There was a buzz of anticipation — a sense of mystery, even — surrounding last year’s Spring Game. As North Carolina headed into its first season under coach Larry Fedora, it wasn’t yet known how the Tar Heels would look in their new spread offense and 4-2-5 defense.
Now, compare that to this year’s Spring Game, where Saturday’s biggest mystery was how the Tar Heels would look in brand new uniforms.
That’s not to say that UNC is without its holes — the running back position in particular still needs to be settled. But by and large, the second edition of Fedora’s Tar Heels had the look of a far more confident unit Saturday.
Led by redshirt senior quarterback Bryn Renner, the more experienced Blue team came away with a 34-10 win against the younger White team.
“It’s a whole lot easier this year,” said receiver Sean Tapley, who scored a touchdown. “I feel like, now that we know the concepts and everything, we can just go out there and play our game.”
It took a few throws for Renner to get into a rhythm Saturday, but by the end of the game, he was 16 for 27, and posted three touchdowns and 216 yards.
The pieces around him still need to come together. Romar Morris and A.J. Blue — who ran for 80 and 30 yards, respectively, Saturday — are the frontrunners to replace Giovani Bernard at tailback, but freshman Khris Francis’ 101-yard performance could certainly thrust him into contention. And Fedora said he’s still not enamored with the depth behind Tapley and Quinshad Davis at the wide receiver position.
Regardless of who lines up with Renner, the Tar Heels will have a quarterback who now understands Fedora’s offense, and can guide them through it.
“It’s morphed into where I can be a leader and coach guys when they do make a mistake,” Renner said. “Last year, I don’t think that I could do that.”
