Kaimon Rucker: "We want to be the best defense in college football"

The UNC football program participated in the annual ACC Kickoff on Thursday. A handful of current Tar Heels, along with head coach Mack Brown, took some time to speak to the media ahead of the upcoming 2024 season.

Star defensive end Kaimon Rucker was among the Tar Heels' representatives in Charlotte, as the fifth-year graduate student has big plans before his time in Chapel Hill comes to a close.

Rucker was asked about the differences he's noticed since new defensive coordinator Geoff Collins took over this offseason. The Hartwell, Georgia native believes it's a whole new mentality for the UNC football program's defensive unit.

"For starters, man, I feel like day one when he hit the room, he set a standard for us. I feel in the past, haven't really set a standard for the defense. Doesn't matter what conference you're in, what opponents you're facing the next week, everybody has their own little thing. The thing is with us, we didn't never established a standard, we ain't never established a bar that we need to jump over, go over. I feel like the bar he set on day one is we want to be the best defense in college football. From that day forward, that has been the mantra of our defense the entire time. Doesn't matter if it's winter workouts, summer workouts, conditioning, fall camp.

That's something we need to hang our hat on. That is something we need to firmly believe in if we want to be the defense we need be, the best one in college football. We need to be the defense everybody talks about, not because of how many rushing or passing yards we gave up, or how we performed in the past five years. We need to be talk about because of what we can do, the talent we have in our defense, the hard work and determination we with the guys on our side. If we can do that, we can genuinely be the best defense in college football."

We all are well-aware of the UNC football program's struggles on the defensive side of the football over the last couple of seasons, but Rucker believes that this new mentality will help the unit improve this upcoming year. He mentioned how Collins has set the standard for them from day one, something that Rucker feels was lacking during his previous seasons with the program.

Of course, every team aspires to be the best on both sides of the football year in and year out. The question remains: can this unit improve under this new mentality that Geoff Collins has brought into the mix, or are we in line for another season of defensive woes?

If Rucker has anything to say about it, this unit will be a much improved one for his final season on campus.