CAROLINA: Building a Foundation Up Front
January 8, 2014 | Football
This story is featured in the January 7 issue of CAROLINA: The Magazine.
Junior center Russell Bodine's decision to forgo his final season of eligibility and enter the NFL Draft dealt a blow to the Tar Heel offensive line. With left tackle James Hurst graduating, Bodine had been the most experienced player up front set to return in 2014. Now, with the two anchors of the 2013 O-line departing, Carolina will have some rebuilding to do up front.
Bodine was an honorable mention All-ACC selection in 2013. A versatile performer, he started 11 games at center and one at left guard. He and Hurst were the two 'known quantities' entering the 2013 season, and their experience and acumen helped pull along a young group of players who followed in the footsteps of Jonathan Cooper, Travis Bond and Brennan Williams.
Those young players grew up over the course of Carolina's season, setting the tone up front for a group that began 1-5 and finished 7-6 with a bowl victory. Certainly there were growing pains for sophomore Landon Turner (right guard) and redshirt freshmen Caleb Peterson (left guard) and Jon Heck (right tackle), but their maturation as a group keyed the development of an offense that could not find traction in the ground game in August and September but rushed for 174 yards in the Belk Bowl on December 28. Helping that development was the remarkable consistency (and health) of the offensive line. The same five players started 12 of the Tar Heels' 13 contests in 2013, with Peterson missing the Pitt game due to injury. For that game, Bodine slid over the left guard and true freshman Lucas Crowley started at center.
Let's go position-by-position and examine the future of the offensive line moving forward without Hurst and Bodine.
When Carolina takes the field against Liberty on August 14, it will have a new face at left tackle for the first time in four years. James Hurst made a Carolina record 49 starts at left tackle and appears to have a bright future ahead of him in the National Football League. Redshirt freshman John Ferranto backed up Hurst and appeared in nine games in 2013. Incoming freshman Bentley Spain, a Charlotte native who enrolled this week after playing in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, will likely be a factor in his first season in Chapel Hill. R.J. Prince redshirted in 2013 and may take a step forward in the spring here as well.
As mentioned above, Peterson stared 12 games at left guard and was graded highly for his work over the course of the season. Junior college transfer Will Dancy appeared in nine games as a reserve. Raleigh's Carson Wooten played in all 13 games on special teams. Brad Henson, who redshirted in 2013 but was very highly regarded in his home state of New Jersey, may be ready to step in and challenge at guard as well.
Crowley appears to have the inside track at center, with one start in six appearances on the year. The coaches have confidence in Crowley, as his ability enabled Bodine to shift to guard and the offense not to miss a beat up front. In fact, prior to the Belk Bowl, the starting center position was listed as belonging to Crowley 'OR' Bodine. Former walk-on Arien Smith will certainly be in the mix behind Crowley.
Other than Hurst and Bodine, Landon Turner was the only player with starter's experience on the offensive line entering 2013. He validated the coaching staff's faith in him, making all 13 starts and grading out at a team-best 92 percent in the win over N.C. State. With reserve guard David Collins graduating, Henson could figure here as well.
Right tackle Jon Heck made perhaps the biggest improvement over the course of the 2013 season along the offensive line. His discipline up front was noticeably better from month to month. The son of Kansas City Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck, the rising sophomore will look to improve his footwork to hold down his starting job in 2014. Rising junior Kiaro Holts was highly-touted out of high school but has yet to display consistency in his first two seasons after a wrist injury forced him to redshirt in 2011. Holts could contribute at either tackle position. Six-five, 340-pound Schuyler Coleman, who redshirted in 2013, will fight for playing time as well.
Carolina won't have Bodine in 2014, but the staff has done a tremendous job both recruiting and then preparing players for the high-speed offensive system employed by the Tar Heels. The offensive line is young, yes (the three returning starters were the three new guys just a few months ago), but their improvement in 2013 points to a bright future up front for Carolina.
Turner Walston is a writer and editor with CAROLINA: The Magazine and GoHeels.com. Follow him on Twitter.
