Mack Brown’s return to North Carolina brought stability to the program. His sixth season starts with a couple of challenges to achieving more.
The Tar Heels are moving forward after star quarterback Drake Maye left for the NFL, and Brown is determined to find a way to finish the season strong after two consecutive late-season declines.
“It’s a problem, it’s an issue,” Brown said. “And it’s the only thing that’s keeping us from being where we need to be.”
The Tar Heels were 9-1 in 2022 and had secured a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game before losing their last four games. Last year, the team started 6-0 and reached No. 10 in the AP Top 25, but then finished with a 2-5 record.
With Maye now gone as the No. 3 overall pick in the draft, Brown is focused on getting the Tar Heels to finish the season strongly.
“When we come out here and say the offense had a bad day in practice, that means you’re probably going to be an inconsistent team,” Brown said after the first preseason-camp practice. “And we’ve had too much of that around here.”
This year’s team is expected to finish eighth in the expanded 17-team ACC.
Brown is highlighting the depth of the team as the best of his second stint in Chapel Hill and is optimistic about growth under former Georgia Tech and Temple head coach Geoff Collins as defensive coordinator.
Maye is the highest-profile of 11 starters who have departed on both offense and defense, including linebacker Cedric Gray, who was one of the nation’s leading tacklers.
