Time to Begin a New Era in UNC Football
This is the weekend that we’ve all been waiting for. College football is back. At 12:30 ET on Saturday afternoon, North Carolina opens the Larry Fedora era against the Elon Phoenix and all the hype and anticipation will finally come to a close. This season may not have any post season implications for the Tar Heels, but no Carolina fan will tell you that they don’t want to see the football team come away with some big wins. It may be unrealistic to ask Carolina to win every game, especially with a new system, but similar success to the past couple of seasons should give fans tons of optimism moving forward.
This game vs the Phoenix will be the first time that Fedora’s spread option offense will make its appearance in Chapel Hill. With the overall success that the spread option has brought to schools in the past, we are all on the edge of our seats to see what type of magic we can expect on the field for years to come.
We all remember Bryn Renner’s debut a season ago with many great memories. It’s been a while (and I couldn’t tell you when or if it’s ever happened for sure) since we’ve seen a quarterback not have a single pass hit the ground during an entire game. Granted, Renner did throw an interception that left his game numbers at 22-23 for 277 yards. A small price to pay in what turned out to be a 42-10 victory for Carolina.
We would all absolutely love to see Renner duplicate his performance against James Madison on Saturday, but the passing scheme and offensive game plan is a little different this time around. The game will move faster, use more of the field, and involve a lot of changing things on the fly. Renner is a smart quarterback and has great throwing ability; I like his chances to make some big plays if he’s given a good amount of time to throw and if his receivers can consistently get open.
The rest of the offense that surrounds Renner isn’t short of weapons to help Carolina ease into the transition. Erik Highsmith and Jheranie Boyd are very experienced receivers, Gio Bernard is arguably the most talented halfback in the ACC and is coming off a 1,000 yard rushing season, and the offensive line is led by an All American candidate in Jonathon Cooper. Coach Fedora should be excited to be able to install and experiment with his new offense while having an experience unit on the field. That typically makes things easier.
The defense, while having lost Quinton Coples and Zach Brown to the NFL, still is loaded with talent and experience all over the field. They’re the group I’m looking forward to seeing the most. It’s a completely new set of people (minus Reddick) that made up that dominant defense that Butch Davis had assembled a short four years ago, but to me, this group has so much potential to be just as good. You’ve got big and fast linebackers covering both sidelines, strong defensive lineman that can consistently pressure opposing quarterbacks, and a secondary that’s come of age the past two or three seasons. Elon won’t challenge the Tar Heels defensively the way that their ACC opponents will, but I fully expect the Heels to treat this team like they are.
It’s been a long time coming, but football is finally back! UNC has a new look, a new coach, a new offense, and new found swag. I know the Carolina faithful are very excited to see what it all will bring.