Special Teams depth charts
|
PLACEKICKER |
Height |
Weight |
|
Grayson Atkins (GR) |
5-10 |
180 |
|
Jonathan Kim (JR) |
6-0 |
210 |
|
KICKOFF RETURN |
Height |
Weight |
|
Ty Chandler (GR) |
6-0 |
210 |
|
RESERVES |
||
|
JaQurious Conley (SO) |
6-0 |
210 |
|
PUNTER |
Height |
Weight |
|
Ben Kiernan (JR) |
5-11 |
215 |
|
Adam Buck (JR) |
6-1 |
205 |
|
LONG SNAPPER |
||
|
Drew Little (JR) |
5-11 |
220 |
|
Spencer Triplett (FR) |
6-3 |
235 |
|
PUNT RETURN |
Height |
Weight |
|
Josh Downs (SO) |
5-10 |
180 |
|
Stephen Gosnell (SO) |
6-0 |
210 |
Previous UNC preview installments
Wide receivers
Here’s why UNC’s receivers are reminding Mack Brown of the best receiving season ever
Other Triangle ACC previews
Special teams
Wide receivers
The NC State Wolfpack’s wide receiver room is crowded — and that’s a good thing
Jake Bobo leads group of Duke receivers hoping to flip the Blue Devils’ fortunes. Can they?