If I never hear phrase “torn ACL” again I will be a happy camper. Tar Heel long snapper Trevor Stuart became the latest in a long line of players to succumb to this particular injury. Stuart was lost during the first quarter versus ECU and will be out for the season. Sliding into his spot is walk-on Mark House. Make no mistake, this is a critical position on the field and given how poorly Grant Shallock punted the football on Saturday as well as Casey Barth missing a 38 yard FG, having issues at long snapper is the last thing UNC needs right now.
For a more detailed look at the Tar Heel kicking game, check out my latest post over at Raycom Sports UNC blog.
![[Bloglines]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[MySpace]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Technorati]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.tarheelblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
Not positive but I’m fairly certain that I had read somewhere…that Mark House started as long snapper the first half of last season then succumbed to injury and was replaced by Stuart. It’s not the best scenario but on the good side of things, he has been a starter and knows the process. This certainly doesn’t take anything away from our concerns on punting and kicking since we are short. The disparity was pretty serious in the ECU game though even more so if you watched the warm-ups in the stadium. He’ll be in the NFL here shortly just like the kid from USC that we got see last night for Miami. It’s a big role that people never pay attention to until it’s lacking. I trust the kids and the staff to work through this though and based on the last three years I don’t see any reason to not do so.
Go Heels!
I hate torn ACLs. Hate them, hate them, hate them! Well hopefully this will motivate the Heels even more like Pianalto’s injury did.
badbadlb, I read the same thing about House over at IC. I’m not too worried about it since he’ll have a week to get back into the groove. My bigger concern is the punting and FG kicking in general. Casey has missed 2 FG he should have made, but I think the jury is still out on him. The punting situation is even more alarming. Schallock is currently averaging 37.8 yds/kick, which isn’t going to cut it against good teams.