There is really not much to report out of spring practice for UNC. Barring injury or Quan Sturdivant destroying something, we thought that would be the case. There only attention worthy item on the agenda was the quarterback position. IC is reporting(with a tinge of disappointment in the tone) that the highly anticipated epic spring battle for quarterback supremacy at UNC…never really happened?
North Carolina football fans had hoped for a spring full of tales about incumbent T.J. Yates and newcomer Bryn Renner entrenched in a heated battle at quarterback. But as spring ball comes to a close this week, reality has begun to sink in that Yates will likely remain UNC’s starter.
Renner has earned high praise for his strong arm, foot speed and overall athletic ability from practically everyone that has watched him practice since arriving in Chapel Hill last summer. Yates, on the other hand, has endured a pelting of criticism after completing 214-of-355 passes for 2,136 yards, 14 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in ’09.
A portion of the UNC fan base is convinced that Renner should be handed the reins to the offense this fall to improve a unit that has hovered around the No. 100 mark nationally in total offense over the past three seasons. But fans don’t have access to the inner workings of a football program, and while they may be able to blast Yates for what he has done on the field, they can only live on the hype surrounding Renner’s potential.
When asked on Wednesday what he does best as a quarterback, Renner provided an insanely realistic response: “I really haven’t proven myself, so I guess I can’t really answer that.”
I am going to go out on a limb and say half the UNC fans will curse John Shoop’s name while the other half shrugs before refreshing Ed Davis’ Twitter feed. The problem with the expectations on Bryn Renner is he would have to be really, really, really good to supplant T.J. Yates, mainly because the latter is experienced. If Renner came in and just blew the doors off then Yates is holding clipboard. That has not been the case by Renner’s own admission and probably was never going to be the case or else he probably does not redshirt last season. That being said, the push behind Renner had a lot to do with his being able to do things that Yates could not do. Renner is more mobile, athletic and said to have a better arm. I also imagine Renner would be more accurate with his throws, not because I have seen him throw but because I have seen Yates pass the football and Renner cannot possibly be worse.
On the flip side, Renner is not experienced and some of the issues with Yates last season could be traced back to poor offensive line play and a green receiving corps. Assuming the line is healthy Yates should get better protection. Greg Little has shown signs of being a good receiver assuming he can stop negating whole pass plays with stupid penalties. Zach Pianalto was a huge part of the offense and a good target for Yates’ short passes which is the bread and butter of the Shoop offense. I also think Shoop has a better grasp on how to use running backs Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston in tandem which should result in a more productive rushing attack. If the other aspects of the offense surrounding Yates improve and the defense provides the Heels with good field position, then it will give the senior QB a wider margin of error than he had last season. All he needs to do is not panic and float stupid INTs up at the goal line to be returned 99 yards for a TD. If that kind of crap continues to happen then I hope Butch Davis pulls the trigger on Renner.
Of course none of this is to say John Shoop won’t screw the pooch with poor offensive scheming but I am going to wait and see on that one.
UNC will play its spring game on Saturday, April 10th at 3:00 PM. Admission to the game is free and my understanding is there will be tons of activities all day in Chapel Hill. If you can make it, show up and support the Heels since the game will be televised on ESPN and good crowd would be nice to see.
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KENAN STADIUM/BELL TOWER
12 noon – Tar Heel Town opens – Bell Tower Quad, Kenan Stadium field
12 noon – 1 p.m. – Cheerleading clinic on Kenan Stadium field
1 p.m. – Football players/Coach Butch Davis autograph session – Kenan Stadium field
3-5 p.m. – Blue vs. White Spring Football Game
6 p.m. – Carolina vs. NC State – baseball game at Boshamer Stadium
http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/033010aac.html
Lots of fun and some cool stuff happening all day on campus, from the 10 mile run in the AM to the baseball game at 6PM. Parking is free and there’s some decent information on that as well. Regardless the situation with Renner and Yates we will get to see him play tomorrow which will be fun.
I’m not sure it was always Shoop leaving games on the table, in the case of FSU you have to go into the “prevent” to really put the pedal down and drop a game you had won. I always feel that Shoop gets a little too much heat for decisions that might not always be his own. Still I don’t like being able to call the play before it happens so often and I’m hoping that ends in 2010.
I’m just hoping that the Offensive Line is average (instead of terrible…), Pianalto (and all the other receivers) stay healthy and Yates shakes off the tunnel vision he seemed to have in the second half of the season when the O Line finally started giving him time to throw. If those three things happen and Butch Davis stops being in love with that predictable prevent defense this could be a very good year for UNC football.
^I also suspect that it is the head coach, not the coordinators, that is the source of too much conservatism on both offense and defense
Anything new on Ed Davis’s twitter feed? (kidding…sort of…)
Nothing will break now. Any news would step on Butch Davis’ toes and the football team’s nationally televised spring game. Might not hear anything until after the team banquet unless Davis is staying then they might announce that before.
^ & ^^ – Drew stops any transfer discussion via the UNC media relations group. He has only said it about 10 times, nice to see that he went the distance via the school.
I agree on Davis driving the conservative bus – I just think people put too much of that on Shoop. There are plenty of other things to ding Shoop on through the last season.
I am also looking for a good O-line and hope that Yates can get it done. He has the ability to put the ball on the receiver and not always 6 feet above them based on what we saw in 2008.
Hmmm, if you took out the name Yates in that article and put the name Drew in there it would sound just like another article talking about the kind of season Larry Drew had this year. It makes you wonder how much more pressure Larry will be under next year since he will have a true PG to push him for playing time.
I don’t know why Butch can’t do the same thing Mark Richt did when David Green and DJ Shockley were both at UGA. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the situation, Green was the starter and was a conventional style QB with good football sense and a knack for winning games but who lacked a strong arm or a lot of athleticism. DJ on the other hand was a scrambler with a ton of athleticism and a very strong arm but who lacked experience. Richt generally had Green under center for most of the game but DJ would usually get 1 or 2 series each half to run the offense and would also line up as a wideout or rb with Green on the field from time to time. It usually worked pretty well and by the time Green left and Shockley inherited the starting position DJ had a pretty good idea of what he was doing under center. I think it would be a good idea for Carolina to utilize it’s players in a similar manner in the up coming season to get maximum benefit from the different talents they have available to them.
hmmm, except that Yates is a Senior who’s had two full seasons to prove himself.