One of the easiest ways to measure the quality of a defensive line is to look at its numbers against the rush. In 2012, a defensive front led by future NFL draftees Sylvester Williams and Kareem Martin finished 25th in that category, yielding 3.6 yards per rush attempt.
Since that year (Larry Fedora’s first) the Heels have had exactly two seasons in which they finished in the top 80 in the country— topping out twice around 65th, perfectly average. More often than not, however, they found themselves outside of the top 100, culminated by allowing 5.