After being taken down in the fourth quarter of the North Carolina football team’s 55-31 loss to East Carolina Saturday, senior quarterback Bryn Renner grabbed his foot in pain.
Despite noticeably limping on the field in the next few plays, he remained in the game, finishing the afternoon with a career high 366 passing yards and passing former quarterback T.J. Yates for second on the UNC’s career touchdown pass list with 61.
But on Monday, Renner walked into Kenan Football Center with a gray boot on his left foot tucked under his sweatpants. And after fielding a few general questions on UNC’s offense struggles against the Pirates, the quarterback addressed the injury.
“I’m going to let the trainers handle it,” he said. “I’m not going to disclose what happened just kind of take it practice by practice but I plan on playing on Saturday.”
The Tar Heels (1-3 ACC) will travel to play a homecoming game against Virginia Tech (4-1, 1-0 ACC) in Blacksburg, Va.
According to tweets from reporters at Virginia Tech’s media availability Monday, Hokie starting quarterback Logan Thomas is also currently wearing a boot, but on his right foot.
Renner’s injury couldn’t be less timely for the UNC offense, which will face Virginia Tech team that is ranked fourth in the nation in total defense, having allowed an average of just 241.2 total yards of offense in five games.
Though Renner said he will play, if he is unable to suit up for the Tar Heels Saturday, the team will likely turn to redshirt sophomore backup quarterback Marquise Williams. Known to make plays more often with his legs than his arm, Williams has seen a fair amount of time on the field this season but has only thrown one pass — a 15-yard touchdown completion to Johnathan “Bug” Howard against Middle Tennessee State. Williams has also carried the ball three times for a total of 12 yards.
For coach Larry Fedora and the Tar Heels, it will be seemingly hard to replace Renner, who leads the ACC in passing yards with an average of 279.2 per game, if the three-year starting quarterback’s injury proves to be more serious.
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