Fedora Pleased With The QBs

Spring practice is over at North Carolina, so Head Coach Larry Fedora was asked during Thursday’s ACC coaches’ teleconference what the final verdict is for his quarterbacks from this spring.

Fedora, who isn’t one to gush much about anything, is pleased with Nathan Elliott and Chazz Surratt.

“I would say that both of them are better off than they were when they left off at the end of the season,” Fedora said. “I think they’ve made a lot of progress. I think they did a really good job this winter preparing themselves.

“I think both of them are much more comfortable in the offense and with what we’re trying to do. I think that the game is slowing down for both of them that the decision making process is much easier for them, and therefore they can be much more accurate.”

Elliott, a 6-1, 215-pound rising junior from Celina, TX, started the final three games last fall and played the majority of UNC’s ninth contest, a narrow loss at home to Miami.

The Tar Heels were 2-2 with Elliott as the primary quarterback, as he completed 75-146 pass attempts for 926 yards, 10 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.

Surratt got off to a very good start through the first few games, but struggled starting late in the fourth game, a home loss to Duke. He suffered several injuries, including a concussion, which ended his season other than a few saps versus Western Carolina the week before the season finale.

For the season, Surratt completed 107-183 pass attempts for 1,342 yards, 8 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He also ran the ball for five more scores.

On Monday, Carolina held its final workout of the spring, a full scrimmage that tested every player on the roster, including the quarterbacks. Fedora was asked what his biggest takeaways from the scrimmage were, and before discussing anything else, the seventh-year head man went right into his quarterbacks.

“I would say the biggest thing I felt our quarterbacks were comfortable,” he said. “I think that nothing really surprised them. I thought that their decision-making process, they looked at ease, there was nothing coming at them that they did know what to do.

“It wasn’t a surprise, it was a good takeaway from the scrimmage.”

Fedora laughed off any questions this spring about which player may have been in the lead in their competition for the starting job when the Tar Heels open the season Sept. 1 at California. And he’s not going to say anything about it until a decision is made public, which likely won’t be until the week of the game.