Strong showing from Bryn Renner in first career start

After all the fuss about the North Carolina football team’s new faces at head coach and quarterback, the transition appeared seamless in its 42-10 victory against James Madison on Saturday.

But this is a familiar story for the Tar Heels, who were in a similar situation just four years ago.

In 2007, freshman quarterback T.J. Yates made his first start in a Tar Heel uniform in the season opener, the same game Butch Davis was making his debut as head coach for UNC.

And the first opponent of the Yates-Davis era was none other than James Madison.

Just like Yates did, redshirt sophomore quarterback Bryn Renner used the Dukes as a punching bag in his debut Saturday.

Renner opened up on the Dukes early, rolling out on a bootleg on the second play from scrimmage and finding senior wide out Ryan Houston for an eight-yard pickup.

It wasn’t as impressive as Yates’ first completion, a 65-yard touchdown sling to Brooks Foster, but it did jumpstart a 22-for-23 showing, in which he tallied 277 yards and two touchdowns.

“He had a command about him today that for a first start was pretty impressive,” coach Everett Withers said.

No ball Renner threw found the turf, and he tied the single game record for consecutive completions with 14. His 95.7 completion percentage is an ACC record for quarterbacks with more than 20 attempts.

Renner’s only blemish came in the second quarter. While trying to find Jones, Renner’s pass was intercepted by freshman safety Dean Marlowe.

“He probably would have been 23 of 23, except he threw that interception toward me,” said senior wide receiver Dwight Jones. “I should have went up and got it. It would have been a perfect day for him, but over all he played a great game.”

Jones had nearly half of Renner’s first-half passing yards with 95 and he was on the receiving end of Renner’s first career touchdown pass, a 34-yard toss.

“I was the first read on that deep ball. He has to read the safety first,” Jones said. “I made a move around the (defensive back), went outside of him. He just threw it up top of the safety — he just made a great throw so I could make a good catch.”

Jones was the recipient of Renner’s second touchdown pass when he hauled one in on the 10-yard line and scooted around toward the right pylon before splitting two defenders over the goal line.

In the 2007 37-14 rout of the Dukes, Yates connected on 13 of 18 passes for 218 yards with three touchdowns and one pick. But Renner had a little more help on the ground than Yates did, and Giovani Bernard ran in two for two scores and Houston had a touchdown as well.

Renner himself even snuck in to the end zone on a one-yard run to put UNC out in front 35-10.

“If we play good around Bryn, Bryn Renner will play well,” Withers said. “If you can run the football, if you can play-action pass, if you can block on the perimeter, then the passing game will open up for Bryn. I think that showed today in the numbers.”

Yates’ performance against JMU was the start of one of the most successful quarterbacking careers in program history. For Renner, beating James Madison was just the first step down a long road.

“We can’t take any hour off,” Renner said. “We need to go study Rutgers right after this so we can keep the thing going. But it was a great day today, and we played well.”