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.

Va Tech Fourth Quarter

A beautiful 24 yard completion to Tapley to open the fourth. Bernard is up over 230 yards now. I am officially begging the Tarheels to not play the prevent defense. The only thing it prevents you from doing is winning. Tommy Heffernan with the Tarheels first sack of the game albeit was only for a loss of one yard. Once again the 'Heels D gashed by the long pass. How do you let a Wide Receiver get behind you like that? Logan Thomas does have an arm on him. UNC 45, Va Tech 34. A 34 yard run by A.J. Blue. The 'Heels have to keep the pressure on. Give up the option with Bryn Renner at QB. I don't think that play has gained a yard the entire game. Virginia Tech does not respect Renner as a runner and it will not be effective. Another pass interference on the Hokies? That call saved this drive for the Tarheels. Another Barth field goal. UNC 48, Va Tech 34. The refs flat out refuse to call offensive holding on the Hokies. Period. End of statement. I cannot believe they did not review the Reddick fumble recovery. He had posession inbounds. The Sylvester Williams-Kevin Reddick sack of Logan Thomas on fourth down finished off the Virginia Tech Hokies. The refs were actually going to call holding on that play as Williams was tackled but literally crawled on his hands and knees to get to the QB. Gio Bernard did the rest. Final score UNC 48, Virginia Tech 34.

Va Tech Third Quarter

Three-and-Out is the way to start the second half. One first down by the 'Heels on their first drive, a penalty, and a poor punt by Thomas Hibbard. We would hate for the refs to call holding on the Hokie offense or roughing the passer on their defense. The flags must be Carolina Blue. #9 Linebacker Travis Hughes with the steal! Travis Hughes stood up the running back and ripped the ball out of his hands setting the 'Heels up with posession on the Hokies side of the field. Now UNC has to take advantage of that. Renner shows some escapability on a 3 yard scramble and a 12 yard completion to Davis. A great play fake by Renner and he hits Sean Tapley for a 19 yard TD pass. And the Tarheels Special Teams give 6 points right back as they give a a kick return for a TD. There is that Carolina Blue flag again. I am not even bothering counting how many penalty yards they have now. An important 3rd down pass completion to Davis. A defensive pass interference on Va Tech? I bet that makes the ESPN highlights. I like using Marquise Williams as a change of pace QB. Everyone one knows that he is probably going to run but there is always a chance he might unleash one. It is not your typical Wildcat package. That sack of Renner really hurt but taking a sack is better than throwing it up for grabs. Barely missed Ebron in the end zone and had to settle for a Barth field goal. UNC 38, Va Tech 26. UNC is getting gashed bad by the long pass but a critical 4th down stop gives the ball back to the 'Heels. Va Tech gets away with a facemask on Bernard's 51 yard run and the refs penalize the 'Heels for unsportsmanlike on Blue's 13 yard TD run. UNC 45, Va Tech 26. Tim Scott intercepts Logan Thomas on the first play from scrimmage after the kickoff and now the 'Heels have to play solid ,fundamental football and they can finish this one off. I do not think the 'Heels can run a play without holding being called. End of third quarter, UNC 45, Va Tech 26.

In Game Observations Versus Virginia Tech First Quarter

Bryn Renner needs to calm down or it is going to be the Louisville game all over again. 0 for 5 so far and he has missed at least two wide open targets down the field. The 'Heels have 40 yards in penalties and -4 yards of total offense halfway through the first quarter. Very thankfull for a Sean Tapley kickoff return for a Touchdown and a Virginia Tech dropped pass. 7-7 with 8 minutes to go in the First Quarter. A 28 yard completion to Freshman Wide Receiver Quinshad Davis, a couple of Virginia Tech offsides penalties (very uncharacteristic for a Bud Foster defense), a run and a reception by Gio Bernard and the 'Heels finish it off with a Bryn Renner 4 yard TD run. Renner is still off on most of his passes. A double move burns Jabari Price to tie the game at 14. The 'Heels close out the First Quarter with a personal foul penalty after an A.J. Blue run, a completion to Eric Ebron, a Bernard run, and a failed third and short attempt by Brenner. The Offensive Line could not get enough push to get a half yard? 93 yards of offense in this quarter and 55 yards in penalties (statistics mine).

Versus East Carolina

It looks like the North Carolina Tarheels might finally be buying into Head Coach Larry Fedora's system. The 27-6 win over East Carolina yesterday was the most complete game they have played all season. The offensive tempo is improving although I am sure is not fast enough for Coach Fedora. The East Carolina defense threw a new wrinkle at QB Bryn Renner by only rushing three and dropping eight into coverage for the majority of the game. Renner took what the defense gave him and did not force the ball into coverage. He passed for over 300 yards and threw a couple of TD passes, one to Gio Bernard and a a 62 yarder to Sean Tapley. He showed some really nice touch on the ball on a first half completion down the middle to Gio Bernard for 30 yards and the TD to Sean Tapley. RB Gio Bernard made his return and only rushed for 50 yards but had over 100 yards of total offense. The 'Heels defense had their most impressive performance picking up a season high seven sacks and getting some of those from unlikely sources. Defensive Backs Jeff Schoettmer and Jabari Price and Sophomore Linebacker Norkeithus Otis all picked up sacks. Kevin Reddick, Jabari Price, and Sylvester Williams were all over the place. East Carolina QB Carden spent most of the second half running for his life. The 'Heels defense still got gashed by the run more than I would have liked and even allowed East Carolina to convert a third and thirty on a draw play from inside their own ten yard line.

Growing Pains

The Tarheels suffered some serious growing pains in the loss last Saturday to Wake Forest. The 'Heels were without the services of running back Gio Bernard due to a knee injury suffered against Elon and I would like to think that he would have made the difference but backup A.J. Blue had 19 carries for 106 yards and a Touchdown. Romar Morris also got some quality carries. The biggest impact of Bernard sitting out was in the Tarheel passing game. Blue and Morris are not the accomplished receiver that Bernard is, especially when it comes to running screen plays. QB Bryn Renner did not have one of his better games. He overthrew several receivers throughout the game including a crucial overthrow of a wide open Sean Tapley in the fourth quarter. The 'Heels defense was pretty well man handled in the first half by Wake Forest. They played shutdown defense in the second half until Wake Forests game winning drive. The 'Heels are not getting any pressure on the opposing quarterbacks thru the first two games. They have only totaled three sacks in their first two games and interior lineman Sylvester Williams has 2 1/2 of those. Wake Forest QB Tanner Smith had a lot of time to throw the ball especially in the first half. The 'Heels play their first ranked opponent of the season on Saturday when they travel to #19 Louisville.

Versus Georgia Tech- The Offense

The offense came alive in the second half after a forgettable first half against Georgia Tech. It seemed that Offensive Coordinator John Shoop was more concerned about holding the ball and playing keep away from Georgia Tech in the first half than he was running his offense. He did not put QB Bryn Renner in a position to be successful. Third-and-Long is a difficult position to put any QB in on just about every series.

So far this season North Carolina seems to perform at a higher level when they are using the pass to set up the run. After the first game, the teams they have played seemed determined to make Bryn Renner beat them. As was the case against Georgia Tech, interceptions have been his problem this season.

Gio Bernard seems to get better and better with every game and his play has relegated Senior Ryan Houston into being a non-factor. Gio had a scintillating 55-yard run for a TD against Georgia Tech and is well on his way to being a 1,000 yard rusher, averaging over 100 yards a game now.

The Tarheel receiving corps has been almost all Dwight Jones with a little bit of Erik Highsmith thrown in. The rest of the receivers have been non-existent. Jones had 8 more catches against Georgia Tech, Freshman Sean Tapley got his first career start and had one catch for 18 yards, and Jheranie Boyd had one catch for 4 yards. The Tight Ends had more drops than they had catches although Nelson Hurst did have his first career TD reception.

James Madison- Part III- The Freshmen

I was surprised to see that 10 true Freshmen got to play in the game against James Madison. That was one of the top numbers in the country. That can be a good and a bad thing. Playing the Freshmen gives them game experience but I wouldn't want to burn a potential Red-Shirt year in a blowout win and that be the only game they play all year.

Three of the Freshmen Tight Ends got to play-Eric Ebron, Sean Fitzpatrick, and Jack Tabb- and Eric Ebron really flipped the James Madison player on the interception return.

The most surprising Freshman that got to play (and the start) was walk-on Punter Thomas Hibbard. He beat out incumbent C.J. Feagles for the job although I am sure it is probably a week-to-week or maybe even a punt-to-punt competition. His first punt was downed at the 1- yard line by Special Teams stalwart Matt Merletti. Although Hibbard later botched a snap and had his punt blocked, he had a pretty good showing.

Freshmen Wide Receivers Reggie Wilkins, Sean Tapley, and T.J. Thorpe mostly got to play on Special Teams although Wilkins had one carry for nine yards.

The Spring Football Game-Offense

A new Quarterback is set to take the reigns for the Tarheels for the first time in 4 years with the graduation of T.J. Yates and it looks to be red-shirt Sophomore Bryn Renner's job to lose. He looked great in last years spring game and I thought he outplayed T.J. Yates. He had another solid spring game this year. Spring games really aren't worth much as far as evaluating talent goes or a good predictor of regular season success.

All of the QB's on the roster are untested with like a total of 6 or 7 career passes attempted so finding a backup is going to be just as important. Braden Hanson, A.J. Blue, and all-everything Freshman Marquise Williams are the candidates and my guess is they will red-shirt Williams. Williams did have a nice 43 yard run on a scramble in the spring game. Blue has the versatility to play running back and operated out of the wildcat formation in his brief playing experience a couple of years ago.

The running game is going to need some of the young players to step up, especially in light of the fact that incumbent starter Ryan Houston broke his clavicle during the game. He had surgery on it today. Red-shirt Freshman Giovanni Bernard was held out of the game for precautionary reasons. The others listed on the depth chart are rarely used Junior Hunter Furr (although he did have some important carries in the Florida State victory last year) and true Freshman Travis Riley who enrolled in January. Fullback is being held down by returning Senior Devon Ramsay.

The offensive line is supposed to be one of the strengths of the team. They average over 300 pounds across the front with quite a bit of experience returning. Several red-shirt Freshmen and walk-ons are listed on the depth chart but some impressive recruits such as Kiaro Holts are coming in to back them up in the fall.

One of the other other positions that brings alot of experience is Wide Receiver. Dwight Jones, Erik Highsmith, and Jheranie Boyd are poised to have solid years. Jhay Boyd is the "X Factor" here. He virtually disappeared after the LSU game last year and the emergence of Dwight Jones. Red-Shirt Freshmen Reggie Wilkins and Sean Tapley have a chance to step up.

Junior transfer Nelson Hurst is the only returning Tight End with a minimal amount of playing time until the Freshmen Eric Ebron and Jack Tabb arrive on the scene. Hurst is backed up by red-shirt Freshman Sean Fitzpatrick. The H-Back position is being manned by Senior Christian Wilson.

I believe the 'Heels will be more of a running team this upcoming season and rely less on the passing game because the offensive line is built to run block. That is where the horses are and Ryan Houston is a big, strong back and if the surgery is successful, he is geared to be the 'Heels first thousand yard rusher since Jonathan Linton in 1997.