Mack Brown further explains UNC defensive leaders calling out a teammate

College football coaches often say that the best teams are player led. It appears as though North Carolina has a team that will be that way in 2024.

UNC coach Mack Brown told reporters about a unique football practice he experienced recently. Brown has seen about everything on a practice field, but what happened in a practice during fall camp caught him off guard.

“We were there and [defensive line coach Ted Monachino] was starting to send a guy in, and Kaimon Rucker was the one who said ‘No. No coach. He’s not doing what he’s supposed to do. Don’t put him in. We don’t trust him. He’s got to grow up,’” Mack Brown recalled.

Brown didn’t specify which player Rucker called out, but he did make it clear that North Carolina players are holding each other accountable this season.

The UNC defense struggled mightily last year, ranking 97th nationally in total defense and allowing more than 400 yards per game.

Former Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins was brought in as the defensive coordinator this offseason to try and improve the North Carolina defense.

Brown said Rucker and other veterans on the UNC defense spoke with the player when practice was over.

“Afterwards they all met with him and they said ‘You either start doing these things — being on time.’ It wasn’t awful things. It was being on time, keep your mouth shut, start studying the playbook more and earn the right to get in there,'” Brown explained. “I’ve never seen that, so that was pretty cool.”

Mack Brown plans to bench players for pre-snap penalties: ‘It’s unacceptable’

Being more accountable and paying attention to the details appears to be a big part of the offseason focus for North Carolina.

Ahead of Week 1, as a group, there has been a renewed focus on preventing penalties in Fall Camp.

As Brown explained when he met with the media, he sees penalties as a major concern for the team. So, he’s planning on benching players who commit pre-snap penalties as a way of correcting that behavior.

“Really working hard on penalties,” Mack Brown said. “We’ve had too many penalties. We’ve got the smartest kids in the league, we’ve got the best APR in the league, and we’ve been up in the penalties every year. That makes no sense. So, we’ve just told the guys that we will have absolutely no pre-snap penalties. It’s unacceptable. If they have one, we’re taking them out.”

North Carolina finished the 2023 season 125th out of 133 FBS teams in penalties. They averaged 7.2 penalties per game and 66.3 penalty yards per game.

At the same time, it’s not just pre-snap penalties that Mack Brown is worried about. Because of that, he’s also working to end post-whistle and other common penalties teams suffer from.

“And we’re telling the guys that there will be absolutely no post-whistle penalties. If they do that, they’re running laps the rest of that rack of plays as they go through,” Brown said. “So, then we’re penalizing. We’re doing physical drills for consequences on guys that have holding penalties or pass interference penalties. Those are usually what you have. So, we’re actually taking another step for enforcement into those areas.”