UNC rushers prepare for LSU linebackers

North Carolina’s running game feels the pressure entering its season opener Saturday against Louisiana State.

The running backs are hoping to improve on last year’s 3.6 yards per carry average, and if the Tar Heels are going to beat LSU, they will need a solid ground game.

“More or less, what we’re talking about as running backs is just taking pressure off (UNC quarterback) T.J. (Yates),” tailback Ryan Houston said. “We all want to bring something to the table to get yards to get the pressure off the passing game.”

With the state of the previously vaunted defense in flux, UNC might need the offense to produce more than they have in the past.

“We’d still have pressure if everything was peachy,” Houston said. “There’s still pressure on us either way, because going in, our defense is so high, and everybody was looking at what the offense is going to do.”

Perhaps that feeling of pressure is attributed to the fact that the success of the running game was an accurate barometer of offensive production last season.

In offensively deficient losses to Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Virginia, North Carolina averaged just 2.0 yards per carry.

When the offense moved the ball well, the rushing game usually had a big game. In games against East Carolina, Florida State and the Citadel, the rushing game averaged 5.2 yards per carry.

The ground game will be entrusted to a tandem of Houston and senior starter Shaun Draughn.

Draughn is more of a big play threat, while Houston wears out defenders by running through them with his 6-foot-2, 245-pound frame.

The pair will get a jolt from senior Johnny White, who has settled in as the third running back.

“I think he’s had a phenomenal offseason,” UNC coach Butch Davis said of White.

“Johnny’s one of those kids that’s had a great attitude his entire career at Carolina. Because of the goodness of his heart, he’s been willing to do an awful lot of things.”

LSU’s defense is formidable. The team has one of the best linebackers in the country in Kelvin Sheppard, and he is looking to put a halt to UNC’s running game.

“We are looking at personnel matchups, and the ability to move Kelvin Sheppard into the spot he needs to be,” LSU head coach Les Miles said in a teleconference Monday. “We have a full week of preparation beforehand, and we have some guys that understand exactly what we want to do.”

Sheppard had 110 tackles last year and starts his senior season on the preseason All-America list.

With fellow starter Ryan Baker out for the season opener with a broken jaw, the team will be even more reliant on Sheppard.

That does not mean that the Tar Heels are changing much to counteract him, though.

“We won’t change anything about our front,” Houston said. “If he lined up somewhere else, we’d just block him just as he is. So I guess it is no big deal.”

No matter what the game plan, the success of the UNC running game could play a huge role in the outcome of the game.

“They’ve got a really strong talented (defensive) line and a talented linebacking corps,” Houston said.

“It will be a great test for our offense to see where we’re at, and it should be a lot of fun.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.