Aug. 6 practice report: Brown updates QB battle, Strowbridge the senior and teachable moments

It was only a matter of time before the first quarterback question arrived and Mack Brown laughed, pointing out that he’d invited a few old coaching buddies, Jim Collins and Mike Archer, to Tuesday’s practice.

Brown has stuck to his line about the three quarterbacks being neck-and-neck for the past few weeks and that apparently extended to his conversation with friends.

“I told them the same thing I told you all and they rolled their eyes,” Brown said. “They stood there and watched and they said, ‘They’re all three alike.’”

For the portion of practice the media watched, Brown’s assessment — along with that of Archer and Collins — appeared correct as Cade Fortin, Sam Howell and Jace Ruder all took equal reps during drills, with each showcasing why they’re in the running.

During the portion of practice the media didn’t watch, Brown didn’t see anything to persuade him in any direction.

“There’s been absolutely no separation to this point,” he said. “Probably, the separation will come at scrimmage time because it’s easier in a scrimmage when you’re moving the ball and scoring points to see who has the best grasp of the team and the leadership.”

D-Line Depth

Up front, Carolina is as good as anyone with Aaron Crawford, Tomon Fox and Jason Strowbridge.

Beyond that?

Strowbridge is confident a few youngsters are coming along — particularly Xach Gill.

“He’s definitely come a long way,” Strowbridge said. “He’s kind of like my protégé.”

A 6-5, 290-pound sophomore from Wake Forest, Gill was the seventh-ranked player overall out of the state in 2017 and No. 17 among defensive tackles nationally.

Having been guided by Jalen Dalton as he got acclimated at defensive tackle, Strowbridge wanted to pay it forward.

“I’m the older guy,” he said. “I kind of took the step to take him under my wing when he got here, just working on little things he can take advantage of, little things like reading the guard, where to look at in pass sets or run sets, wherever that may be.”

Teachable moments

With ACC officials at practice over the past two days, Brown said an old problem is popping back up.

“We’re still having too many penalties and that was an issue last year,” he said. “We thought we corrected it for the spring game.”

Part of that, he said, is young players adjusting to the speed and physicality of the game at this level, but it still needs to be solved quickly.

The Tar Heels ranked 73 nationally last season, surrendering an average of 55.6 yards on penalties.

One particular penalty had Brown fuming on Monday when senior Jonathan Smith recovered a fumble, and on the way to the end zone, began celebrating.

After an official flagged Smith for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the 14-yard line, negating the touchdown, Brown stopped practice so officials could explain the rules.

“Come on, you’re a senior; wake up, let’s do it right,” Brown said.

On Tuesday, senior safety Myles Dorn didn’t secure a recovered fumble and ended up fumbling himself, giving the ball back to the offense.

“That’s two great teaching moments we’ll have tonight in our meetings with those players,” he said.

Quick Hits

- Scouts from the Los Angeles Rams, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans attended Tuesday’s practice. Before practice, Carolina assistant Darrell Moody, who spent nearly 20 years in the NFL, spoke to players about what scouts were looking for.

Brown reflected on a time in his career that scouts were a little harder to find on the sidelines.

“Early in my career,” he said, “We’d have to have people dress up like pro scouts to come to some of the schools I had, because we had no players and tell them, ‘Yeah, the Cardinals are over there,’ and it’s my neighbor with a hat or something.”

- Brown likes what he’s seeing from Dominique Ross at linebacker, and on third downs, he expects to cut the senior loose as a pass rusher.

“Really pleased with Dominique Ross,” Brown said. “His leadership, his attitude. He’s in great shape and I think he’s a guy as a senior that’s on a mission to get this thing fixed.

- The center position is wide open. Senior Nick Polino, who moved to left guard last season, worked all of Monday at center, while sophomore Brian Anderson and freshman Ty Murray spent time there on Tuesday.

Add us as a preferred source on Google