University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points: Homecoming
August 13, 2012 | Football, Featured Writers, Lee Pace
By Lee Pace
Carolina's football training camp has reached "tweener" level nine days and 10 practices since commencing Aug. 3. The newness, the excitement, the anticipation has worn off. But the start of classes and the first game are still well in the distance. It's no-man's land of grunt work from one practice to the next, one meeting to the next, one ankle taping to the next.
"They're at the point in camp where it's starting to grind," says Anthony Perkins, a Tar Heel defensive tackle from the late-1990s. "A change of pace today is good, see some new faces. It's good for these guys to know someone beyond the coaching staff, the support staff, their parents back home, care about them and have their back. We know what they're going through."
As Perkins spoke at lunchtime on Saturday, the current Tar Heel players were scattered about the dining area of the Blue Zone in the east end of Kenan Stadium with some four dozen former Tar Heel players sharing their post-scrimmage lunch.
At one table was former All-ACC tailback Natrone Means and last year's electrifying freshman, Gio Bernard. The father-son team of Andy Chacos (tight end, 1972-74) and Brian Chacos (tackle, 2003-06) chatted with the tight ends and offensive linemen. Jason Stanicek (quarterback, 1990-93) introduced his tow-headed sons to Bryn Renner.
And Malcolm Marshall (fullback 1990-93), today an accomplished weight-lifter and body-building competitor in his hometown of Winston-Salem, met strength and conditioning coach Lou Hernandez and complimented him on the physical appearance of the team.
"It's a good-looking group of guys," said Marshall, who played at 250 pounds two decades ago and now is upwards of 300 pounds of lean muscle and a perfect V-shaped upper torso.
"Thanks," Hernandez said. "They worked hard this summer. We made a lot of progress. We could have made more, we just ran out of time."
Hernandez smiled and nodded toward Corey Holliday, a receiver in the early 1990s now on the football administrative staff.
"But Corey said my job wasn't done until they all look like you."
Tar Heel coach Larry Fedora invited the Carolina Football Lettermen's Association to Saturday's scrimmage, the occasion providing a union of the old guard, guys who've been around Carolina football for decades, and a new staff left to pick up the pieces of a fired regime and two years of off-field turmoil. During the hour between the conclusion of Saturday's scrimmage and the staff returning to the meeting rooms to break down tape, Fedora worked the room, telling the ex-Tar Heels they were welcome back at anytime.
"Our kids want to get to know you, learn your stories and know who you are," Fedora told the lettermen. "You guys laid the foundation for everything we have today. You built this place."
The scrimmage on a gray morning at Navy Field reinforced the early returns that this team is top-heavy on offense with a handful of potentially outstanding players but is paper-thin across the board on defense. Quarterback, tailback, tight end and offensive line can be stellar. Casey Barth returns to kick after a year's injury absence, and Tommy Hibbard's punting leg is stronger and more consistent. But the Tar Heels lack a war daddy rushing the passer, have plenty of newcomers to fill in key defensive spots and in general face roster woes borne of two years of various attrition issues -- graduation, leaving early for the NFL, dismissals, grades and injuries.
Sophomore tight end Eric Ebron had one long catch down the middle for a score Saturday, reinforcing the notion that a tight end triumvirate of Ebron, Jack Tabb and Sean Fitzpatrick will be an integral part of an offense that's lacking in numbers at receiver.
"All three will play important roles for us," offensive coordinator Blake Anderson says. "They are critical for us to be multiple formation-wise, to be physical setting the edge, but all can play in space as well. We're lucky to have three really solid players. Each has his own unique set of skills.
"Eric's a little bit of a freak since he can play so well in space with such a big body. He's tough for a backer. Most people figure they'll match up a backer on a tight end, but he's not your typical tight end. He runs like a wideout but has the frame of a tight end. It's great for us to have a guy that can create that much of a match-up problem. That big pass today, he had a backer covering him and that's what we want."
The new spread offense that Fedora and Anderson have installed is not complicated to learn. The challenge is getting the timing down and running at the tempo that the coaching staff demands. That continues to improve, the unit now nearly 25 practices into learning and grooving it going back to last spring.
Russell Bodine inherits the center position from Cam Holland, and so far the under-appreciated element of snapping the ball to Renner in the shotgun formation has gone mostly without mishap. The center-QB exchange from the traditional formation is largely automatic, and the quarterback never has to take his eyes off the defense as he's calling signals. But watching for the ball fly from the center's legs seven yards in front, following its flight and catching it is never automatic, and the quarterback's eyes have to focus on that function for at least two seconds, during which any number of defenders can make telltale adjustments. The timing of any play can go hopelessly astray if the quarterback has to stoop, leap, lunge or reach for the snap. Hopefully no one will notice Bodine-to-Renner come September; that means the exchange is working smoothly.
Meanwhile, the sense of energy and urgency flowing from staff to players is not lost on even the casual observer.
"You can see there's a more aggressive mindset on both sides of the ball," says Brian Honeycutt, a starting offensive guard in the mid-1990s. "It's just a feeling you get watching this team. Kids want to be turned loose, they want to have fun, they don't want to sit back and react. It's a different mentality out here."
Stanicek, who ranks fourth all-time in Carolina's career total offense list with 5,497 yards, played a multiple offense in the early 1990s built on a power running game, drop-back passing and the option. He appreciates all the elements of the Tar Heels' new attack, with the cherry on top being the speed at which it's executed.
"I would love to have been a quarterback in this offense," Stanicek says. "It looks like a lot of fun. It's got some option, a good downfield passing package, a fast tempo. I think Bryn's going to be really good in this offense. It might take a little time to get acclimated, but I can't wait to see how he develops running this offense."
Stanicek, Means and Marshall enjoyed a post-practice reunion with Randy Jordan, another of their early 1990s teammates who's now coaching running backs on Fedora's staff. Means is a coach now himself following his retirement in 2000 from the NFL; he is running backs coach at Hopewell High in Huntersville, north of Charlotte.
"I get back to Chapel Hill for two or three games a year," Means says. "My kids have soccer games, dance classes, all kind of things on Saturdays, so I can't come to all of them. But I'm always following the Tar Heels."
Means looks at the Tar Heels' 2012 schedule, which includes an early season trip to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest. He's reminded of his coming-out party against the Deacons in 1990, when the un-tested freshman rushed for 138 yards and caught a 72-yard touchdown pass in the Tar Heels' 31-24 win. His career was launched and a critical third season under coach Mack Brown turned in a positive direction one week after a tough loss at N.C. State.
"I remember everything about that game," he says. "I especially remember the touchdown catch. It was a wheel route, two guys ran into each other and I had clear sailing. I didn't get too many 70-yard touchdown passes in my career.
"Wow. That's more than 20 years ago. It's been a blur. I don't know where the time went."
Lee Pace (leepace7@gmail.com) has covered Tar Heel football since 1990 through "Extra Points" and has worked the sidelines for the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcasts since 2004.
