Linebacker was Carolina's biggest concern in the preseason. Now, the Heels have several good options

To say that things weren’t ideal would be an understatement for North Carolina’s situation at inside linebacker in the season-opener vs. South Carolina.

On one side was a quarterback-turned-linebacker playing his first game at the position since early in his high school career in Chazz Surratt, and on the other, Jeremiah Gemmel had one tackle in 2018 as he redshirted as a freshman.

“It was our thinnest and weakest position when we started,” Coach Mack Brown said on Wednesday.

Not only did Gemmel and Surratt weather the storm, but both have thrived in the first significant action of their careers in the position as Surratt led the Tar Heels with 12 tackles to go along with a sack, a breakup and a hurry vs. the Gamecocks while Gemmel tallied 14 stops against Miami in addition to a hurry.

“Chazz Surratt has come faster than, I think, anybody I’ve ever seen in the transition from quarterback to linebacker,” Brown said. “He’s played lights-out two weeks in a row.”

Good as the two have been, that doesn’t mean Brown is excited to finally have the group getting closer to full-strength as Dominique Ross, who was suspended in the opener, gets up to speed while Jonathan Smith returns on Friday night vs. Wake Forest after serving a two-game suspension.

“I think we’re going to be rotating a lot this week and the upcoming weeks to keep everybody’s legs fresh,” Gemmel said.

Smith, a senior from Laurinburg, has played in 24 games with 31 tackles and one fumble recovery for a touchdown.

“We’re deeper at linebacker than we’ve been since we’ve been here,” Brown said. “It’s exciting to get John back; he’s worked really hard. He was on our scout team for the first two weeks and he wasn’t even here this spring, so he’s got a lot of catching up to do.

“I’m really excited about the possibility of that position getting better.”

Building depth at the position is a necessity thanks to what defensive coordinator Jay Bateman needs with his inside linebackers in the 3-4, with more traditional pass-rush responsibilities than the position in the 4-3, but still maintaining the athleticism to drop into coverage.

So far, coaches like Ross’ potential to cause havoc as a pass-rusher particularly with Aaron Crawford and Jason Strowbridge altering protections to create one-on-one matchups.

Ross had an impact on Saturday vs. the Hurricanes with five tackles and two hurries, but Bateman was hoping he’d be able to get him more involved.

“I think he’s got a really, really good skillset on the edge, and credit to Miami, they did a good job of kind of keeping us out of some of that with some formations and some personnel groupings,” he said.

That's a priority moving forward because although Carolina is tied with several teams for 16th nationally with seven sacks, Brown feels like his defense could be even better.

"We've got to get more pressure on the passer," he said. "We had three sacks Saturday night, but we also let him stand back there too long and let him escape and get out too much."

Meanwhile, Gemmel leads the Tar Heels with 19 tackles, despite lacking some of the physical gifts of the other linebackers at 6-1, 228 pounds.

With Gemmel's potential to grow in the weight room, Brown is excited about his future.

“Jeremiah’s got great instincts at linebacker and he’s real fast,” he said. “He’s a guy that needs to get stronger, needs to get bigger, because we’re using him a lot to blitz and try to penetrate and get some tackles for loss … he’s real smart, he plays real hard, so I’ve been really pleased with him.”

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