How North Carolina is scouting NC State quarterback Bailey Hockman
The prospect of facing N.C. State quarterback Bailey Hockman had North Carolina co-defensive coordinator Jay Bateman channeling his inner Bruce Lee.
Hockman isn’t the kind of veteran who started so many games the Tar Heels can easily scout what his tendencies will be when the teams play on Saturday. He’s only starting against UNC because of the injury to Devin Leary in last week’s win over Duke.
Still, Bateman said he preferred that to how he had to game plan against Virginia Tech. The Hokies were positioned to use three different quarterbacks, ended up using two, before settling on one for the entire second half. Carolina needed to make tweaks to essentially have three different game plans based on the quarterback.
“Like Bruce Lee said, ‘I’d rather face a guy who’s practiced one kick 1,000 times,’” Bateman told reporters Monday during a video call. “Than a guy who’s practiced 1,000 kicks one time.”
Hockman isn’t a total unknown to North Carolina’s defense either. He played, albeit after the game had been decided, in the Tar Heels’ 41-10 win last season.
Hockman is more than capable to lead the Pack offense. The Florida State transfer started twice last season including during their lone ACC win over Syracuse. He opened the season as the starter for two games when Leary was sidelined due to COVID-19 contact tracing. He helped lead the Pack to a win over Wake Forest and started in their loss at Virginia Tech.
“Bailey Hockman is a really good football player,” Bateman said. “He moved the ball against us really well last year when he played.”
Is Hockman ‘scary’ to UNC?
The way Bateman sees it, the Wolfpack won’t feel the need to overhaul their offense because Hockman is playing. The opportunities Hockman has had to play didn’t reveal any change in philosophy for N.C. State’s playcalling.
“I watch the N.C. State offense, I see a bunch of really veteran guys that have done things, the same thing, over and over again to do at a really high level,” Bateman said. “So that part’s really scary to me.”
Hockman has a similar set of available plays as Leary had at his disposal. The two have just had different results, which is why Leary emerged as QB1. Hockman has seven interceptions in the total of 10 games he’s played in for NCSU.
What’s also not as scary for UNC is Hockman hasn’t proven to be a big threat running the ball. VT’s Hendon Hooker and Florida State’s Jordan Travis were able to hurt Carolina when they scrambled to prolong plays and when executing run-pass option plays.
“The thing that we haven’t done a great job with the last two weeks is handling the quarterback run,” Bateman said. “And I think when we haven’t handled the quarterback run, it’s put stress on the rest of the defense.”
Not much change from the Wolfpack’s offense
Hockman has recorded 15 rushes for just 8 yards this season. The stress will come from N.C. State’s running backs Ricky Person Jr and Zonovan Knight, who are a combination used much like UNC uses Michael Carter and Javonte Williams. And that won’t change no matter who is taking snaps for the Wolfpack.
“I don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference in their offense with him,” Bateman said. “He’s left handed, that’s about the only difference really.”
Now from the left instead of the right, the Tar Heels are still expecting to get the Wolfpack’s best kick Saturday in Kenan Stadium.
No. 23 NC State at No. 14 UNC
When: Noon, Saturday
Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill
Watch: ESPN
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 7:30 AM with the headline "How North Carolina is scouting NC State quarterback Bailey Hockman."