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Tar Heels headed in the right direction

Posted on April 14, 2011April 14, 2011 by Staff

By Eddy Landreth
Staff Writer

A year ago, more than 30,000 people filled one side of Kenan Stadium as ESPN broadcast the annual spring football game.

Saturday, maybe 8,000 came, which is better than some years and about the same as most.

What this year’s crowd witnessed was a quick exhibition that was far more a practice than a scrimmage. In fact, it all began with the team just running through the motions, with all four quarterbacks getting a chance to throw against a defense that was barely defending and not tackling.

Then there was some punting without hitting and some kickoffs in which no one was tackled. There were a few field-goal kicks as well.

When the official scrimmage did start, the difficulty was trying to discern strengths from weaknesses in an event that didn’t even have all the parts participating.

So here is what this long-time observer feels comfortable predicting.

A slimmer, quicker Ryan Houston is going to make an enormous impact on the running game, obviously, but he is also going to make life so much better for sophomore quarterback Bryn Renner. Teams will have no choice but to honor play-action or the Tar Heels can simply pound them with Houston.

“That’s a thing I’ve noticed this spring,” starting left tackle James Hurst said. “When we practice, play-action is a huge part of our game. We have a great defense, and sometimes we can still hit big play-action passes on our defense, which is huge.”

Hurst and his teammates along the offensive line are going to be as good as any of us thought, barring some unforeseen occurrences. These kids are huge, athletic and they play together. The roster at that position is deep as well.

“If there were highlights from the spring, clearly one of them has to be the improvement and development in the offensive line,” coach Butch Davis said. “It has taken several recruiting classes to build that kind of talented players and depth all at the same time.

“I think it is going to be a really good unit.”

One of the biggest questions is who will be the No. 2 quarterback. A.J. Blue is one of the finest athletes on the team and would make an excellent running back, with his tremendous athleticism and ability to make tacklers miss. But he played quarterback in high school and in prep school, and he is good at it.

Then there is left-hander Braden Hanson. Opinions differ greatly on Hanson. Personally, I think he is unorthodox at times, but he could be very productive because he finds ways to get rid of the ball with accuracy. He still throws too many interceptions, but more repetitions will help him work out those kinks.

Then there is Marquise Williams, a freshman high school All-American who enrolled this January to get a head start. He may well be the second-best quarterback on the team in time, behind Renner. The kid can throw – and when he broke free for a 42-yard touchdown run, he made it clear he can move the ball that way as well. But one has to believe the coaches would like to redshirt him and put some more distance between him and Renner.

Defensively, the line is the strength of the team. It will be dominant again. Junior college tackle Sylvester Williams was outstanding. He is going to be a hard, hard man to block. Ends Quinton Coples and Donte Paige-Moss are as dominant as advertised.

The secondary has a long ways to go. The Tar Heels’ wide receivers got excellent separation and made catches on this group all day.

Of course, when the defensive line is allowed to rush all-out and hit opposing quarterbacks as hard as they want, it will be a little easier to cover.

But there is no doubt experience is a need in the secondary. The same goes for depth at linebacker. So many of the seniors who left played at linebacker and in the secondary and started for three and four years.

Offensive coordinator John Shoop and Davis may want to run the ball more than usual early in the season while the defense finds its legs.

The most exciting part of what came out of Saturday’s scrimmage was that this program, in spite of the losses and troubles with agent payments last season, is clearly headed in the right direction on the field.

The coaching staff has recruited well. There is talent on this team. This year could be much, much better than many people around the country realize.

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