UNC Football Preview: Offensive line

Our UNC Football previews for the 2019 season continue with the offensive line position

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The North Carolina football program had a miserable 2018-19 season, finishing with a record of just 2-9 under former head coach Larry Fedora. One of the few bright spots for the Tar Heels last season was their offensive line.

A unit that featured the junior trio of William Sweet, Charlie Heck and Nick Polino, the North Carolina offensive line allowed just 10 sacks last season, good for seventh-best in Division I football. Some of that was probably thanks to the quick-strike, short pass offense that Fedora employed during his seven years at UNC, but take nothing away from an offensive line that performed admirably throughout an otherwise dreadful season.

That was, however, with an entirely different coaching staff and scheme, as former UNC head coach and 2005 national champion Mack Brown has returned to Chapel Hill to assume control of a Tar Heel football program that had completely lost its way. The Tar Heels will now take aim at topping the three-win total for the first time since 2016.

What we know

Not only are things going to look a lot different on the UNC sideline this season, but changes will also be present on the Tar Heels’ offensive line. Sweet, a first team All-ACC performer last year according to Pro Football Focus, left North Carolina for the NFL following his junior season in Chapel Hill.

Also gone from the Tar Heels in 2019 is center Jay-Jay McCargo, who announced his early retirement from football due to medical reasons. As a sophomore, McCargo was moved to the guard position while battling through a nagging hand injury that now appears to have played a part in his choice to walk away from football.

The Tar Heels will also employ a new game play under offensive coordinator Phil Longo this season. Longo’s Air Raid offense will spread out the Tar Heels’ offensive line, creating bigger holes for pass rushers to get into the UNC back field. It does, however, force edge rushers to cover a greater distance to get to the quarterback, making sacks from opposing defensive ends much tougher to achieve.

Key Players

Charlie Heck and Nick Polino are the two returning starters on the Tar Heels’ offensive line. They combine for 35 of the line’s 36 starts, and easily bring the most experience to the group. 22 of those starts come from Heck, who spent all of last season at the right tackle position protecting lefty Nathan Elliott’s blind side. Heck is expected to switch over to left tackle this season, protecting the blind side of whichever quarterback wins the starting job — a role we think will be filled by newcomer Sam Howell.

Outlook

Thanks, in part, to the experience and leadership that Heck and Polino bring to the Tar Heels’ offensive line, North Carolina should have a pretty solid group protecting the quarterback and creating holes for the run game in 2019.

Early reports indicate that multiple members of the offensive line have lost weight since last season. This should help them function more adequately in the Air Raid offense that requires a quicker, more agile player than in years past.

Stacy Searels joins the Tar Heels this season as offensive line coach, and with him he brings a lot of experience and knowledge. He didn’t have a successful three-year stint with the Miami Hurricanes, but his record prior to that speaks for itself. Look for Searels to pick up where he left off in a handful of his previous coaching stops, helping the young North Carolina offensive line gel in what Mack Brown and the Tar Heels hope will be a successful turnaround season.

Depth Chart

LT – Charlie Heck

LG – Ed Montilus

C – Nick Polino

RG – Joshua Ezeudu

RT – Jordan Tucker