Mack Brown reveals North Carolina's goals over the summer

The North Carolina Tar Heels and their head coach Mack Brown have huge goals and expectations for the upcoming 2023 season. But in order for them to achieve those goals, they have to accomplish some goals over the summer. And recently, Brown revealed what objectives the Tar Heels set out to accomplish before the start of the season.

“Summer workout goals; it’s, again, to prepare for that first four games, to have more toughness, to stop the run, to be in great shape, to try to develop two deep,” said Brown. “All of those things are things that are important. Leadership is so important year-round, but it’s even more important in the summer because we can’t be out there. They have player-led practices. They’ve gotta coach the guys. And they know who’s out too late and they know who’s not eating properly and they know if somebody’s got bad habits.

“So leadership over the summer, year-round, is really important. But you have more time in the summer, and it’s a really, really important part of their progress.”

North Carolina’s first four games out of the gate will not be walk-in-the-park games against teams they can look past. North Carolina opens the season against a neighboring rival in the SEC’s South Carolina. A matchup against an in-state rival, Appalachian State, will follow that game up. And to round out their first four games, North Carolina will take on the Big Ten’s Minnesota, followed by a trip to Pennsylvania to take on the Pitt Panthers.

Brown says it’s ‘time’ for North Carolina to win more than nine games

The Tar Heels headman also emphasized that he’s not after a ‘good’ season this year; he is on a quest to be great. Brown took some time to explain how his team can achieve that.

“We ended the season against Oregon with Bo Nix and Drake Maye playing against each other. Two of the best quarterbacks in the country,” said Brown. “We’re going to start the season with Rattler and Drake Maye playing against each other. South Carolina ended with a lot of momentum, beating Tennessee and beating Clemson. We did not. We lost to Clemson and Oregon right at the end of the season. So, they got a lot of hype. We got a chip on our shoulder and get back to where we need to be.”

North Carolina had a hot start to their 2022 season, going 9-1 in their first ten games. But that high would soon come crashing down as the Tar Heels ended the year on a four-game losing streak that included a one-point, 28-27 loss to Oregon in the Holiday Bowl.

This year’s schedule appears to be more challenging than last year’s to start this season, which is why Brown gave his team a simple message regarding the first leg of their 2023 campaign.