Mack Brown compliments linebackers, provides history lesson

Ever wondered how the linebacker position got its title? Well, allow North Carolina football coach Mack Brown to explain. After all, the guy has been a head college football coach for the last 38 years. He may know a thing or two about the history of the sport.

As part of a press conference this week ahead of UNC’s game in Coral Gables against the Miami Hurricanes, Brown was asked about his linebackers, who were coming off their best performance of the season against Virginia Tech the week prior. The unit as a whole is one of the few strongpoints on a defense that has struggled mightily throughout the year.

“They’re really, really good,” Brown said of the LB’s. Then explained why the linebackers are such vital pieces of the defenses, which included a little lesson on how they got their name.

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“Your linebackers should be your tacklers. Your front usually takes up the blocks and frees the linebackers to run and make the plays. That’s why they actually were named that way, because they back up the line. And if your safety is making all the tackles and your linebackers aren’t, you’re probably in trouble. Because they’re at the next level.”

Fairly simple, right? The linebackers quite literally back up the defensive line as the second level of the defense. And the Tar Heels have some real playmakers in that spot this season, according to Mack Brown. So much so that the team is having trouble picking a different Defensive Player of the Week after every game.

“Both Power Echols and Cedric Gray are are very talented. They both love to play. And as our coach just said, after DeAndre Boykins was named uh the Player of the Game last week, they said — you know, it could be Power and Cedric about every week, but we’re we’re not going to do that. We want to recognize some other players.”

Brown then continued on Gray and Echols, noting their work ethic and love for the game of football.

“But you’ve got to be great at linebacker and those two guys are. They love to play. They’re passionate. They practice the same way every day that they play and and it’s fun to watch them.”

Perhaps the UNC defense is finally figuring some stuff out after a brutal start to the season. If so, it all starts with those linebackers, particularly Gray and Echols.