University of North Carolina Athletics
O-Line Shuffle
April 3, 2015 | Football
By Turner Walston
Carolina football is getting up to speed, literally and figuratively this spring. Larry Fedora wants to continue to push the tempo on offense, and a new defensive coaching staff is installing an entirely new scheme ahead of the 2015 season. The Tar Heels have stuck to a thrice-weekly practice schedule in the spring and have had Saturday scrimmages the past two weekends. The team went full-speed head-to-head for the first time this spring on March 21, then held a public scrimmage last weekend.
The big news of the spring –other than an injury forcing quarterback Marquise Williams to miss the practice period– is at left tackle. Sophomore Bentley Spain has been promoted to the first team, ahead of incumbent starter junior John Ferranto. It's a close race, and Fedora has been looking for this kind of competition at every position since his arrival in 2012. The head coach said Spain's productivity has given him the edge. “A guy knows that if he plays better than somebody in front of him, then he moves ahead of him. Now, we'll see what Ferranto does with it,” Fedora said. “We're finally starting to establish a little bit of depth on both sides of the ball. We do have some depth; we've created more competition at quite a few positions. We're still not that way across the board, but we're getting closer.”
Spain enrolled in January 2014 to get a head start on school work and to study the Tar Heel playbook, but injuries limited in practice last spring. “He never really got the head start,” because of the injuries, offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic said. Last fall, he appeared in all 13 games as a reserve tackle. A true off-season and a healthy spring practice period have helped Spain reach closer to his potential, although Kapilovic wants more. “He had a solid, solid scrimmage, was sound with his assignnments, played fairly physical; he could be better there,” Kapilovic said. The coaching staff is looking for the player they recruited out of Charlotte's Providence High School, who dominated the line of scrimmage and tried to finish every block. “I think the more confidence he gets, I think that will become better. Of course, he's playing against better competition, but he's starting to be that guy that we recruited.”
For his part, Spain said being healthy has allowed him to begin to reach that potential. “I'm in much better shape now than even I was in the season. I think that's just a little bit of physical maturity and being in the strength program longer,” he said. “I'm just more consistent and I'm being more physical now. I've taken better steps and tracks, and then my hands have gotten better in pass pro, too which I think is a big thing for me.”
Offensive line coaches crave depth at every position (“A pair and a spare”), and Kapilovic is no different, especially in the Tar Heels' up-tempo offense. As Carolina looks to push the throttle on every series, it's vital that the offensive line can set the tone with a lot of healthy, well-conditioned bodies. With now four recruiting cycles under Fedora, the team is finally getting close depth-wise along the line. “We're much further ahead of where we were a year ago, and maybe even two years ago,” Kapilovic said. Up front, the Tar Heels return all five starters from a year ago and add three redshirt freshmen and four true freshmen, including early enrollees Mason Veal and William Sweet. “I think once we get the two kids in, we get (Tommy) Hatton in and we get my man (Nick) Pelino in, I think we'll finally have a two-deep of all scholarship guys, and we've got a couple good walk-,on kids that are competing so it's geting there,” Kapilovic said. “We're farther ahead and we're getting better because of it, so we're getting closer.”
And in addition to that depth, the Tar Heel veterans are accustomed and better conditioned for that fast offensive tempo. There's work to be done, certainly, but the offensive line is prepared to lead from up front. “I just want to keep getting better every day and be able to push the tempo as hard as I can, and just be able to wear down the defense,” Spain said. “I think we're doing a good job of that, and we're going to achieve it.”
Players Mentioned
