Mack Brown calls for North Carolina to develop consistent run game

We all know what North Carolina is capable of through the air. Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown wants to use that to disguise a consistent run game.

It’s been two years since UNC has had a rushing attack that has garnered respect from their opposition. Drake Maye, Carolina’s quarterback, was the team’s leading rusher with 698 yards and seven touchdowns.

“We have got to change the narrative of our running game,” Brown said. “We were really good when we had the two great backs (Javonte Williams and Michael Carter). We were okay during our third year (2021) and we were inconsistent last year.

“We have got to be able to win a game without it being on the quarterback. If Drake [Maye] has a bad game, we can’t just say Drake had a bad game. We should be able to run the ball, so we’ve got to do that and last year, we couldn’t do that.”

Even though Brown wants an improved run game, he hasn’t done much to add to the room. He returns both of his top running backs in Elijah Green and Omarion Hampton, who combined for 959 yards and 14 touchdowns for the Tar Heels last season. He brought in three-star recruit Jordan Louie from the preps ranks, but hasn’t found a viable running back in the portal despite already signing nine transfers already this offseason.

Still, UNC’s bread and butter in 2023 will be spreading the football through the air. Returning one of the top-rated quarterbacks in the country is always a plus — and some believe Drake Maye is even poised for a Heisman Trophy run.

Maye finished his redshirt freshman season with 4,321 yards, fourth-most by any FBS quarterback, and threw 38 touchdowns compared to just seven interceptions. His 82.4 QBR ranked 10th in the country as well. Even more impressively, it was his first season as the team’s starter.

Under Maye’s guidance, North Carolina finished 9-5 last season after losing both of their outings in the postseason and their last four total. Before that, the Tar Heels were sitting at 9-1 before dropping their last two regular-season games by a combined seven points, getting blown out by Clemson in the ACC title game, and falling to Oregon by one point due to a touchdown in the final minute of the Holiday Bowl.

If Mack can add a balanced rushing attack to his already explosive offense in 2023, it’s hard to see the Tar Heels finding themselves anywhere less than another ACC Championship game.