Mack Brown expects to see improvement from UNC's defense this season

North Carolina coach Mack Brown believes his defense isn’t quite as bad as people are making it out to be heading into 2023. Looking at the numbers, the Tar Heels were the worst defensive team in the ACC, finishing last in both points (30.8) and yards (436.5) allowed per game.

However, appearing on local radio station 99.9 The Fan, Brown argued those numbers were slightly skewed by a Week 2 shootout with Appalachian State. UNC gave up 61 points and 649 total yards in that contest, much of which came during the fourth quarter.

Brown argued that changed the perception of the defense, even though he saw the team improve in conference play.

“We gave up 1,000 yards against Appalachian State and 61 points in the second game of the season,” he said. “So everybody turned on our defense and said they were awful after that. They actually played pretty good down the stretch and only gave up like 24 points in the ACC contests. We blitzed a lot more than we thought, but when you give up that many points everybody says, ‘they don’t blitz any. They don’t tackle any. They don’t hit the quarterback. They don’t cover.’

“All those things were true in that fourth quarter against Appalachian State. I was in the media. Sometimes we get on these tangents that we can’t get off. When the narrative is made, it doesn’t matter what happens. It’s not changing.”

Although Brown certainly makes an interesting case, it’s clear UNC can’t blame all of its struggles from last year on one game. The Tar Heels’ 25.8 points allowed in eight regular season conference games still would have placed them just 10th in the ACC. They had major problems up front, ranking 128th in sacks and 129th in tackles for loss out of 131 FBS teams.

Brown has said that the team plans to be more aggressive with its blitzes this season, though added that the team blitzed more in 2022 than people think. The North Carolina defense returns its top two tacklers from this past season in linebackers Cedric Gray and Power Echols.

UNC also has questions in the secondary after losing six players to the transfer portal and bringing in transfer cornerbacks Armani Chatman and Alijah Huzzie. However, Brown sees his team being much better defensively in part because of the negative press they’ve received this offseason.

“I think because the defense has heard how bad they are and how bad they were, they are going to improve,” he said. “We blitzed a lot more last year than some people thought, but when you’re not stopping people consistently, they think you’re passive. I do feel like we’re very much improved up front.

“We didn’t play well in the secondary last year. We haven’t placed the ball well at corner. We haven’t tackled well at safety. There’s so many things that we need to improve, but I thought we saw a lot of progress in those areas this spring.”

If the Tar Heels can make strides on defense, it could be the difference between competing for a conference championship. They already have one of the best offenses in the ACC led by Heisman candidate Drake Maye. Time will tell how things shake up, but it’s clear that how the defense performs could make or break this season.

UNC kicks off the season on Sept. 2 against South Carolina.