Ezeudu Replaces Montilus At Left Guard

CHAPEL HILL – Changes continue at North Carolina, where earlier this week Mack Brown announced that Jonathan Kim was replacing Noah Ruggles as the starting placekicker and Wednesday morning UNC’s coach said Josh Ezeudu will start this week at left guard in place of Ed Montilus.

Both are performance-based situations, so up front, one redshirt freshman will now take over for another, thus UNC will employ its fourth different starting lineup along the offensive line this fall.

“Ed’s just been inconsistent, he’s been up and down,” Brown said. “He played well early and then it’s just been all over the place, so we’ve got to put EZ in there and let him have a chance.”

Montilus (6-foot-3, 315 pounds) started last Saturday’s loss at Virginia Tech but the pair split time, with Montilus playing 47 snaps and Ezeudu 46.

Ezeudu (6-foot-5, 325 pounds) has played both left tackle and left guard. He started at left and played the entire game in Carolina’s loss to Appalachian State when senior Charlie Heck was out with an injury. Most of his other duties have been at guard, though. He’s now played 219 snaps on the season. Montilus, who started UNC’s first seven contests, has played 406 snaps, all at left guard.

“He’s the next best guy,” Brown said about Ezeudu, who is from Lawrenceville, GA. “He would have been considered the sixth offensive lineman. And right now, we don’t have a legit backup center, we don’t have anybody that’s played.

“So when you look at that, he can’t play center, but we felt like he’s the next best guy to go to guard kind of like when we had Marcus McKethan early in the season, we said ‘Who are the best five?’ And we thought he would be a better guard – he was the third tackle, but he could be first guard (and) that’s what we’re trying to do is put the best guys on the field.”

Ezeudu was flagged for two crucial penalties in Blacksburg, however. A false start and a holding call that was costly, as the Tar Heels would have had first-and-goal at the Hokies’ 8-yard-line in the first overtime. The Heels ended up kicking a 29-yard field goal, and the rest is obviously history. his performance, otherwise, was solid.

Brown noted that Montilus will still get some reps, but he will have to work his way back in depending on how well Ezeudu plays. However, if Heck were to go down again, it’s likely that true freshman Asim Richards would be the right tackle because Jordan Tucker would move to left tackle. Of course, Ezeudu could also work at left tackle as he did before provided Montilus elevates his play.