No real surprises here. It appears redshirt freshman Jonathan Cooper has won a starting spot on the offensive line underscoring the thin nature of that unit as well as the uncertainty.
For now, Charles Brown has beaten out Jordan Hemby for the right to start opposite Kendric Burney at corner. Zach Brown is listed ahead of Kevin Reddick at the Will Linebacker slot but based on training camp reports, that could change. Johnny White and Da’Norris Searcy has been tabbed as the kickoff and punt returners respectively. Brandon Tate made these two spots very dangerous a year ago before an injury took him out for the season. White did some time last season in relief for Tate returning kickoffs. Searcy will be trying his hand at it for the first time. Hopefully these two can make some things happen which was not the case after Tate went out.
A quick rundown of the skills positions on offense: T.J. Yates at QB, Shaun Draughan at TB followed by Ryan Houston. Greg Little will start at one of the WR spots with Dwight Jones ahead of Joshua Adams at the other. White will backup Little.
It is interesting to note that Mike Paulus apparently has not won the QB backup slot outright. A nice “OR” is listed after his name meaning that Branden Hansen is at least in the mix to take snaps should T.J. Yates get injured. Of course Davis has played this game before in an effort to motivate players by not allowing them to rest on their laurels. Since the Heels will be feasting on a pair of I-AA teams this season, one would think that Butch Davis would give Paulus and Hansen some snaps.
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Welcome back THF.
Looking forward to this week’s action. We will learn a lot about state college, I do believe.
As for our O-line, yes, it’s not great to have Freshmen and/or RS Freshmen in the two-deep, but the level of raw talent and agility seems to be much greater than anything we’ve seen in the past few years. The bottom line, as you have blogged, is to stay injury free and develop some continuity in these first few games.
No real surprises looking at the rest of the lineup. I really like Charles Brown at the corner opposite Burney. The likes of Melvin Williams and Jonathon Smith as nickel and dime backs give the D some options. The front 7 is as good as we’ve seen in many years.
Offensively, I was interested in the article on AJ Blue running some “wildcat” offense schemes. http://northcarolina.scout.com/2/893214.html
hi everyone. it’s been awhile. hope you’re all well.
it’s exciting as football season is just around the corner. this line up looks quite young again. should be full of raw talent to provide spectacular plays but also some necessary headaches.
one can only hope that withers finally has confidence in his front 7 and aggressively attacks the opposing offenses.
although i too am curious about blue’s wildcat offense schemes, i hope that we stick to what works like running draughn and houston and throwing to little and other WRs.
speaking of WRs, does anyone know what is up with jheranie boyd? i don’t know much about recruiting but scout.com had boyd ranked the 7th best WR and a 4 star, better than hakeem nicks who was 32nd ranked WR and a 4 star. we all know nicks jumped out from the getgo, outshining then #1 WR jesse holley. i know boyd has more competition and joshua adams enrolled in the spring to get a head start, but i figured boyd’s 4.45 40 speed would get him a role somewhere.
in any case, it’s exciting to have the likes of adams, boyd, blue, and other freshmen talent waiting to shine along with all the returning stars.
go heels.