Carolina hoping its focus on fumbles pays off vs. Clemson

There's an art to knocking the ball loose

The North Carolina defense has spent four weeks tapping, punching and swiping away at footballs and somehow, the Tar Heels have yet to knock one loose and recover it.

“Not one, in four games,” Coach Mack Brown said. “I’ve never seen that before. So that’s something we’ve got to do, it’s something we emphasize all the time; we’ve got to strip a ball loose and get it on the ground.”

Carolina saw just how a fumble can change a game last week, when Appalachian State’s Demetrius Taylor grabbed one and took it 20 yards for a touchdown, giving the Mountaineers a lead they would never relinquish.

All three times this season the Tar Heels have forced one, the defense ended up recovering — a trend that is almost certain to change soon.

“I think it’s like that old bottle of ketchup,” defensive line coach Tim Cross said. “You’re pounding away at it, you’ve got to keep pounding, but if you really want it, you’ve got to stick with it. Once it starts to pour, it’ll pour; but we’ve got to get those first couple of drops out by banging on that ball, banging on that ball-carrier and every now and again on that ketchup, you’ve got to stick that knife in and scoop it out and get it running because I think they come in bunches.”

To the untrained eye, fumbles might appear more a matter of good luck than anything, but that’s not exactly the case. First and foremost, a defense can’t become good at knocking the ball out until it becomes a strong tackling team.

“It starts with good tackling,” Cross said. “You make a good solid form tackle, then you get some more hunters to the ball and everybody starts hunting.”

Hunters wanted

Linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen doesn’t need to remember the best hunter he’s coached. It was A.J. Johnson back when he was at Tennessee, who forced three fumbles and recovered them all.

Johnson was known in practice for effort in practice — even non-contact drills — in running down offensive players to take a shot at the ball.

In Thigpen’s mind, defensive players have a better shot at making one happen outside the tackle box.

“In space, those are the good ones,” he said. “In space those are the ones they don’t see … if you’re hustling to the ball and running to the football, good things will happen and that gives you more incentive to run and hustle to the ball because I can always put myself in position to get those strip fumbles.”

The ideal scenario is when a running back or receiver is running with the ball in space and eyeing one approaching defender while another swoops in to take a shot at an unprotected football.

“When you’re coming from the blind side, you can use a punch or you can use an uppercut on the ball,” he said. “Since he doesn’t see you, you can come in and put your eyes on the ball and punch it out, or from the other side, you can uppercut it out.”

Linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel agreed.

“If there’s a play leaking out on the sideline or a defender is looking at another player and trying to stiff arm, absolutely, I’m trying to look to see if I can get the ball out,” he said.

Picking your spots

Often, Gemmel and his fellow linebackers aren’t focused on knocking the ball out at the line of scrimmage.

“For backers, it’s not always the perfect time to go after ball,” he said. “When you’re meeting a running back one-on-one in the hole, you’re not really thinking about swiping at the ball; you’re thinking about making that tackle.”

That changes when several Tar Heel defenders are able to stop a running back at the line, and if only for a second, someone has am open shot at the ball.

But that’s if — and only if — there’s no way the runner is escaping.

“Guys gotta wrap up and hold him up and the second and third guys that come in try to rip that ball out,” Cross said. “What happens so often, the reason you get missed tackles is because the first guy there goes for the ball before he secures the tackle.”

And when he’s wrapped up?

It’s certainly not a matter of chance. In fact, it might be one of the smallest details in the game.

“First guy holds him up, next guy comes in and pries the fingertips away from the ball,” Thigpen said.

Detailed, but not gentle. Think pulling the string to start a power tool.

“Start the lawnmower and pry the fingers,” Thigpen said.

City ball, country ball

So, what happens when there’s one finally on the ground?

That depends on where it’s located, with defensive coordinator Jay Bateman using the terms “city ball” and “country ball.”

A city ball is one in the highly-populated area around the line of scrimmage, while a country ball is one rolling in the backfield, like the one Taylor took to the house for App State.

“If you’re playing country ball and that joker’s rolling and ain’t nobody around you, scoop that thing like a shortstop, tuck it away and let’s get ghost,” Cross said. “Maybe all my guys might not need to do that.”

Defenders in a crowd or offensive players shouldn’t be looking to do anything besides recover it.

“If it’s in the fray in there or our side of the ball, get on it,” Cross said. “When in doubt, get on it.”

Challenge or opportunity

The clear link in Carolina’s inability to force and recover fumbles starts with tackling, as the Tar Heels have been inconsistent with their ability to wrap up and finish plays.

“Well, when you’re fighting to get to the ball and fighting to hang on and make a tackle, you’re usually not thinking about stripping,” Brown said.

Given Clemson’s embarrassment of riches at the skill positions means the Tigers will almost certainly create more opportunities for their offense in space.

With the challenge of bringing them down, also comes the opportunity to create more havoc in what the Tar Heels believe is the best situation to cause a fumble, and maybe, finally recover one.

“Lots of space, so it’s a good chance for us to hustle to the ball and slide into their blind spots,” Thigpen said.