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.