Mack Brown praises Gene Chizik for readapting to college football, improving North Carolina's defense

When you have a quarterback like Drake Maye, you expect to be competing for conference championships and spots in the College Football Playoff. Maye was fantastic since arriving in Chapel Hill but the North Carolina defense has really struggled. Mack Brown has potentially found the answer though, by hiring Gene Chizik to be the defensive coordinator.

The success was not there right away for Chizik when coming back to North Carolina after five years away. He had to deal with multiple changes inside of the game. Not just specific rules but also offensive and defensive philosophies. Chizik needed time to adjust.

“For Gene, people were going faster, they had different formations, the substitutions were different,” Brown said during Monday’s episode of Andy Staples On3. “There were a lot of things that were different for him as a defensive coordinator. You got to call defenses like this now or you have to have something you can check to because they’re going so fast, you can’t line up.”

With an adjustment period comes some struggles for the North Carolina defense in 2022. They finished No. 102 in the country in scoring defense, giving up 271 yards per game. And while the offense was flourishing under Maye, Chizik began to feel some responsibility.

“He felt bad that we didn’t play well,” Brown said. “He felt like he was responsible. He’s had a chip on his shoulder. He’s done such a great job.”

But now, the key stats are beginning to stockpile for North Carolina. They are able to get into the backfield a little bit more and limit offenses. Chizik has nailed being able to have his defense out there for four plays instead of three as well.

Through six games, everything is coming together for the Tar Heels.

“We didn’t have tackles for loss last year,” Brown said. “We didn’t have enough sacks. That was another thing Gene realized — everybody has to be more aggressive… People, since they are going for it on fourth down, you have to be more aggressive on third down. So, the game has changed so much. I’m happy to see great people and smart people like Gene adjust with it.”

North Carolina’s opponents are scoring just 21 points per game, a huge improvement from last season. Kaimon Rucker (10 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks) and plenty of other front seven players have been in the backfield.

As Brown looks to push for a national championship in what likely is the final year of Maye’s college career, Chizik has played a major role.