Extra Points: No Words

By Lee Pace

Over the years in Carolina football there have been instances where individual positions have been decimated by an avalanche of misfortune, forcing coaches to move players from one position to another, burn redshirts on raw freshmen and basically blow a gasket trying to stick one finger in a leaky dike, only to see another burst just beyond arm's reach.

In August of 1976, quarterbacks P.J. Gay (knee), Johnny Elam (leg) and Johnny Stratton (wrist) went down before the season opener, leaving Coach Bill Dooley to juggle one player moved from defense (Bernie Menapace), one JUCO transfer (Clyde Christensen) and one freshman coming off knee surgery (Matt Kupec). In 1999, quarterbacks Ronald Curry and Luke Huard were sidelined in midseason and Antwon Black went into the hospital, leaving Coach Carl Torbush to move tailback Domonique Williams to quarterback for the infamous Furman game (a 31-0 loss when Williams hit four-of-10 passes).

John Bunting faced his medical Waterloo in 2002. Already pummeled with graduation losses from the previous year (the Peppers-Sims-Thornton juggernaut), Bunting moved fullback Madison Hedgecock to defensive end for the Wake Forest game deep into the season and pulled promising offensive guard Kyle Ralph off the freshman scout team to play the final month of the year. It was clear during that abysmal 31-0 loss to the Deacons that freshman tailback Mahlon Carey didn't quite have the requisite skill set; ergo the move to safety the next spring and what would be a productive career.

A woeful state of affairs in 2009 saw quarterback T.J. Yates booed late in the Virginia game (a 16-3 loss) for the Tar Heels' inept offensive production, the masses apparently blind to the fact that tight ends Zack Pianalto and Ryan Taylor, center Lowell Dyer and tackle Carl Gaskins were dressed in street clothes, guard Jonathon Cooper had a sprained ankle and Yates was being protected by a sophomore center and one guard who'd just moved over from defense.

"Injuries, they're just part of the game. When you've played football a long time, you get used to it and have to adapt."

That was a current Tar Heel, Bentley Spain, speaking early Saturday evening in the aftermath of Carolina's 27-17 loss to Duke in Kenan Stadium. Spain missed the second half of the season opener, all of the Louisville game and all of the Old Dominion game save a few snaps on the extra point/field goal team with a hand injury but returned Saturday, as did center Cam Dillard, who missed the ODU game.

Get used to?

Have to adapt?

The ravages heaped upon the 2017 Tar Heel team have become impossible to fathom. Carolina issued an injury list Thursday night per ACC guidelines that likely took the author a couple of Nitro Freddos from Starbucks to get through—19 names total, including nine players lost for the year.

Saturday against Duke, starters Austin Proehl, Toe Groves and Tyler Powell left with what appeared to be serious issues for each. Proehl and Groves are both best suited for the slot receiver position, and also missing were Thomas Jackson, lost for the season against ODU, and freshman Dazz Newsome, out week-to-week. Freshman Roscoe Johnson can play the slot but he was also injured—thus the Tar Heels using frequent two-back and/or two tight-end formations during the fourth quarter. But late in the game when they had to use three or four-receiver sets to play catch-up, receivers coach Gunter Brewer was left to literally yell to Anthony Ratliff-Williams the route he was supposed to run on each play.

"I have no words," offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic says of torrent of medical woes.

Even head coach Larry Fedora, normally quick with an "It is what it is" or "Next man up" response to the squad's personnel plight, paused an inordinate moment when asked by Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network to address the evolving plight of finding enough bodies to plug all the holes.

"You know ... you just ... you do the best you can," Fedora said. "That's all you can do."

Then moments later, addressing the assembled media horde, he got the same question.

"I don't really know what to say."

Linebacker Cole Holcomb had a similar refrain.

"It stinks," he said. "I don't know what else I can say about it."

One of the uglier twists of fate befell Groves, the likeable and popular redshirt freshman from Tennessee who battled back from one knee injury last year to have another Saturday on the opposite side. A veritable pall fell over the Tar Heel sideline with Groves amid a phalanx of medical staff. One player turned away in noticeable anguish. Every Tar Heel who could get close enough touched or waved to Groves as he was carted off.

"Man, you want to drop a tear for him," safety Donnie Miles said. "We watched him work so hard to get back. He worked his butt off, never complained, never held his head down. He came to work with a smile on his face every day. He's a tough guy, I tip my cap to him. He has all my respect."

Sadly this story has engulfed the 2017 season and distracts from what was otherwise another close, entertaining and fiercely competitive game against Duke. But what was already clearly a rebuilding year for the Tar Heels (10 starters lost to graduation, three to early NFL defections) has morphed into survival mode.

"It hurts, I don't know why it's happening," Miles said. "I pray for all those guys. It's something you really don't talk about, because if you play tentative, that's when you get hurt. You have go out and play full speed. We have guys now who have to step up."

The evolution of freshman quarterback Chazz Surratt continues (his 56-yard touchdown run would be memorialized along with Famous Amos on his 11-yard draw play in 1978 had Carolina won), and the Tar Heels clearly have a previously untapped playmaker in Ratliff-Williams. The much-maligned defense was generally aggressive and stout, landing three sacks and four tackles-for-loss on the Blue Devils, and its third-down effectiveness was improved (Duke converted seven-of-18, far better than last year's 10-of-16 figure). Coordinator John Papuchis blitzed his cornerbacks a handful of times, and it was promising to see redshirt freshman Tomon Fox ply his agility for one second-half sack.

"When Coach is aggressive in his calls, it lets us be more aggressive on the field, instead of feeling like we're sitting back," said Holcomb, who played the game at the "Mike" linebacker slot in place of Andre Smith, one of those on the out-for-the-year list.

"The only thing that we didn't do is create a takeaway, and that's been the thing," Fedora noted. "Whoever has won the turnover battle in this game usually wins it."

The lone turnover came late in the game, when Surratt forced a pass into coverage toward a receiver playing a new position and running the wrong route. Duke's Bryon Fields snared it and ran 61 yards for the clinching touchdown. That's the 2017 season for you, wrapped into one neat package with a Red Cross on the top.

No words, indeed. Perhaps no mas works as well.

Lee Pace is in his 28th year covering Tar Heel football through "Extra Points" and 14th as the sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network. His book, "Football in a Forest," is available in bookstores across North Carolina and online at www.johnnytshirt.com. Email him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @LeePaceTweet.

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cam Dillard

Tomon Fox

Cole Holcomb

Thomas Jackson

Roscoe Johnson

Donnie Miles

Dazz Newsome

Tyler Powell

Austin Proehl

Anthony Ratliff-Williams

Andre Smith

Bentley Spain

Chazz Surratt

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