Via Inside Carolina:
University of North Carolina sophomore quarterback T.J. Yates sustained an injury to his left ankle during Saturday’s game vs. Virginia Tech. Although x-rays taken during the game were negative, an MRI Sunday evening revealed a small non-displaced fracture in his ankle. Yates’ injury will not require surgery. He is expected to miss a minimum of six weeks. During that time he will undergo treatment and rehabilitation. His status will be re-evaluated after six weeks.
UNC has a bye week November 2nd and then plays Georgia Tech on the 8th. So if he can come back, that is an ideal situation. Until then it will be Mike Paulus or Cam Sexton if Paulus plays like he did against Virginia Tech.
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My head hurts….
I think we need to have faith in Mike. He was recruited as a 4-star QB out of high school. He was recruited to be a starter, and he would be if not for Yates’ performance. He’s still a pocket QB with a good arm, so unlike Sexton he fits into the offense right away. Paulus got a lot of snaps with the first team while Yates was recovering from offseason surgery.
If there is any backup QB in the ACC ready to step directly into the fire (other than maybe Willy Korn), it’s probably Paulus. Yes, losing Yates hurts, but have faith. Our QB situation could be a lot worse.
We could have a Glennon brother in our depth chart, for example.
THM,
I’m all for having faith, and though you raise some valid points, my glass is half-empty in regard to Paulus. He has shown a lack of maturity (i.e., poor decision making) both on and off the field, and while time and experience can help this, we’ll have to wait and see how long it will take. BTW, didn’t both teams with a Glennon brother on their depth chart win this weekend?
On the bright side, it looks like come next season the ‘Heels will have at least 2 experienced QBs.
Off the field? There may have been one time where he discussed PT to the media, but I can’t recall any specific examples of his extracurriculars.
The PT comments are what I’m talking about. It may be nitpicky–I realize we’re dealing with a sophomore here–but I think it indicates his maturity level, and how he feels about what’s best for the team vs. what’s best for him. Had he kept his mouth shut earlier in the season, I wouldn’t have expected as much from him. As it is though, he wanted the ball and he got it on Saturday. Unfortunately, he didn’t do well enough to preserve the lead and win the game, as his talk would suggest he could do.
He probably learned a lot during the second half Saturday and will be reminded of those lessons all week long. That said, I hope the running game does well enough at Miami so he can hand off the ball at least 80% or the time.
Who is better at his respective sport, Mike or Greg?
I don’t have enough data on Mike to answer that question. I will let you know in six weeks.