Notre Dame Football Opponent Preview: North Carolina Tar Heels Defense
By Andrew Hall
The Notre Dame football program travels south to Chapel Hill to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels. Yesterday, we previewed the North Carolina offense, which by injury or graduation lost the majority of their production. Today, we will take a look at the Tar Heels on the defensive side of the ball.
Defensive Line
The Tar Heels will play eight or more players along the Defensive Line. At Defensive End, North Carolina will play Freshman Tomon Fox, Sophomore Allen Carter, Junior Malik Carney and Senior Dajaun Drennon. Carney leads these players in production. He tallied 20 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss,1.5 sacks and 3 Quarterback hurries.
Along the interior of the Defensive Line, the Heels will play Sophomore Allen Crawford, Junior Jeremiah Clarke, Junior Jalen Dalton and Sophomore Jason Strowbridge. Clarke leads all interior players with 16 tackles.
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Linebacker
The Linebackers are led by two upperclassmen, Junior Cole Holcomb and Senior Cayson Collins. Holcomb leads the team in tackles with 43 total tackles. Collins is second on the team in tackles with 34. Starting in between these players is Sophomore MIKE Linebacker Jonathan Smith. Smith has tallied 14 total tackles on the season.
Defensive Back
On the back end of the defense, North Carolina plays Senior M.J. Stewart and Sophomore K.J. Sails at the Cornerback spots. Stewart is one of the more dynamic players on the North Carolina football team. He plays Cornerback, Nickel, returns kicks and punts. On the season, Stewart has collected 18 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 5 passes broken up.
Along with Stewart and Sails, the Heels start Free Safety Myles Dorn and Strong Safety Donnie Miles. Miles is tied for on second team in tackles with 34 total.
When the Heels move into their Nickel defense, they will either employ starting Cornerback M.J. Stewart or Freshman Myles Wolfolk depending the personnel and situation.
Bottom Line
The Tar Heels rank near the bottom in several defensive statistical categories. In scoring defense, North Carolina is 105th in the country, allowing 33.0 points per contest. They are currently yielding 4.97 yards per carry, which places them at 109th in the nation. The Heels rank 107th in the FBS in yards per play allowed. They are giving up 6.21 yards per play.
What do all these statistics mean? The Tar Heels are simply very poor on defense. In fact, statistically, it might be the worst defensive team the Irish face all year. Whether or not Brandon Wimbush plays, Notre Dame’s rushing attack should run all over the Heels.