Melkart Abou Jaoude Taking Charge Up Front For UNC Defense

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Melkart Abou Jaoude’s two-sack performance in the Tar Heels’ 27-10 win at Syracuse earned him the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Week award, an accolade further reflecting his productive season on North Carolina’s defense.

Abou Jaoude’s recent run of five sacks in two weeks has him atop the ACC with seven sacks so far this season. Beau Atkinson led North Carolina in sacks last season with 7.5 in 13 games. For Abou Jaoude, he’s just doing his part within the scheme.

“You can get in a groove, but sacks are team stats,” Abou Jaoude said after Friday’s win. “If I’m in a groove and the DBs aren’t covering them, there’s not a sack. So it’s a team stat, and the DBs are doing a great job covering, and we’re just winning our rushes.”

Abou Jaoude, who transferred in from Delaware last offseason, secured a career-high three sacks two weeks ago against Virginia. He’s had two or more sacks in three games this year. The last time a North Carolina player reached double-digit sacks in a season was Kareem Martin in 2013, when he finished with 11.5.

The 6-foot-5 Abou Jaoude has hawked down quarterbacks using his speed off the edge and relentless pursuit. Even when he doesn’t bring quarterbacks down, he forces them into quick decisions. Pro Football Focus credits Abou Jaoude with 14 hurries, the most on the team. His teammates and coaches credit him for his infectious work ethic, which is evident each time he enters the facility.

“It’s no surprise that Melkart is balling out on the field,” Khmori House said. “He comes to work every day. He’s a professional. He comes to the building, works his tail off, and it’s showing on the field. So what we do on Saturdays and Fridays and even Mondays, it just shows what we’ve been doing every other day through the week. Melkart is a great player, and he’s going to continue to ball out.”

North Carolina’s defensive line has been collectively more effective in the last four weeks. The defense has produced 26 tackles for losses and 14 sacks in that span. UNC’s defense — excluding Syracuse’s touchdown return on a fumble — has held teams to 13.7 points per game the last three games.

“For our defensive line, it’s very much of a ‘do your job’ mentality,” Belichick said. “You don’t know if the play is going to come to me or come to you. If we’re in position, it’ll come to one of us. But that’s not something we control. That happens with where the runner decides to enter, or in some cases, where the quarterback ends up throwing the ball from. So it’s really about playing good team defense, making sure that each player takes care of his responsibility.

“Sometimes, the plays just sort of come to that person. And the next week, or a couple weeks later, it might come to somebody else. That’s really a little bit unpredictable, but I would say overall, as a group, the defensive line has worked well together and improved every week.”

North Carolina’s defeat of Syracuse snapped a four-game losing streak and secured the Tar Heels’ first ACC victory of the season. UNC hosts Stanford on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., seeking to build on a much-needed win.

Abou Jaoude turned in a game-changing performance against the Orange over the weekend. Now, he hopes the team as a whole can continue to see improvements in practice translate into wins.

“Last week they asked me, ‘How does (getting sacks) feel?’” Abou Jaoude said on Friday. “I said, ‘Good, but wins feel a lot better.’ So happy to get the win (against Syracuse) and keep building on that.”