University of North Carolina football linebacker Peyton Seelmann said he has never seen Xavier Lewis complain about anything. The sophomore defensive lineman, Lewis, is one of the “nicest guys on the team,” Seelmann said. He just does his work, doesn’t whine.
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But as Lewis showed with 2 sacks in the season opener against TCU on Aug. 29 in Dublin, Ireland, that niceness wears off come gametime. Because if there were any questions whether he would be the Tar Heels’ defensive star against a lighter opponent, winning 35-3 over East Tennessee State University, Lewis made it clear with one sequence before the half.
The first of his two sacks was a result of being unblocked. Lewis burst through the line, in part due to the Buccaneers increased focus on edge rusher Jaylen Harvey. After Lewis brought down quarterback Mason Mims in the backfield, ETSU had to burn its final timeout with 13 seconds left. That, effectively, ended the half. But Lewis came through again and ended it for good.
“He’s a stud,” Seelmann said about Lewis after the game. “ … Good ball player.”
Just two plays after his first one, Lewis ripped inside on a second effort and exploded at Mims for his second sack of the drive. UNC used a timeout to try to make ETSU punt it back to it, but Mims just airmailed a pass to run out the clock on a 21-0 Tar Heels lead before halftime. So Lewis threw the last punch, but after a slow start, it was clear the UNC pass rush started to wear on the Buccaneers.
Because even without Melkart Abou Jaoude — who was not in uniform and wearing a cast/brace on his right hand/arm and coach Bill Belichick said remains “day to day” — the Tar Heels have proven in the first two weeks of the season that they have more than enough options to get after the quarterback.
In rewatching UNC’s pass-rush sets, that depth stands out — but so does the at times overwhelming speed of its top options to get to the quarterback. They didn’t always get penetration, but when they did, the Tar Heels’ most dynamic rushers excelled at finishing against ETSU.
“I mean, it’s just good team defense,” Belichick said. “One guy can’t stop an offense … Those guys made good plays, don’t get me wrong.”
Belichick got far more than 11 to contribute on that side of the ball, too. The Tar Heels played 35 players on defense and 27 of them got at least 10 snaps. The usual contributors were impactful, per PFF: nose tackle Isaiah Johnson had a 87.2 defensive grade, Lewis trailed just behind with an 87.1 grade, followed by Leroy Jackson with a 79. Those were the second-, third- and fourth-best grades on the defense, all on the defensive line. All three, especially Lewis, made notable contributions against TCU.
Harvey was in the mix against the Horned Frogs with three pressures, a quarterback hit and two hurries, per PFF. But he didn’t finish any plays, drawing the attention that Lewis did. Against ETSU he quickly proved to be a problem for opposing blockers. The sophomore Penn State transfer finished with 2 sacks, while compiling four pressures and two hurries to lead all Tar Heels defenders with a 89.2 grade per PFF.
And a lot of his production came in bunches. Same as it happened against TCU, UNC has seemingly had an impact on teams as games wore on. The Buccaneers early-game script saw them attacking the outside frequently, allowing Mims to get rid of the ball quickly. And even in straight dropbacks, UNC didn’t always prevent the quarterback from making a play. But a few plays, Harvey’s closing speed made Mims frantic.
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Harvey’s first big play, on third down of ETSU, he faked outside and ripped inside for a straight shot at Mims. Harvey didn’t quite get a hit on Mims, but it didn’t matter. Mims threw a pass right into the arms of the diving UNC defensive back Greg Smith.
Lewis has won with great speed after winning his initial rush, yet with Harvey, he got by so fast he didn’t need to win much. He was just faster. On his first sack, he started on the outside, disengaged and then sprinted at the A-gap between the center and the right guard and had a free shot at Mims to finish. It turned an obvious scoring opportunity for ETSU into an eventual missed field goal with 8:11 left in the second quarter.
Harvey’s best sequence didn’t come until around four minutes later. Harvey started in an upright position for his second sack, and made an incredible break on the snap, getting by the left tackle before he even had the opportunity to get up out of his stance. He got in a three-point stance the next time, and beat the left tackle exactly the same to put a hit on the quarterback as Mims just got it out in time for a short gain.
“He’s really explosive,” Seelmann said. “That dude’s probably one of the freakiest athletes I’ve ever been around. He’s just really explosive, and he just gets out to the quarterback a bunch.”
ACC network game analyst and former Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson noted it on the broadcast: ETSU could not single-block Harvey. They hardly could get a hand on him before getting into the backfield the last two reps. So, they had to adjust, and that led to pressure from the interior. ETSU had to punt again.
That’s the danger that UNC has shown with its pass rush. With Abou Jaoude back in the lineup, it has multiple options for both size and speed on both the interior and on the edges. Though a matchup with ETSU is hardly a measuring stick for how they will fare against ACC opponents, the Tar Heels have had no trouble creating pressure thus far, ranking second in the conference with seven sacks so far.
After the weather delay, Belichick made the decision against rewarming a large group that was on the field previously, which led to more players entering the game for a few snaps. UNC started to get a new defensive group on the field on ETSU’s last drive of the third quarter, with UNC up 35-0 at that point before the weather delay. And it went similarly to how things were trending earlier with the first group.
Junior defensive lineman Joseph Mupoyi (who played 24 snaps in his first appearance for UNC) got pressure on second down and sophomore Timir Hickman-Collins (18 snaps) got pressure on third down, forcing Mims to lead a receiver out of bounds. It would be another punt for the Buccaneers.
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By nature of the game, the Tar Heels got to show a bit more of their depth.