Early in August, North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown emphasized that kicks and punts were to be a competition in every practice:
Noah Burnett and Jonathan Kim are competing every kick. And the one that makes the most kicks is kicking. We don’t care. Cole Maynard and Ben Kiernan are punting every punt, and we’re demanding that it be four-second hangtime. We’re demanding it be 40-plus yards. And we’re demanding it be beyond the numbers or into the boundary. And we’re putting the one out there to punt does that more than not.