From Charlotte Observer (08/17) by Chip Alexander'
Why UNC, Minnesota are playing chicken before their season-opening college football game
Those waiting for North Carolina to announce a starting quarterback for the season opener will have to wait longer — until Aug. 29, it appears. UNC announced Saturday that it did not plan to release its depth chart before the Aug. 29 season opener at Minnesota. The reasoning: Minnesota is not releasing its depth chart.
Let the games begin. Coaches are like that. Depth-chart stalemates exist and will for more than the UNC-Minnesota game. No one is willing to give up any semblance of an edge. The Tar Heels have quarterbacks Max Johnson, Conner Harrell and Jacolby Criswell all vying for the starting nod for the opener in Minneapolis. At Minnesota, transfer Max Brosmer has moved into the QB1 spot and been voted a team captain by his new teammates.
UNC coach Mack Brown joked during the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte that Mark Packer of the ACC Network told him if asked about the starting QB by the media to say, “You’ll know when we break the huddle in the first game.” When the ACC Network visited Chapel Hill on its ACC camp tour, Brown was asked about the quarterback situation. He smiled, looked over at Packer and said he’d take Packer’s advice. The Tar Heels, 31-13 winners over the Golden Gophers last season, had to find some video of Brosmer at New Hampshire to get a better handle on the graduate transfer. Brosmer passed for 3,449 yards and 29 touchdowns last season, with five interceptions, as the Wildcats ranked fifth in the FCS in scoring.
An even bigger concern could be the guesswork over the look of Minnesota’s defense and the Gophers’ two-deep. Corey Hetherman has replaced longtime defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, who left for Michigan State, and has brought in a new style and mindset. Hetherman’s defensive coaching background includes stops at Rutgers, James Madison and Maine. Like UNC’s new DC, Geoff Collins, Hetherman preaches speed and aggressiveness on defense — Minnesota ranked 67th in total defense in the FBS in 2023. UNC’s Brown said the Heels would begin cementing its two-deep after Saturday’s scrimmage at Kenan Stadium. The 80-snap scrimmage was closed to the media and details about it scarce.
“At the end of the day, being the last scrimmage, you want to see and confirm how much depth you’ve got,” tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens said Saturday after the scrimmage. “I think you know who the guys are who are going to be major contributors, but major contributors can come from different angles and different ways. “I think we accomplished that. With the motto ‘Whatever you put on tape, that’s who you are,’ that’s kind of what they did today. Now we go and evaluate the tape and see who can help us and who’s a little bit further away and go from there.” Running backs coach Larry Porter said sophomore Omarion Hampton, the Heels’ 1,500-yard rusher last season, got about 20 snaps in the scrimmage. No problem there. It wouldn’t have been surprising if Hampton, a proven football commodity and potential first-team All-America, was held out of the scrimmage.
After Hampton, graduate transfer Darwin Barlow and freshman Davion “Bullet” Gause each got about 15 to 20 snaps, Porter said. “Bullet has done a phenomenal job,” Porter said. “Being as young as he is, to be as mature as he is and as sharp and smart as he is, and to have a fall camp to where he really didn’t experience many bad days and he didn’t hit a wall, is very impressive.” Porter also heads up the Heels’ special teams, on which Brown placed an added emphasis in the spring and during the preseason. Said Porter: “It’s about consistency and everybody doing their job.”
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