UNC to show new offense in Spring Game

During Wednesday’s practice, the North Carolina football team ran 170 plays. Last year, the Tar Heels ran around 60 or 65 plays a day.

The difference in tempo at practice has been extreme, but it takes a high number of repetitions to learn a new playbook.

And coach Larry Fedora didn’t just bring a new no-huddle, spread offense to UNC, he brought a whole new mindset.

“It’s a shock to the system,” offensive lineman Jonathan Cooper said. “You’ve learned so many plays and you’re just like, ‘You’re almost done,’ then you’ve got another series then another series … We’re putting so much into practices, this is like three practices in one.”

Fedora will display his new offensive philosophy at UNC for the first time in Saturday’s Spring Game.

Special teams will be at a minimum, but otherwise the Tar Heels will go full speed against each other in game-like situations.

While the spread offense traditionally caters to a pass-heavy attack, that won’t necessarily be the case with Fedora.

“If you’re going to put people in the box to stop the run, then we’re going to throw it,” Fedora said. “And if you’re going to spread people out, we’re going to run it. It’s a pretty simple philosophy that we’re going to take advantage of what the defense gives us and be efficient with both.”

Running back Gio Bernard is especially looking forward to the new offense.

He said it doesn’t matter whether he’s running or receiving, as long as he has the ball in his hands.

“I’m a smaller type of guy, so just getting me out in the open field and one-on-one with guys … with this whole new offense, it opens everything up for me,” Bernard said. “Once we get the meshes down with me and the quarterbacks and me and the line, I think it’s just a matter of time until we get this thing moving.”

But mastering the new playbook has been a process. Quarterback Bryn Renner said the team is just now getting a good grasp on it, although only 60 to 65 percent of the plays have been taught.

“It’s like learning a new language,” Renner said. “You’ve got to take it one step at a time and kind of just get accustomed to the tempo that coach Fedora wants, and I think every day we come out here, we try to get a little better at that.”

While Fedora’s style might not be in final form in Saturday’s game, he doesn’t expect it to be.

Instead, he just wants to see his team play hard and play with enthusiasm.

“Number one is to come out healthy. That’s number one,” Fedora said. “Number two is for all these guys to have fun. Fly around and just play the game and have fun. That’s the only two things I want out of it.”

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