Spotlight #1: North Carolina DE Quinton Coples

Spotlight #2: North Carolina WR Dwight Jones 

1^st quarter

14:14: Coples with a nice swim move to the inside, the run play goes outside, however.

13:45: Coples gets around his man, but the quarterback rolls out to the opposite side.

13:40: Coples into backfield unblocked, but gives a weak effort in chase of the ball carrier.

13:01: Coples disengages nicely from a double team, gives quarterback chase on a rollout.

11:04: Donte Paige-Moss (DPM) in on a few plays, clear passing downs, two nice plays against the run actually, disengages and wraps up twice when run at. North Carolina has so many good defensive ends, that DPM, once a projected 2012 1^st round pick, has been relegated to nickel work in favor of Kareem Martin, a potential 2013 top 10 pick, opposite Quinton Coples. This has obviously hurt his stock, but he has another year of eligibility and he is really talented. He could be a top 15 pick in 2013 should he return and play well as a senior. Run play is his weakness at 255 pounds, but it’s good to see him do well against the run here. He’s also a hell of a pass rusher.

9:30: Jones is covered with bracket coverage, but he still catches a ball in stride for a 31 yard gain. He could have scored, but just stepped out. Smooth hands, good size, good catch in stride. Nice play.

7:21: Coples run at, but he gets a tackle for a short gain.

5:46: Coples doubled, but he’s still able to disengage and get in on a short tackle. Coples has been doubled a lot tonight, even with all the talent North Carolina has on their line. Louisville has also run several roll outs opposite him. They’re afraid of him.

5:17: Another roll out away from Coples. Exactly my point, they’re afraid of him.

2^nd quarter

14:55: Coples ties up a blocker on a linebacker blitz by zach Brown, another first round prospect on North Carolina’s excellent defense. Brown hits the quarterback as he throws for an incompletion.

13:16: Coples disengages from another block with a spin, gets in on a tackle for a short gain.

11:39: Coples off the edge fast and helps stuff a guy running up the middle from behind on 4^th and 1, failed 4^th down conversion by Louisville.

10:54: Coples disengages from a block and gets in on a tackle for a loss of 3. I know it’s just Louisville, but they haven’t been able to block him at all today, even with doubles.

7:27: Coples run at again, short gain. He’s a stud, completely dominating against the run.

6:50: Coples gets around his man on a speed rush, but again, it’s a rollout away from him.

6:16: Coples draws a hold, gets free anyway, puts a big hit on the ball carrier in the backfield, but the tackle is somehow broken. The hit is big enough to slow him for someone else to come in and stop him for a 4 yard loss.

5:06: Zach Brown drops in coverage like a defensive back and gets a huge pick in field goal range.

2:16: Jones targeted, way inaccurate high. North Carolina’s offense has barely been on the field tonight and when they have, they haven’t moved the ball well with the exception of that one play to Jones for 31.

1:29: Same old, same old. They run at Coples again and again he’s stuffed for a short gain. He’s not going to show up on the stat sheet as having a lot of tackles for a loss, but stuffing guys for 1 or 2 yards is almost as good and he has does that on seemingly every other play tonight.

0:53: Coples has a run go to a gap to his left, disengages quickly and dives, but can’t quite get the tackle. Still a very nice effort.

0:29: Coples well blocked in pass protection, one of the few times today.

0:17: Coples jumps early, false start penalty.

3^rd quarter

13:34: Jones over the middle on 3^rd and 6, can’t quite yet the first because of a nice tackle from behind.

11:32: Coples with a strong rush to the quarterback, but falls near the end of the play.

10:06: Jones converts this first down with a nice inside move within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage off of the defensive back, could have turned into a big play if not for a nice open field tackle.

8:50: Sophomore Marcus Smith with his 2^nd sack of the game for Louisville.

5:41: Coples lines up inside here, takes on blocks and allows the defensive end to get free for a quarterback pressure.

4:12: Marcus Smith with his 3^rd sack of the night. He was unblocked and the quarterback rolled right into it. Smith is only a sophomore, but he now has 3 sacks on the season. Louisville is a young team with a lot of guys who could be future draft picks. Smith could be one of them. He looks good.

1:42: DPM gets into the backfield, misses a tackle.

0:13: Coples blows off the snap, cannot be blocked, excellent in chase, helps force the quarterback out of bounds for a loss on 3^rd and 8.

4^th quarter

12:21: Jones on a deep route, blows past a defensive back, comes back for an underthrown deep ball , plucks it out of the air with a man covering, breaks a tackle with pure power, with two guys trying to break him down. A very impressive play. First he dragged the two guys a few yards, then he broke free and run towards the end zone.

12:10: DPM draws a hold, gets into the backfield for a quarterback pressure anyway.

11:19: DPM disengages from a block with great quickness, gets a tackle for a short gain. He’s held up better against the run in limited action today than he has in the past.

10:26: DPM forces another hold, this time against a double team. He hasn’t played a lot today, but he’s definitely flashed when he’s played. I really hope he doesn’t do something stupid like declare this year and returns so we can have a full year of tape on him as a starter in 2012. He could be a top 15 pick in the 2013 NFL Draft,

6:35: Coples gets into the backfield on a running play again. No tackle here, but the North Carolina defensive line is able to get a tackle for loss.

5:40: Coples beats double again and gets in the quarterback’s face during a pass.

2:29: Coples around the edge, gets to the quarterback on a 3 man rush, but the quarterback does a good job of stepping up, moving away, and getting the ball off before Coples can catch up in pursuit.

2:15: Coples pancaked on a double team.

1:47: DPM in for Coples, again looking good pushing his man back with his hands, strong.

1:28: DPM with a quarterback pressure.

1:16: DPM with another quarterback pressure.

1:02: Coples back, gets back into the back field, combines to flush the quarterback from the pocket.

0:42: Coples blows past his man, hits the quarterback, who breaks the tackle with a spin.

0:00: I know it was just Louisville, but Coples looked awesome. At the very least, he didn’t do anything to hurt his standing as a top 5 pick. He’s not a Robert Quinn type, but he’s more of a Mario Williams type (6-6 285 4.7) excellent against the run, above average as a pass rusher. He didn’t fill the stat sheet, without a sack, and with only a half tackle for loss, but there’s are reasons for this.

For one, Coples was frequently double teamed. Louisville also frequently rolled out away from him, not allowing him to get any sacks. He was, however, frequently in the backfield and got consistent pressure on the quarterback. While he didn’t have a ton of tackles for loss, he did have a lot of tackles for a short gain. Louisville averaged less than 3 yards per carry in this game and Coples is a big part of the reason for that. He couldn’t be blocked and frequently disengaged in a timely manner when run at. I don’t know why they ran at him so much. I would like to see him against tougher competition, but I will be watching North Carolina/Miami next week so that should be a tougher test.

Also, though I wasn’t spotlighting Donte Paige-Moss, he had a great game. I was able to watch him a lot because he came in for Coples often on clear passing downs. That’s not a knock against Coples. That just says he’s the 3^rd best pass rusher on his team and on North Carolina, that’s not a bad thing. DPM and Kareem Martin could be top 15 picks in 2013, specializing in rushing the passer. Besides, Coples is an elite run stuffer for his position. He also can’t move inside on passing downs that much because North Carolina has a pair of future NFL players at defensive tackle as well.

Anyway, Moss looked great in both pass rush and, surprisingly, run stuffing. At 6-4 255, he’s not a great run stuffer and that’s why he’s become a situational player for North Carolina. However, he’s still a very talented player and if he returns for next season, he will start opposite Martin and both could become top 15 picks. I can’t wait to spotlight him next season. Martin too, though I wasn’t able to see much of him tonight, focusing more on Coples and, when he came in the game for him, Donte Paige-Moss.

Going to the offensive side of the ball, Dwight Jones had 4 catches for 91 yards and a score. That’s pretty impressive considering North Carolina completed just 12 passes for 178 yards and that score. I have no idea why he’s not getting first round consideration. He’s a beast at 6-5 230 and he has everything you like in a receiver, good hands, good speed, excellent size, instincts, route running, etc.

In 6 games this season, he has 37 catches for 605 yards and 7 touchdowns. North Carolina has 100 completions for 1341 yards and 12 scores this year. He’s 15^th in the FBS in yards, 3^rd in touchdowns. I know he hasn’t played the toughest schedule this year, but he had a great game against Virginia and Chase Minnifield (5/85/1), a potential first round pick. Also, he’s consistent, no fewer than 85 yards in a game this year. He had 62 catches for 946 yards and 4 scores last year. I can’t understand why he isn’t a first round prospect, but he’ll be one here, provided he keeps this up.