Thoughts On Georgia Tech

North Carolina's 79-63 win over Georgia Tech last night was one of those "blah" wins that I came to expect as a UNC fan. They beat an opponent they should have beat without too many problems and nothing really spectacular happened with the exception of P.J. Hairston's massive dunk in the second half that really punctuated the win. Reggie Bullock had another solid game with 17 points, Hairston had 15, and James Michael McAdoo had 14. Desmond Hubert had a career high 5 blocked shots. He reminds me a lot of ex-Tarheel Warren Martin. When Martin came to UNC in the mid-1980's he was very raw, especially offensively. By the time he graduated, he was a defensive force, a solid rebounder, and he contributed offensively. I see Hubert following the same track if he puts in the work. The 'Heels also got solid contributions off the bench against Georgia Tech. J. P. Tokoto, Jackson Simmons, Brice Johnson, and Joel James all played solid basketball. A huge game against NC State in Raleigh is on Saturday.

Two Games In One

The Tarheels win over the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday January 19th featured two games for the price of one. There was the first half in which UNC played outstanding defense, forced Maryland into 15 turnovers and got their hands on several more balls, Reggie Bullock shot lights out and outscored Maryland by himself 21-20, and had a 42-20 lead at halftime. The second game that was played out in the second half saw Maryland be allowed back into the game, the 'Heels only score 20 points on 8-34 shooting and 1-10 from the three point line, and hold on to win 62-52. This game was the best and the worst the Tarheels had to offer. I am hoping that the first half was a glimpse of what the Tarheels can become on a consistent basis. Reggie Bullock led the way with a career high 24 points (21 in the first half) and James Michael McAdoo had 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Finding An Identity

In the Tarheels 77-72 win over Florida State this afternoon, the Tarheels may have found their identity. P.J. Hairston took over the leadership role on the court today. He was taking it hard to the basket and hitting his outside shots and when he is doing that, he is the hardest Tarheel to defend. He had two thunderous dunks and was 4-9 from the three point line. He led the way with 23 points. James Michael McAdoo had 14 points and Reggie Bullock had 12. The Tarheels were beasts on the boards, outrebounding FSU by 16 and the opportunity at second chance points is what won the game for the 'Heels. UNC had 14 offensive rebounds to FSU's 5. I was also impressed by the play of Sophomore Jackson Simmons as he had a career high 8 points and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, diving on the floor for loose balls, and playing solid defense. I believe that if North Carolina is going to go with Marcus Paige as their starting Point Guard, then they need to start Hairston at the Shooting Guard and bring Strickland off the bench. With Strickland in his offensive slump the past couple of games and Desmond Hubert being an offensive project, the 'Heels cannot afford to play 3 on 5 on offense. It was a badly needed win and hopefully a mission of discovery for the 2012-13 North Carolina Tarheels and what they need to do as a team to win games.

Looking For A Leader

North Carolina needs someone to take charge. Reggie Bullock took the leadership role off the court by calling a players only meeting before the Miami game. He saw the need to iron out a few things that needed addressing. Now the 'Heels need someone to take a leadership role on the court. The Tarheels let a tight game at the Deandome slip away from them in the last few minutes in a 68-59 loss to the Miami Hurricanes. James Michael McAdoo led the way with 14 points, Reggie Bullock had 11 points on 4-16 shooting, Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson had 10 points a piece. The 'Heels only shot 40 percent for the game (33 percent in the second half, were outrebounded (by one), and they just need someone to step up. Reggie Bullock made the effort but could not hit the big shot. The 'Heels are still looking for their "go to guy." They really need someone to step up at Center. The three-headed monster is just not being as productive as they need to be. Brice Johnson needs to be the one to step up here. Desmond Hubert and Joel James are still projects at this point in their career. Hubert continues to get the starts but he tends to be an offensive liability and that is not able to overcome his defensive strengths right now. Joel James has a solid skill set but lacks experience. Dexter Strickland had one of the strangest stat lines I have ever seen in a box score for a guard. He had one field goal attempts and that was it. 0 points, 0 assists, 0 rebounds, 0 turnovers- 0 everything except that one field goal attempt. His speed is such a tremendous asset on the defensive end and he needs to use that advantage on the offensive end as well. I have seen him blow right by people like they were sitting still. I would like to see J.P. Tokoto get more time based on his sheer athleticism. He had 4 steals in 12 minutes of playing time against Miami. They need a leader to take charge on the court.

2012 Review- Special Teams

Special Teams is an often overlooked facet of football, but new football coach Larry Fedora puts an emphasis on this phase of the game and I believe it showed in 2012. Most coaches will tell you that as a Freshman, the best way to get on the field is by being a Special Teams demon. Redshirt Senior Casey Barth came back for his final season going 15-19 with a long of 48 yards. He also broke his brother Connor's career records at UNC before injury took him out of the last couple of games and ended his career. Punter Tommy Hibbard had an excellent season averaging 43.0 yards a punt and dropping 19 of his 50 punts inside the 20 yard line. Hibbard also took on the important role of holder for extra points and field goals. He had the disgression, depending on how the defense was lined up, of trying to throw for the two point conversion which he successfully did several times. He also ran a fake punt for 10 yards. The MVP of Special Teams was Pete Mangum. He was always the first one down the field on kickoff and punt coverage. He even logged some quality time at the Ram position totalling 30 tackles on the season, recovering a fumble, and blocking a punt. He was probably my favorite player to watch during the season. The punt return team as a whole averaged 14.5 yards a return and Gio Bernard returned 2 of his 16 for TDs and an overall average of 16.4. Even though he repeatedly was quoted as saying he had not returned punts since high school, Gio might be the most natural punt returner I have ever seen. He has tremendous patience and knows how to set up and follow his blocks. When T.J. Thorpe was lost for the season that hurt the Tarheel kick return team and Sean Tapley and Romar Morris only combined to average a little over 23 yards a return. The coverage units were inconsistent on the kickoffs as they allowed 3 returns for TDs but only 23 yards a return whereas the punt coverage units, due in large part to the punting of Tommy Hibbard, only allowed 5 yards a return on 17 returns.

2012 Review- Defense

Coach Larry Fedora also brought a new defensive scheme with him, the 4-2-5, that was supposed to contain a "jail break" blitz philosophy. I was picturing a Pittsburgh Steelers type defensive scheme with a lot of sacks and wreaking total havoc on the other teams offense. It did not quite turn out that way. It became a situation where the coaching staff had to try to take the pieces they had and make them fit. Seniors Gene Robinson (Ram) and Dion Guy (Bandit) were put in positions that were new to the defense and had never played in that system before. The Tarheels defense was prone to allowing the big pass play and most of their games were high scoring affairs that never lacked for a dull moment. Depth, especially on the defensive line, was also problematic. They did not really have the depth to run the 4-2-5 system but they plowed ahead but allowed over 25 points a game but if you take out the two shutouts against Elon and Idaho, it rose to over 30 a game. Defensive Back Tre Boston led the team in tackles with 86 and tied for the team lead in interceptions with 4 but anytime you have a defensive back leasd the team in tackles you might have problems. Kevin Reddick was second on the team in tackles with 85 and led the team in sacks with 6 1/2 and had a solid senior season. Defensive Tackle Sylvester Williams was told he was too heavy by the new coaching staff and put in the work to lose 30 pounds before the season started. He had an All-American senior season and was second on the team in sacks with 6 and had 13 1/2 tackles for loss. Several underclassmen emerged with solid seasons. Junior LB Tommy Heffernan, Redshirt Freshmen Safety's Darien Rankin and Sam Smiley, and fellow first year Freshmen Shakeel Rashad, Justin Thomason, and Jessie Rogers all logged quality minutes this season. The off season will be key as Coach Fedora starts recruiting his own style players to fit this system.

North Carolina 2012 Football Review- Offense

Larry Fedora brought his Red Bull-fueled offense to Chapel Hill in 2012 and I was really curious to see what he could do in a short period of time. Any time a new coach brings in a radically different offense from the previous coach, he is trying to fit his system with someone else's players. Coach Fedora wasn't starting from scratch because he had some great pieces to start with. He had a great offensive line, rated as one of the best units in college football to start the season. He also had Bryn Renner and Gio Bernard in the backfield, both coming off record setting seasons, and a good mix of youth and experience at Wide Receiver. Coach Fedora was placed ina more difficult situation because the 'Heels were facing a "lame duck" situation because of NCAA sanctions. The camp got off to a rocky start as the 'Heels started losing Wide Receivers to injury from about the first day as T.J. Thorpe and Reggie Wilkins went down and depth all over the field became the biggest problem. They ended up having to use players from other UNC sports at Wide Receiver (Mark McNeill, Lacrosse and Roy Smith, Track) just to have depth at Wide Receiver and McNeill and Smith were able to work their way into the rotation during the season. The offense lived up to Fedora's reputation. They scored over 40 points a game and they ran and passed North Carolina's record book thru a paper shredder. The Tarheels finished at 8-4 on the season and were only truly out of one game, that being Georgia Tech. There were not too many dull moments this season either. Gio Bernard had almost 2000 total yards on the season in spite of missing 2 1/2 games on the season. If not for those missed games Gio would have had the kind of stats stuffing numbers worthy of the Heisman Trophy. I would have voted for him anyway. The 74 yard punt return to win the game against NC State was the signature play that set him apart from the rest. He had 1228 yards rushing, 490 yards receiving, and 263 punt return yards. QB Bryn Renner completed 65 % of his his passes, had 3356 yards passing and 28 TD's with only 7 picks on the season. By seasons end, he had a firm grasp on UNC's spread offense. Several other players emerged on the offensive side as well. Freshman Quinshad Davis had a Freshman record 61 catches for 776 yards and tied for the team lead with 5 TD's. Eric Ebron was able to stretch the field from his TE position to the tune of 40 catches and 625 yards with 4 TD's. Although Gio decided to turn pro after his red-shirt Sophomore season, they still have the pieces in place to have another outstanding season next year. Renner will be back, Romar Morris, who has many of the same skills that Gio has, and A.J. Blue return in the backfield, and hopefully injury will not wipe out the Wide Receiver Corps because I am really looking forward to see what they can do.