Having depth in college football is always a good thing, but it's not the end-all, be-all. Many of the top teams in the country still run out the same guys week in and week out, believing their star power will win them games.
North Carolina and Bill Belichick have to take a somewhat different approach. Not to say that North Carolina doesn't have an above-average team that has a chance to be competitive and win against some decent squads in the ACC.
It already proved that against TCU, winning 15-10 in the first week of the regular season. As for his depth, Belichick is very excited about what he's built in that regard. He added that because of some of the competition in training camp this offseason, he feels like he can count on multiple guys to come out and make an impact for his team.
“You can never have too many players," Belichick said. "Sometimes, in September, you look at your depth and think “Oh, we’ve got a lot here.”
"You get to the middle of October and November and you don’t have any depth. It can change in a hurry. We’re fortunate that we have that kind of competition, those kinds of players at that position. Hopefully, we’ll have them for a long time. Depth can be very fragile in football. You’re always a couple plays away from not having it. We’re glad we have it now, we’ll keep using it and hopefully, we can keep it that way.”
I don't hate this idea from Belichick, but I also have questions about how he wants to keep using it when games get a lot tougher.
Depth is always a good thing, and having fresh guys on the field who are ready to go should be viewed as a positive, but I don't want him to get too creative in this regard. When the big boys need to step up, that's exactly how this thing should go.
With ACC set to begin, the Tar Heels really need their top guys on point. The depth will help, but I hope Belichick remembers that.
