Heels raise the bar for 2021 as Mack Brown holds championship expectations for UNC
North Carolina football just got a higher ceiling — or a higher roof, depending on what part of Michael Jordan’s famous gaffe is considered more important. The Tar Heels’ Orange Bowl appearance — its first major bowl since the 1950 Cotton Bowl — upped the ante of expectations for a team returning most of its starters next season.
Carolina (8-4) went from winning just two games in 2018 to playing three top 10 teams in 2020 like the Heels belonged. The highlight of the season was the 62-26 win over then-No. 10 Miami in a game UNC had to win to be positioned for an Orange Bowl berth.
The Heels even gained optimism from their losses. They trailed then-No. 2 Notre Dame by a touchdown entering the fourth quarter. They had a fourth-quarter lead Saturday on No. 5 Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl and were tied with five minutes to go.
Brown said year three of his second stint in Chapel Hill should not be defined by coming close in big games.
“Everything we do in this program needs now to be at a point (where we ask) is that good enough to get to a playoff?’” Brown said on a video press conference Monday. “’Is that good enough to win a national championship?’ Instead of: ‘Let’s keep learning. Come on now, let’s get better.’ That’s not good enough.”
He didn’t say it, but Brown could have used the Heels’ 31-28 loss to a hapless Florida State team in October as an example of “not good enough,” a result that came just as UNC reached No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25. The lessons, he intimated, were learned this season. Next season is when they apply that experience.
What’s to come for Heels in 2021
Against the Aggies, the Heels got an indication of how they will replace some of their major personnel losses from this season.
Running backs Michael Carter (1,245 yards), and Javonte Williams (1,140); receiver Dyami Brown (1,099); and linebacker Chazz Surratt (91 tackles) decided to opt out of the bowl game to prepare for the NFL Draft.
UNC absorbed those losses particularly at receiver, where freshman Josh Downs had four catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns in the bowl. (Downs had just three catches for 28 yards and a score in the regular season.) And on defense, sophomore linebacker Eugune Asante started in place of Surratt. While Mack Brown said there were some mistakes, they weren’t so gaping that anyone watching noticed a drop-off from Surratt.
Junior linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel said he saw a sense of ownership and confidence he hadn’t seen from some of the younger players all season. Players like freshman safety/nickelback Ja’Qurious Conley were more vocal in recognizing a formation and making the proper defensive adjustments, Gemmel said.
“Sometimes the young guys are kind of timid to make the calls because they’re not sure if it’s right,” Gemmel said.
The Heels’ defense matured during the course of the season, making the biggest improvements after their worst performance in allowing 606 total yards and 53 points to Wake Forest. That point was punctuated by forcing Texas A&M — a team with just 15 three-and-out drives all season — to five in the Orange Bowl. They also had three sacks against an Aggies’ offensive line that had only allowed four all season.
Carolina is especially excited about the potential of freshman cornerback Tony Grimes, who would have been a senior in high school had he not reclassified and enrolled in 2020. Grimes had two pass breakups and a sack against A&M. That and his interception against Miami were snapshots that he could be a special talent.
“Next year, we’ve got some challenges to replace some people that are leaving,” Brown said. “But we should have a chance to be a real special team.”
That begins with the return of quarterback Sam Howell, who Brown said should be up for all the individual awards handed out nationally next season. Howell’s 68 touchdown passes surpassed Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s record of 66 for the most in ACC history for a sophomore quarterback.
“I have two years under my belt now, so I expect for myself, I just want to be the leader of this football team and I want to take this team to great places,” Howell said. “We have a lot of potential in that locker room and a lot of younger players that are going to work harder than anyone in the country this offseason, and for this team I think we just keep going in the right direction. I know this program is going where we want it to go.”
UNC football starters returning
Consider this: Carolina will return 10 of 11 players who started on offense in the Orange Bowl. That’s after Brown said Monday that senior tight end Garrett Walston decided to take advantage of the NCAA eligibility waiver given to all fall sports athletes due to the pandemic. (The one caveat is running back will be an open competition after the losses of Carter and Williams, even though British Brooks will be back.)
UNC will also return 10 of 11 defensive starters from the bowl game. Brown added that senior linebacker Tomon Fox was also thinking about using the NCAA waiver.
Throw in a healthy cornerback Storm Duck, who started the first two games before being sidelined the remainder of the season; and receiver Beau Corrales, who also only started twice while battling injuries all season; and the Heels will be experienced and deep.
“I just told our guys in the locker room: Remember this feeling (of the Orange Bowl loss),” Howell said. “Everyone that’s coming back just use this feeling to motivate you in the locker room because we can get so much better.”
The roster did get better on paper, signing a recruiting class ranked No. 14 nationally by 247Sports. The Heels will welcome 12 early enrollees out of their 16 signees.
Brown said the Heels could add another recruit for the Class of 2021 during the February signing period. He was more cautious about the potential to add a graduate transfer — especially if that player wasn’t able to enroll for the spring semester.
“We’ve got to get more experience, we’ve got to get more depth,” Brown said. “On Jan. 19 we’ll have 12 more guys coming in that’ll have a great spring practice and they’ll get ready. But we’re about to be really good, and I’m excited about that.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Heels raise the bar for 2021 as Mack Brown holds championship expectations for UNC."