UNC Offense

About the same. UNC will return almost the same offense from last season, really only losing tight end Jack Tabb and WR T.J. Thorpe from a unit that ranked 38th in the country in points scored in 2014 with 33.2 per game.

Much of the offensive line will return, and fans hope the extra year of practice means better results for an inconsistent group. The star of the O-Line is Landon Turner, a top prospect in the 2016 NFL Draft and a very solid contributor. One position battle to watch is at left tackle, where John Ferranto and Bentley Spain were battling over the spring for first team reps. 

At the skill positions, UNC’s top four leading pass catchers and top five leading rushers return. At WR, Quinshad Davis is the best draft prospect of the group, while Mack Hollins provides the deep threat that the offense needs and Ryan Switzer stays in the slot. Austin Proehl and Jordan Fieulleteau are two young wide receivers with breakout potential.

As for running back, Elijah Hood, T.J. Logan and Romar Morris all return. Those three running backs combined for 11 touchdowns last season and will provide a solid running game for the offense.

At QB, Marquise Williams is one of the best returning QBs in the ACC. He threw for over 3000 yards and 21 touchdowns and scored 13 touchdowns on the ground as well. 

The offense wasn’t the problem last year for the Tar Heels. This unit should be just as good as it was last year.

 

UNC Defense

Fans are really hoping that the defense is better, and I believe that will be the case in 2015.

For starters, it is kind of hard for UNC’s defense to get much worse than they were in 2014. The Tar Heel D was statistically one of the worst units in the ACC and even in the country last season, and there is really nowhere to go but up.

There are a few reasons for optimism on this side of the ball. One, Gene Chizik was hired as defensive coordinator and is introducing a new 4-3 defense this season, a change from the 4-2-5 that UNC has been running in years past.  The 4-3 should in theory be simpler and therefore better. Fans will see in the fall if that is true.

Players who can make the defense better include pass rushing defensive tackle Nazair Jones, who looked great against N.C. State and Duke late in the season. The secondary also has a lot of young, returning talent all up and down the depth chart, like Brian Walker, Dez Lawrence and M.J. Stewart who in theory could all be in for big seasons next year.

The takeaway here is that UNC’s defense has to be better, just because it can’t get any worse after a bad 2014 campaign. How much better is the question, and that falls on Gene Chizik and individual players to both improve and buy into the system.

 

You buying or selling this team in 2015?

I hate to dodge the question, but I’m not spending any of my hard earned money betting on this team. The reason why is because last year’s 2014 UNC Football team was so up and down, I wouldn’t bet anything on this team until I see them play a few games. 

Last year, for example, UNC played its best game of the season against Duke on a Thursday night. They had two games remaining, against N.C. State and a bowl game, two important games. One would assume that UNC would continue their strong play in those final two games, but instead those were two of the worst games of the year, inexplicably. I’m waiting to bet until I watch the team this year.

As for how many games I think they will win, I will say 8. With a great quarterback in Marquise Williams and playing a weak schedule that  still includes opportunities for marquee wins (at South Carolina to start the season), I don’t think UNC will win fewer than 8 games. UNC will be in contention for a Coastal crown and could push 10 wins if the defense can play much better under Chizik. 

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John Bauman, editor of Keeping It Heel provided the information for our North Carolina Football 2015 Spring recap. For more Tar Heel  football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow John on Twitter @bauman_john. 

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