CHAPEL HILL – Quarterbacks that run well have given North Carolina plenty of trouble over the years. And even this season, with the Tar Heels vastly improved on that side of the ball, the issue has surfaced at times.
Exhibit A was in the last game versus Pittsburgh, when slogging Panthers signal caller Phil Jurkovec rambled 20 yards around right end on a third-and-three to continue a drive that resulted in Pitt scoring a touchdown.
Saturday, Gene Chizik’s crew must deal with the best running quarterback it has faced this season, and might all fall, in Syracuse’s Garrett Shrader. Think of the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder as a QB with running back balance and cutting ability and old-school fullback toughness. He will plow through a defender, get back up, and do it again on the next play.
“He can run over you,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said. “You start trying to figure out, he doesn’t slide much. So as you’re getting ready to hit him, if he slides and you hit him, it’s a penalty. If you think he’s going to slide, at 6-4, 225 he will run right over you.
“He’s one of the toughest quarterbacks I’ve ever seen. So, he’ll be a real challenge.”
Shrader has run for 21 first downs thus far for the Orange (4-1, 0-1 ACC), with 11 of them coming on third downs. He has moved the chains five times on second down, including for 39, 21, and 18 yards. And he’s a threat on first down, too, as Shrader has gone for 14, 19, 20 (twice), and 28 yards on first downs.
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“You look at how many third-down conversions he’s had,” UNC defensive coordinator Gene Chizik said earlier this week. “We talked about that (Sunday) as a defense; how many third-down conversions that he’s had when coverage is good, everything looks exactly the way it ought to look, and he sees a seam in there, and hits that seam.
“And all of a suddenly you’re back to first-and-10 again.”
This isn’t just a case of a quarterback who can escape pressure turning it into big gains. In the right situations, he is a run-first player. A tailback/fullback who can pass taking snaps from center aptly describes Shrader.
In the Orange’s 35-20 win at Purdue last month, Shrader ran the ball 25 times for 195 yards and four touchdowns. His long run went for 39 yards, as he hoisted the Cuse on his capable shoulders and led it to a crucial victory.
“First off, he’s a tremendous quarterback,” senior jack Kaimon Rucker said. “He makes plays with his arm just as well as he makes plays with his legs. And I feel like having the responsibility to contain a scrambler like that, it does get a little difficult. But with that, I don’t think there’s much you can change. The only think you’ve got to be hyper aware of is not to lose contain.”
Shrader has completed 63.5 percent of his pass attempts for 1,148 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions. His long went for 86 yards. He can hit the short stuff, over the middle, and throw long.
And, he can tuck it in and run at literally any time. Fourteenth-ranked UNC (4-0, 1-0) likely won’t face a player who improvises better than Shrader.
“We have to have out antennas up high for him to pull the ball or scramble out of the pocket,” senior linebacker Cedric Gray said.
And that’s the plan defensively for the Tar Heels. They understand Shrader can beat them. He’s done it to plenty of teams, so the Heels are on high alert.
