Sophomore offensive lineman Bentley Spain up to speed

Bentley Spain and Larry Fedora have one thing in common — they both like to go fast.

And while not many people associate 6-foot-6, 300-pound offensive linemen with pure speed, Spain, a sophomore offensive tackle on the North Carolina football team, is prepared to break that mold — both in his style of play and in his dream job.

Much to the surprise of his teammates and coaches, Spain lists in his player bio that he’d like to be a NASCAR driver.

“He wants to be a driver?” Fedora said after practice last Wednesday. “Have you ever tried to get in those cars? There’s not much room in there.”

Spain’s driving dreams might be a bit far-fetched, but the sophomore has convinced the UNC coaching staff that he has become accustomed to the speed of the college game.

In the spring, Spain beat out John Ferranto for the starting left tackle job. According to his teammates, the Charlotte native’s ability to learn quickly set him over the top.

“He’s a very football-smart kind of guy,” said fellow offensive lineman Landon Turner. “He’s reminding me of James Hurst a lot mentally, and he approaches the game in a similar fashion.”

Hurst, who now plays with the Baltimore Ravens, earned All-ACC honors three times and was a Freshman All-American as a left tackle when he was at UNC from 2010-13.

The hope is that Spain can achieve similar success.

“He has a feel for the speed of the game and the speed of the defensive ends and what they’re going to do,” Fedora said. “So he’s just comfortable now that he can be the guy that we thought he was.”

In 2014, Spain played sparingly in each of UNC’s 13 games as a reserve tackle and a special teams player.

Now, with one year under his belt in Fedora’s speedy spread offense, the sophomore feels like he is in position to live up to expectations.

“A year in the program really helps,” he said. “I think I’ve been able to be a little more consistent and I have matured physically.”

Spain’s physicality will be tested repeatedly this season, as he and the Tar Heels will face five opponents in 2015 that finished in the top 50 nationally in sacks a year ago.

Despite this fact, Turner and the UNC coaching staff are confident in Spain’s abilities. If they weren’t, he wouldn’t have won the job in the first place.

“The coaches’ jobs depend on it, and our quarterback, his health depends on it, so I know they all trust him wholeheartedly,” Turner said. “And we trust him to do his job, just by how I’ve seen him work every day. He’s constantly working on his craft and looking to get better.”

But even with the team behind him, the sophomore knows that nothing is guaranteed. If he’s not performing up to the coaches’ standards, he’s fully aware that he could see the bench more than the playing field.

“It has been a dream of mine to play college football for a long time,” Spain said. “But I know nothing is set in stone, it still isn’t, and I just gotta do the best I can to be consistent.”

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