Renner impresses in spring game

Before North Carolina’s spring football game, coach Larry Fedora said every position was up for grabs, including quarterback.

But Saturday, Bryn Renner took a definite step toward claiming the starting role he held all last season.

The junior was 23-of-28 with 295 yards and two touchdowns while orchestrating Fedora’s up-tempo, spread offense for the first time in public.

Playing on an ankle that was “75 percent” healthy, Renner led the Blue team, which contained most of the projected first-string lineup, to a 44-21 victory against the White team. The White team only scored once, but the coaches awarded it 14 points at halftime to keep the game competitive.

“I think I did an OK job, but I think we did better as an offense,” Renner said. “Execution — I think that’s what we did well today.”

The offense showed flashes of being as fast and explosive as it was billed to be. The Blue team put 28 points on the board in the second quarter, including three Romar Morris touchdowns.

The Blue team also ran 47 plays despite a running clock in the second half. Offensive coordinator Blake Anderson said that while the team wasn’t as smooth getting to the ball as he wants to see, the amount of plays signaled a good pace.

“You’re on the marker, but it’s still not as clean and transition still wasn’t what we want to be,” Anderson said. “We’re still not where we want to be in terms of tempo by any means.”

The Tar Heels also showed some growing pains adjusting to a new system. The two teams combined for just two field goals in the first quarter while drives were stalled by illegal formation and illegal motion penalties.

Those penalties not only pushed the offense back 5 yards, but also slowed down an offense that relies on catching the defense a step slow.

Once the offense eliminated some of those penalties, it started to click as certain players stepped into playmaking roles.

Erik Highsmith proved to be one of Renner’s go-to targets, pulling in seven catches for 82 yards to lead all receivers. Morris was a threat both rushing and receiving, and A.J. Blue rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown, showing bursts of speed to turn the corner at times.

Cornerback Tim Scott returned an interception for a touchdown late in the second quarter that turned the game into a rout for the Blue team.

Starting running back Giovani Bernard rushed five times for 36 yards but left the game in the first half after receiving a gash in his head that required five stitches.

Despite some big performances, the reality is that the Blue team was going against a White team mostly composed of second-string players.

“The stats don’t really mean anything,” Renner said. “We need to control each other as an offense. We could have done a lot better today, and we’re going to look at those things in film and adjust those.

“We need to play at a faster pace, but those stats don’t really mean anything.”

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