CHAPEL HILL – Larry Fedora has a lot of things on his plate these days, among them a growing overall injury list, mounting losses, the psyche of his team and rival Duke on tap for this coming Saturday.
At 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the ACC, Fedora’s greatest challenge may well be the Tar Heels’ shrinking quarterback room. As it stands, he may be down to just one scholarship player at the position, junior Nathan Elliott, who has started seven of the Tar Heels’ eight games and has attempted 86 percent of the 303 passes UNC has attempted this season.
But, Elliott has struggled so much that the staff has essentially tried to replace him three times, and on each occasion the player next in line has gone down in that same game, perhaps for the season.
Chazz Surratt attempted 10 passes in less than two quarters and went down. Cade Fortin, who attempted six passes at the end of a blowout loss at East Carolina, started against Virginia Tech but was lost late in the second quarter. It’s likely he won’t play again, though Fedora hasn’t ruled him out for the year.
Jace Ruder was inserted in the lineup during the second quarter of Saturday’s loss to Georgia Tech, and 25 snaps later he was done, breaking a bone in his shoulder. Fedora also won’t rule him out, but sources close to the situation have told THI he won’t play in UNC’s final three contests.
Yet, Fedora, who doesn’t talk injuries but has been fairly open in the past about players that are out for the season, isn’t ruling out a return this month by Fortin or Ruder, but he doesn’t sound like someone whose banking on it, either.
“That’s a great trick question, I haven’t listed them as out for the season, so yes,” Fedora said Monday during his weekly press conference at the Kenan Football Center, when asked if he could foresee either player getting into another game this season.
The coach went on.
“First of all, I wouldn’t put them on the field if they weren’t healthy enough to be on the field, so that wouldn’t happen,” he said. “We’re not going to put them out there if they’re not 50 percent and get hurt. We wouldn’t do that for any player.
“If they’re able to go and we feel like they can help us win a football game then we would. If not, we wouldn’t put them out there.”
Fortin has played in two games and Ruder one, so theoretically, Fortin could still play in two more games and Ruder each of the last three while maintaining their red shirts. But, is there maybe a greater benefit to simply letting them rest and get healthy so they are ready to go in the spring?
“First of all, I wouldn’t put them on the field if they weren’t healthy enough to be on the field, so that wouldn’t happen. We’re not going to put them out there if they’re not 50 percent and get hurt. We wouldn’t do that for any player.
“If they’re able to go and we feel like they can help us win a football game then we would. If not, we wouldn’t put them out there.”
If someone other than Elliott is going to take any snaps for the Tar Heels at the Blue Devils, it will either be senior walk on Manny Miles or someone currently playing another position, like wide receiver Anthony Ratlff-Williams.
The Rest Of The Presser
As for the rest of Fedora’s presser Monday, he spoke about the team still fighting hard, the challenges of getting true freshmen quarterbacks ready, which we will hit on later in the week, about Duke and more.
