Most of North Carolina's offense runs through two players, and everybody in the building knows who they are.
Knowing it and stopping it are different things.
We spent Wednesday's show explaining why tight end Jelani Thurman and receiver Jordan Shipp are tougher to erase than UNC's 5-3 record suggests. A desperate team with two NFL pass catchers, a sixth-year quarterback and a midseason All-American is not a team you can sleepwalk through on the road at night.
He's an Ohio State transfer and a former four-star out of Atlanta. He's 6-foot-6, 245, with 33 catches for 391 yards and four touchdowns. Corey Hetherman said the staff prepped for him last year before the Cotton Bowl.
AR has been watching him since Week 1.
"Why is this tight end at number forty-five?" he said. "Why is he actually low-key hooping?"
Thurman isn't a 100-yard-game guy. He's a 50-yard guy where every catch matters, usually on third down. AR doesn't expect Hetherman to travel a defender with him, because that's not how this defense works. The plan is homework: know his go-to routes on third and short and third and long, know when he's on the ball and when he's off it. Keep bodies in his area and play the right depth in zone.
Linebackers and safeties will be tested all night.
He's a junior from Charlotte, 6-foot-2, 200, with 41 catches for 543 yards and two scores. He doesn't look fast on film, but he doesn't need to. He has big hands, real route craft, and a one-hander this season on Leonard Moore.
AR compared him to TJ Moore at Clemson: big, strong, and dangerous after a five-yard catch. UNC moves Shipp into the slot, runs him off rub routes and isolates him backside in 3x1 because they think he beats your guy.
The answer is to get hands on him. Free releases let a savvy receiver read your zone and sit in the window. AR wants us switching it up with some Cover 2 and some jump jams with help over the top. He spoke as a receiver who hated seeing exactly that.
"It's hard for a receiver to even get going," he said, "when you have to avoid this guy that's literally trying to choke you out at the line of scrimmage."
He has 23 career starts, 1,531 yards, 60.2 percent completions, 11 touchdowns and five picks. He's 6-3, 220, with a good arm.
DMoney stacked him behind Davis Warren, Gio Lopez and Ashton Daniels, but ahead of Tait Reynolds and Holden Geriner. The catch is that Reynolds and Geriner both had career days against us. So did most of that list.
"Experience is one **** of a thing," AR said.
That's his issue with predictable blitzing. A veteran who sees the safeties stacked over the nickel already knows where the ball is going. Against Pitt we mixed it up, and the extra second of thinking showed.
Edwards also has a habit worth knowing. He steps up like he's going to run, pulls the linebackers forward with his eyes, then lobs it over their heads to the tight end or the back in the flat.
AR's read is that UNC plays a base defense: lots of Cover 3, closer to Wake Forest than anything exotic. He expects Belichick to add wrinkles this week to heat up Darian Mensah, because pressure on Mensah is the only thing that has slowed us down.
Ben Congdon had an off day against Pitt, but he answered every bad rep with a good one.
DMoney's takeaway from rewatching Notre Dame and Syracuse was simpler. "You got to run the ball against these guys."
Notre Dame did exactly that. UNC hung with the Irish until the second half. Then, in pouring rain, they sat in two-high shells while Notre Dame ran it eight straight times.
Beat the No. 1 seed and the juice is back. Lose and the vibes in Chapel Hill are gone.
AR's scouting note is that UNC might be the best first-quarter team on film. Then teams adjust and UNC doesn't seem to. The tackling falls apart, the safeties take bad angles and the fourth quarter gets away from them. Expect a punch early. The question is whether we absorb it.
UNC has owned this series lately. Some of that was bad Miami teams in bad spots, including the Manny Diaz year they ran us over.
This roster is different, it's deeper, it's more talented, and Mensah and Malachi Toney set the tone. Mario Cristobal has the whole building saying 1-0, and every reporter fishing for a better quote gets the same answer.
DMoney summed up the matchup: respect them, win the line of scrimmage, take away Thurman and Shipp, and finish the sacks.
The full breakdown is on the CanesInsight YouTube channel, along with the film session that goes play by play through UNC's tape.
Knowing it and stopping it are different things.
We spent Wednesday's show explaining why tight end Jelani Thurman and receiver Jordan Shipp are tougher to erase than UNC's 5-3 record suggests. A desperate team with two NFL pass catchers, a sixth-year quarterback and a midseason All-American is not a team you can sleepwalk through on the road at night.
Jelani Thurman, TE, #45
If we could erase one player from this offense, it's tight end Jelani Thurman.He's an Ohio State transfer and a former four-star out of Atlanta. He's 6-foot-6, 245, with 33 catches for 391 yards and four touchdowns. Corey Hetherman said the staff prepped for him last year before the Cotton Bowl.
AR has been watching him since Week 1.
"Why is this tight end at number forty-five?" he said. "Why is he actually low-key hooping?"
Thurman isn't a 100-yard-game guy. He's a 50-yard guy where every catch matters, usually on third down. AR doesn't expect Hetherman to travel a defender with him, because that's not how this defense works. The plan is homework: know his go-to routes on third and short and third and long, know when he's on the ball and when he's off it. Keep bodies in his area and play the right depth in zone.
Linebackers and safeties will be tested all night.
Jordan Shipp, WR, #1
Jordan Shipp is the other offensive weapon.He's a junior from Charlotte, 6-foot-2, 200, with 41 catches for 543 yards and two scores. He doesn't look fast on film, but he doesn't need to. He has big hands, real route craft, and a one-hander this season on Leonard Moore.
AR compared him to TJ Moore at Clemson: big, strong, and dangerous after a five-yard catch. UNC moves Shipp into the slot, runs him off rub routes and isolates him backside in 3x1 because they think he beats your guy.
The answer is to get hands on him. Free releases let a savvy receiver read your zone and sit in the window. AR wants us switching it up with some Cover 2 and some jump jams with help over the top. He spoke as a receiver who hated seeing exactly that.
"It's hard for a receiver to even get going," he said, "when you have to avoid this guy that's literally trying to choke you out at the line of scrimmage."
Billy Edwards Jr., QB, #9
Edwards is a six-year senior on his fourth school: Wake Forest, Maryland, Wisconsin, now UNC.He has 23 career starts, 1,531 yards, 60.2 percent completions, 11 touchdowns and five picks. He's 6-3, 220, with a good arm.
DMoney stacked him behind Davis Warren, Gio Lopez and Ashton Daniels, but ahead of Tait Reynolds and Holden Geriner. The catch is that Reynolds and Geriner both had career days against us. So did most of that list.
"Experience is one **** of a thing," AR said.
That's his issue with predictable blitzing. A veteran who sees the safeties stacked over the nickel already knows where the ball is going. Against Pitt we mixed it up, and the extra second of thinking showed.
Edwards also has a habit worth knowing. He steps up like he's going to run, pulls the linebackers forward with his eyes, then lobs it over their heads to the tight end or the back in the flat.
Xavier Lewis, DT, #90
UNC's defense is solid unit, but one name stands out. Defensive tackle Xavier Lewis is a midseason All-American as a true sophomore. Currently, has 39 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and seven sacks. He's a 6-foot, 260-pound zero-star out of Raleigh who played running back and tight end in high school. Small and violently quick, he's exactly the kind of player who has given our line trouble on stunts and inside movement.AR's read is that UNC plays a base defense: lots of Cover 3, closer to Wake Forest than anything exotic. He expects Belichick to add wrinkles this week to heat up Darian Mensah, because pressure on Mensah is the only thing that has slowed us down.
Ben Congdon had an off day against Pitt, but he answered every bad rep with a good one.
DMoney's takeaway from rewatching Notre Dame and Syracuse was simpler. "You got to run the ball against these guys."
Notre Dame did exactly that. UNC hung with the Irish until the second half. Then, in pouring rain, they sat in two-high shells while Notre Dame ran it eight straight times.
Belichick needs this more than we do
The Syracuse loss looked like a look-ahead game, which is worth remembering with Notre Dame sitting on our schedule next. For Belichick, this is close to a must-win.Beat the No. 1 seed and the juice is back. Lose and the vibes in Chapel Hill are gone.
AR's scouting note is that UNC might be the best first-quarter team on film. Then teams adjust and UNC doesn't seem to. The tackling falls apart, the safeties take bad angles and the fourth quarter gets away from them. Expect a punch early. The question is whether we absorb it.
UNC has owned this series lately. Some of that was bad Miami teams in bad spots, including the Manny Diaz year they ran us over.
This roster is different, it's deeper, it's more talented, and Mensah and Malachi Toney set the tone. Mario Cristobal has the whole building saying 1-0, and every reporter fishing for a better quote gets the same answer.
DMoney summed up the matchup: respect them, win the line of scrimmage, take away Thurman and Shipp, and finish the sacks.
The full breakdown is on the CanesInsight YouTube channel, along with the film session that goes play by play through UNC's tape.
