Khmori House Showing Growth As Starter For UNC's Defense

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Khmori House joined the Tar Heels as a transfer with just one year of experience under his belt, but he spent that year with North Carolina defensive coordinator Steve Belchick at Washington. And after nine games this year, House leads the Tar Heels in tackles.

House is up to 59 tackles for UNC after recording a career-high 13 tackles in the team’s 20-15 win against Stanford on Saturday. House also backpedaled into an interception on Elijah Brown, giving him the second interception of his career and first of the season. House earned the ACC Linebacker of the Week award for his efforts.

Bill Belichick credited House for always being engaged in practice and being a vocal leader in games.

“Khmori brings a lot to the program, both on and off the field,” Belichick said on Tuesday. “He’s vocal, but in a good way. When you’re the middle linebacker, you have to communicate things to the front, to the linebackers on your level, adjustments that you make, and sometimes the entire secondary, in terms of the play call or an adjustment against certain formations or no huddle and things like that. So those communication skills are really good.

“Khmori loves football. He’s very engaged. Asks questions, asks good questions. Wants to improve, wants to be better, works hard… He doesn’t have a lot of experience in two years of playing, he’s played a lot of football, but not as much as guys who’ve played four or five years. He performs and acts and carries himself like he has played more than he really has. So he’s a very mature kid. It’s impressive.”

House has taken the most snaps for North Carolina’s defense this season at 558, according to Pro Football Focus. He played 317 snaps last season as a freshman at Washington.

House spoke in September about taking on a bigger workload, as he’s received more reps in practice as the first-team linebacker. 

“I’ve learned a lot just learning how to go about a full game,” House said in September. “At Washington, I didn’t start from start to finish in most games. So now, I’m just learning how to go through a full game, being poised throughout each game. I’m learning to be a starting linebacker on a team this year. It’s a great gift, I’m blessed to be in this position and I’m ready to take it on head first.”

House played high school football at Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco. In his lone year at Washington, he produced 33 tackles, four pass deflections, a fumble recovery and an interception.

The 6-foot, 215-pound linebacker isn’t the most physically imposing at first glance, but Belichick feels that he produces beyond his stature.

“He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s explosive for his size,” Belichick said. “He plays bigger than the weight that he’s at. He plays strong, plays explosive and he can run well. He’s got a really good skill set. He’s a good blitzer, he’s a good tackler, he can cover a lot of ground. And he’s a smart, instinctive player.”

House starts alongside senior Andrew Simpson, formerly a linebacker at Boise State, in the middle of UNC’s defense. Simpson is second on the team with 44 tackles. The team also cycles in Mikai Gbayor, who transferred to UNC after two years at Nebraska.

Simpson said the linebacker unit came together during the team’s losing streak to try to get things straightened out and correct course. The UNC defense has shown collective improvement in the last four weeks, recording 21 sacks, forcing four turnovers and holding teams to an average of 256.3 yards of total offense. The defense hasn’t allowed more than 21 points in its last four games.

Simpson said he and House have taken a step forward in their communication. He added that House continually brings the right approach to the game and strives for improvement.

“He comes into work every single day, and he’s excited to get better and continue to lead this group of guys,” Simpson said on Thursday. “And just learning the defense every single day more and more, finding the small intricacies that he can see, that I can see. And that’s just helping each other try and get better, and just learning from our past failures, past things that we did well and just trying to just continue to be the best version of ourselves we can be.”