University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Yates Operates Exciting Offense
October 17, 2007 | Football
Oct. 17, 2007
T.J. Yates has just thrown for 285 yards and a touchdown against a South Carolina pass defense that entered the game ranked first in the nation in that category. He very nearly orchestrated a zero-timeout, game-clinching drive that could have tied or won the game. And by staying poised in the fourth quarter he allowed his team to creep close enough to make that final frenetic scoring attempt.
It is perhaps a mark of how far Yates has come during his first exposure to college football that offensive coordinator John Shoop is not as concerned with the yards Yates did get--for the sake of comparison, Kentucky's Andre Woodson managed just 227 against the same defense--but with the yards Yates didn't get.
"You can look at it and say he had 285 and feel good about that," Shoop says. "Or you can say we should've had 350 and two more touchdowns. That's what has a chance to make us good, because I think that's how our guys look at it. There was more there and he knows it. 285 in a loss doesn't count. But 350 with another two touchdowns in a win, boy, that counts. And our guys know they're capable of it."
Shoop runs his hands through his hair when he ponders those two missed touchdowns--one a well-thrown ball that slipped through the hands of Greg Little in the end zone and another that was perhaps a half-step overthrown to Brandon Tate over the middle. But under Yates's direction, the offense is already surprisingly advanced for a group that depends on so many young players and still does not have a consistent running game.
Despite playing the third-toughest schedule in the country, the Tar Heels are averaging over 50 yards per game more than last season. In ACC games, Yates's passing efficiency ranks first in the league, ahead of the more-touted Matt Ryan. In fact, Yates is halfway finished with what should be the finest season ever for a Carolina freshman quarterback. He is within 22 completions of Darian Durant's rookie record, 172 yards short of his freshman passing yardage, and seven touchdowns short of the freshman scoring record.
"He's made progress in the meeting room," Shoop says. "He realizes the importance of knowing the game plan. He's learned how to keep us on the field, especially these last three games. He's getting us to some third-and-shorts. That helps keep our defense off the field, so he understands what we're trying to do."
As Shoop has said constantly, Carolina runs a completion-driven offense. And over the last couple of weeks, Yates has seen the benefit of getting the ball to receivers like Brandon Tate, Hakeem Nicks, and Greg Little on a short route and letting them turn it into a big play. After hitting just 22 plays of 20 yards or more last year, the Tar Heels already have 28 such plays this season. Early in the season, those were largely the product of Yates heaving the ball down the field. More recently, they've been the product of taking a small play and turning it into a big one. Yates has never looked starstruck. He's had his team in meaningful fourth quarters--some of which came in very hostile environments in Greenville and Blacksburg--in five of the last six games but hasn't flinched.
"He was a great leader in the huddle," center Lowell Dyer said after Miami tightened the game against Carolina two weeks ago in the fourth quarter. "He stayed calm, and that's what we needed him to do in that situation."
"He has a lot of poise about him," tackle Garrett Reynolds says. "Even early in the season when he had a couple of picks, he came back and he was still focused. He doesn't let the game speed up on him."
There is still plenty of room for improvement. Yates is completing 59.5 percent of his passes, a figure Shoop would like to see get closer to 70 percent. He will use this week's open weekend to drill Yates on pocket presence and maintaining an upfield eye level. The Tar Heels still want to diversify the passing game to make more use of the tight ends and running backs. And while Yates has shown the ability to make every throw in the offense, Shoop wants him to make all of them more consistently.
But the Marietta native has flashed enough talent in the season's first seven games to provide encouraging signs for the future.
"He has a chance to be a really good quarterback," says Shoop, who has worked with plenty of them in the NFL. "He can be accurate, he's a smart guy, and he's ultra-competitive. If you can put those three things together, you can win a lot of games."
