Offensive Coordinator Blake Anderson hasn’t shied away from saying the North Carolina football team’s ground game is far from where he wants it to be, largely attributing the offense’s struggles to one problem.
“The whole continuity of the run game has got to improve,” he said.
Because UNC’s running attack is youthful, trouble with timing and decision-making plagues the corps that features two freshmen and two sophomores both in practice and games.
But if there is one player in the position to revive the team’s running game — which averaged nearly 200 yards per game in 2012 to just 111 in three games this season — it’s UNC’s most seasoned ball carrier, senior A.J. Blue, Anderson said.
“He’s been a leader since day one. Whether he’s on the field or not, he’s always had a presence that I think the guys respect, and he’s doing everything he can to lead,” Anderson said. “I think he takes a tremendous amount of pride in what we’re doing and wants to be better than we are.”
Though Blue didn’t win UNC’s starting running back job in the preseason, he’s still made an impact on the field. The senior ball carrier is second on the team in rushing with 108 yards on the year behind only sophomore Romar Morris, who doesn’t consider himself the team’s sole starter.
“We have a great relationship,” Morris said. “We hang out on and off the field, watch a lot of film together — do a lot of studying — so we both call ourselves the starter. Whoever starts the game doesn’t really matter because we’re both going to go in there and give it our all.”
Blue, who set the UNC record with former running back Giovani Bernard for total touchdowns in a season between a pair of teammates with 29, said the running attack put too much pressure on itself at the start of the year.
“Last year we all knew Gio was going to (score), and when I came in I had no worries,” he said. “I just got to get back to playing my game and being comfortable … I think that goes the same for Romar.”
