CHAPEL HILL – UNC offensive line coach and offensive coordinator Chris Kapilovic spoke with some members of the media following Monday morning’s practice at Kenan Stadium to discuss Saturday’s scrimmage and his position group as a whole.
While the offensive line continues to deal with some injuries to key players, such as starting left tackle Bentley Spain, and the absence of one-time starting left guard Tommy Hatton, it made progress between the second and third scrimmages.
“The biggest thing is there was improvement,” he said. “From the first and the second scrimmage I didn’t see any improvement and in the third one we definitely saw improvement really just the operation of the offense.
“We wanted to eliminate the pre-snap penalties, guys lining up wrong, blowing motions, all of those little things that give us a chance to function. We had much less lost yardage plays and more and a lot more explosive plays, so that was positive to see.”
With Spain out, and the understanding is he will be in day-to-day mode when the Heels return to the practice field Wednesday, sophomore Charlie Heck has received a lot of work at left tackle. He’s flipped some with sophomore William Sweet there, even though Sweet is pretty entrenched as the starter at right tackle.
Heck has also worked a lot at right tackle, too, and while he may be more comfortable on one of the sides, Kapilovic is working the linemen to gain a measure of comfort on multiple spots along the line.
“I’m trying to get him and William Sweet to be comfortable at both, because right now they’re both out there, and when we get Bentley back one is going to be on the other side, and I hope to play all three of them,” Kapilovic said. “We’ve been working hard with them playing both sides to get comfortable at both sides.”
The movement at tackle now includes senior R.J. Prince, a starter at right guard for 12 games a year ago and a guard in every practice this month until recently. He was getting reps at right tackle Monday morning.
As a result, Mason Veal, formerly a guard, worked at left tackle Monday, though he has played some at right tackle this month, and the right guard working with the first team Monday morning was Jared Cohen, whose mainly been at left guard in camp. But keep in mind, Cohen started two games in 2014 at right guard in place of Landon Turner, who is now in the NFL.
Cohen graded out well in losses at East Carolina and Clemson, games the offense combined to score 76 points despite losing both contests.
Nick Polino has played both guard spots and gotten some reps at center, so musical linemen has been one of the underlying themes of fall camp.
“Chemistry is paramount with the offensive line,” Kapilovic said. “And if you keep rotating guys in and out of there you lose that chemistry, that communication know what you’re buddy’s going to do. Obviously, with a guy like Bentley, he’s the leader of the offense and brings more to it. Just trying to get these guys to have confidence to believe in their calls and make their calls.
“Sometimes, when you’re a young guy you’re not really sure but you’ve got that older guy next to you that can assure you that you’re right and you feel better. That’s what we’re trying to do. Just get as many reps as possible to understand what they’re doing.”
Spain should be ready to go when the Tar Heels face California on Sept. 2, so with that in mind, we expect the starting lineup that afternoon will be Spain at left tackle, Polino at left guard, Cam Dillard at center, Cohen at right guard and Sweet at right tackle.
