UNC’s Rucker Illustrates How One Player
Can Change Team’s Entire Defense, Season
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
In North Carolina’s three most dominating defensive performances of the season, Kaimon Rucker was among those leading the way.
In the Tar Heels’ three most embarrassing defensive collapses of the season, Rucker either barely played or didn’t play at all.
Can a single starter on an 11-man defensive unit really make that much of a difference?
Answer: clearly, in this case, yes.
“Every time there is a pass rush, Kaimon has a chance to get there. He’s that good,” UNC head coach Mack Brown said. “We lost both of those elements when we lost him, and even when we got him back (in mid-October), he was kind of careful. He didn’t have his spirit.”
The pure numbers have been striking.
In the three games (at Minnesota, at Virginia, at Florida State) when Rucker felt closest to 100 percent physically, UNC’s opponents averaged only 14 points per game. The Tar Heels limited the Golden Gophers, Cavaliers and Seminoles to only 733 yards on 171 offensive snaps, for a paltry average of less than 4.3 yards per play, and Carolina posted 22 sacks for 136 yards.
Compare and contrast those impressive, stunning statistics to what happened when Rucker, a 2023 second-team All-ACC honoree, was missing or severely limited because of a knee injury he suffered while working out in the UNC weight room during the week after the Minnesota win.
While recovering from the ensuing knee surgery, the Tar Heels’ fifth-year senior edge rusher missed four consecutive contests (Charlotte, NC Central, James Madison, Duke) and all but a handful of plays against Pittsburgh. In those five games, almost entirely without Rucker, Carolina managed a total of only 10 quarterback sacks.
Against JMU, the Tar Heels had one of the worst defensive performances in the history of their program, yielding 611 yards in an embarrassing 70-50 defeat that had many fans streaming for the Kenan Stadium exits at halftime. At Duke, the Heels coughed up a 20-0 lead in the second half and allowed the Blue Devils to post a 21-20 victory that marked the second-largest comeback in program history.
More recently, Pitt’s redshirt freshman quarterback, Eli Holstein, threw for 381 yards and three touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 76 yards and another TD in a 34-24 Panthers victory. For the second game in a row, the Tar Heels failed to register even a single sack.
“Obviously, for the past few weeks, it’s been a drought,” Rucker said, “just dealing with all the things that we’ve dealt with.”
In contrast, UNC won its season opener at Minnesota, 19-17, primarily because of its defense. The Golden Gophers managed only 244 total yards and 14 first downs, while rushing for only 79 yards on 33 attempts. Rucker, feeling mostly healthy after a tweak to his knee during August practice, had four solo tackles against Minnesota, including two tackles for loss and a sack.
With the Tar Heels trailing the Gophers 14-13 early in the fourth quarter, Rucker came up with his sack on a third-down play and forced a punt from deep in Minnesota territory. About four minutes later, UNC took a 16-14 lead on a Noah Burnette field goal.
Near the end of regulation, with UNC ahead 19-17, Minnesota drove from its own 25-yard line to the Tar Heels’ 33-yard line and hoped to get closer for a potential game-winning field goal. Rucker then stopped a running play after a short gain, forcing a challenging 47-yard field goal attempt rather than something much closer. The kick went wide right.
Against Virginia, the Carolina defense was even more dominating.
With Rucker (eight tackles, career-high three sacks, first career interception) leading the way, the Tar Heels registered 10 sacks versus the Wahoos, the program’s most in any single game since 2000.
While lining up in a variety of spots along the Carolina defensive line, Rucker posted one sack against UVa’s left tackle, one against its right tackle and one against a guard, and he grabbed his interception after dropping back from the line of scrimmage like a linebacker in pass coverage.
“Today, I could see (Rucker’s) face light up,” Brown said after the UVa win, “because he knew he was back, and that makes so much difference for us.”
“I think this was a turning point for our team, our defense,” Rucker said, “because we’re capable of doing what we did today every single game for 60 minutes, the first through the fourth quarter.”
For his performance against UVa, which helped the Tar Heels even their record at 4-4, Rucker earned defensive player of the week accolades from both the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Maxwell Football Club, which honors one defensive player nationally each week in conjunction with its Chuck Bednarik Award.
Rucker, a 6-2, 265-pound graduate student who’s on the National Football League’s radar, said he finally felt about as well as he did in the team’s opener at Minnesota.
“When you get the surgery, there’s going to be some things that mentally you have to get over, more so than a physical standpoint,” Rucker said. “So, for me, it was a mental hump to get over, because I’ve had some knee procedures in the past. But once I got over it, knowing that it’s healed, it’s been fixed, prayed over it, all these things …
“Now I’ve got to just do my job and just be me.”
Brown and UNC defensive coordinator Geoff Collins undoubtedly hoped that was the case as the Tar Heels traveled to Tallahassee on Saturday to face Florida State. The Seminoles had an all-time record of 17-3-1 against Carolina, but they were off to a disastrous 1-7 campaign, in large part because of an anemic offense that was averaging an ACC-worst 14.9 points per game.
Two of the Seminoles’ biggest problems this season had been their leaky offensive line and their truly atrocious quarterback play. Oregon State transfer (and former Clemson starter) DJ Uiagalelei struggled badly with his accuracy and decision-making during FSU’s 1-4 start before suffering a broken finger, and more recently redshirt freshman Brock Glenn and true freshman Luke Kromenhoek hadn’t fared any better.
When Rucker made life miserable for the offensive linemen and quarterbacks at Minnesota and Virginia, the Carolina defense dominated, and the Tar Heels came home with a victory both times.
At Florida State, UNC’s defensive theme of the season continued, and others joined the party. The Seminoles couldn’t throw the ball effectively, largely because of the Tar Heels’ overwhelming pass rush, and they couldn’t run it at all.
Rucker tied for the team lead in tackles with five, including one sack. With the Seminoles’ blocking scheme clearly designed to focus on Rucker, Beau Atkinson — often the end lined up on the opposite side of Carolina’s defensive line — posted 3.5 sacks for 29 yards, and FSU managed only 201 total yards.
In Tallahassee, Rucker offered yet another reminder about how one player can change the nature and caliber of a team’s defense … and perhaps even the course of the Tar Heels’ entire season.
“Our kids have bought in with total confidence – maybe for the first time since I’ve been here – on defense for the last two weeks,” Brown said Saturday. “And they totally believe in what we’re doing, and they’re doing it with confidence.”
