BE THE ONE
KENAN ON
GAME DAY There are a host of improvements in and around Kenan Stadium for 2019
BY ANDREW STILWELL // PHOTOS BY J. RYAN MONTGOMERY & CAROLINA FOOTBALL
F
ans who enter Kenan Stadium for a football game this upcoming season might notice something new about the playing surface “between the pines.” Or, according to UNC’s Director of Athletic Grounds and Turf Management Casey Carrick, they might not. “I think aesthetically, everyone’s going to come into the stadium and there will be a lot of people who won’t notice we’ve changed it out at all,” Carrick said on UNC’s new “synthetic grass” football field, which will make its gameday debut on Saturday, September 7 as UNC hosts Miami. “On a gameday, it was always painted up and ready, and that’s what it will look like now.” The synthetic grass football field in Kenan Stadium, a product manufactured by Astroturf, and featuring a 2.5-inch “blade of grass” and infill of sand and rubber, is an identical playing surface to two of the three practice fields installed as part of the new football practice complex. For Carrick, the consistency of the installed turf was important, both from a practice and player safety standpoint. “We wanted to put the same turf in (at Kenan Stadium) as the practice field, so it’s consistent,” he said. “If the team is on the practice field outdoors one day, and indoors the next, it will feel the exact same to the players. We didn’t want the guys to feel like there was a difference from one field to the other. “We looked at many different options and made sure we were putting a safe synthetic product in,” Carrick continued. “I think with the rubber and sand combination percentage, along with a Brock power base, which helps with shock absorption and head impact and is underneath all three synthetic fields, we’ve made this field as safe as a field as we can put in.” However, just because the grass stays a consistent length, doesn’t mean there isn’t maintenance involved with the new fields. “With a grass field, we’re mowing, fertilizing, irrigating, things like that. We were painting the field every game week to get it ready for Saturday,” Carrick said. “With the synthetic grass, the lines are inlayed, it always looks painted up and ready to go. We do groom it. We check the infill levels. It’s a little less maintenance, but it’s definitely different maintenance than what we were doing with a grass field.” Rick Steinbacher, UNC’s senior associate athletic director for capital projects and facilities, is hopeful that the synthetic playing field will also result in advantages for Carolina football, both on and off the field. “You have a better speed advantage on synthetic grass as opposed to natural grass,” Steinbacher said. “We hope to be able to recruit incredibly well and have a team that benefits from that speed advantage on most days. Recruiting happens 365 days a year now, so having a field that looks game ready every single day is really, really cool. The field might look a little different on gamedays than fans are used to, but it will look different in a really positive way.” A new playing surface isn’t all that’s benefitting the football program as it heads into the 2019 season. There
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BORN & BRED
