'A coach's dream:' running back Elijah Hood returns smarter, faster

Everything seemed to be moving too fast for North Carolina running back Elijah Hood.

Midway through the 2014 season, Hood, then a freshman, was struggling to adjust to the Tar Heels’ up-tempo offense. But before he could comprehend the system, his season took an unforeseen detour.

When UNC fell to Notre Dame 50-43 in October, Hood rushed for 33 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. In addition to his modest performance, an injury in the game sidelined him for the next four contests.

But instead of being discouraged, Hood utilized the downtime as an opportunity to get up to speed.

“The injury let me take a step back. It let me go over the offense more and slow things down,” said Hood, a Charlotte native.

“I went over the installs, I went over all of the plays and I went over all of my runs from earlier that year before I had gotten hurt. I learned what I was doing wrong and learned what I was supposed to do.”

Now a sophomore, Hood says he is smarter and faster, and plans on translating the lessons he learned onto the field as the Tar Heels look to establish their running game.

Ranked by 247Sports as the No. 6 running back in the Class of 2014, Hood ran for 259 yards and four touchdowns as a freshman.

Along with educating himself on his responsibilities as a running back, he familiarized himself with the receivers’ routes as well as the blocking schemes of the offensive linemen.

“I almost feel like I’m a quarterback out there,” said Hood, who is 6-feet tall and 220 pounds.

Hood’s knowledge of the Tar Heels’ playbook has specifically carried over to film studies, where junior tailback T.J. Logan says Hood knows the answers to about every question asked by the coaching staff.

“He’s definitely stepped it up,” Logan said. “In any formation we’re in, he’ll probably know it because he’s been in this playbook so much. He’s just gotten smarter in the game, and his IQ is real high. He knows the game a lot, and he’s just been out there working hard for us.”

The results of Hood’s schooling were on display in UNC’s first training camp scrimmage on Aug. 9.

On the first play, Hood burst through a hole in the offensive line and passed a would-be tackler for about a 60-yard gain. Two plays later, he went nearly 60 yards for a touchdown.

Fifth-year senior quarterback Marquise Williams, who led the Tar Heels with 788 rushing yards in 2014, said Hood finished the scrimmage with at least 200 yards rushing.

UNC averaged 151.8 rushing yards per game in 2014, which ranked seventh out of the 14 teams in the ACC. Coach Larry Fedora says he’s emphasized getting more production from Hood and the rest of the running backs this upcoming season.

Hood needed to slow down in order to grasp the Tar Heels’ offense. But Fedora said the only aspect that worries him about Hood is the running back refusing to let off the brakes in practices.

“My concern with Elijah is how hard he practices every day. Every single day,” Fedora said. “I’ve got to make sure that however he plays (in the season opener) on September 3 (against South Carolina), he’s still playing that in that first weekend in December. He’s got to still be playing the same way. We have got to do a great job of managing him.”

“He is a coach’s dream on the way he practices, no doubt about it.”

@patjames24

sports@dailytarheel.com