CHAPEL HILL - It felt more like late September than the start of fall camp, but the North Carolina Tar Heels hit Navy Field on Friday morning inspired, focused and ready to take on a challenging slate that is loaded with opportunities.

With damp turf under their cleats, a gray sky above their helmets and temperatures pleasant enough that sweat didn't even grace the brows of overweight scribes, the Tar Heels got right to it as soon as the clock hit 9:50 this morning.

Like last year, music blared from a sound system that would make any DJ envious, crossing generations from the 1970s through more recent hip hop editions. No matter the tune, be it Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" or Guns'N'Roses' "Welcome To The Jungle," Larry Fedora's team showed no signs this was August 1, 30 days before the season opener versus Liberty.

Precision in their drills, as you can see on some of the videos we're running here at THI, was the norm. And freshmen, such as tailback Elijah Hood, appeared as if they've been through this many times. In Hood's case, he kind of has.

The Charlotte native enrolled early and participated in spring practice, so he wasn't foreign to what the Heels were doing, and really looked the part, too. Hood was easy to locate among crowded groups. Players that wear No. 34 often are easier to pick out, but Hood could have been wearing just about any number and it wouldn't have mattered. Some guys just have that "It" factor, and Hood is one of those guys.

His lower body is quite impressive for a true freshman running back, and his body language reflected a talented athlete running with the second team in his first official in-season practice.

Not to portend budding deity status for Hood, but you'd have to dripping with willful ignorance not to have taken notice from the same vantage point.

A few other brief observations from the first day:

*I really enjoyed watching the QBs work. Marquise Williams and Mitch Trubisky were confident and sharp. Backup Kanler Coker looked the part at times, too. Of course, the players weren't in pads other than helmets and the speed wasn't exactly game-like. Still, they looked solid, especially Williams and Trubisky.

*BTW, full disclosure: I played on the offensive line in high school with true freshman QB Caleb Henderson's father in high school, Eric, who coached Caleb at Lake Braddock H.S. in Burke, Va. So, I was eager to see him get some reps. Yeah, I'm getting old.

*Fedora didn't do much yelling during the 30 minutes the media was allowed to watch. He just walked around looking ever more like a CEO. And that's a good thing, because that's what head football coaches essentially are. Mack Brown was the first UNC coach I covered (beginning in 1996) and he always had that CEO thing down to an art. Fedora fit the suit today, too.

*That challenging slate noted above has been discussed quite a bit in various forums. But it's always regarded as a key four-game stretch with contests at Clemson, home versus Virginia Tech, at Notre Dame and home against recent nemesis Georgia Tech. It would be wise, however, to lump the game at East Carolina, which precedes the trip to Death Valley, into that group, as well. Wasn't it just last season when the Pirates rattled the Heels to the tune of a 55-31 thumping at Kenan Stadium? Sure was.

*Saturday is media day, photo day and Meet The Heels Day. We will have much more after those events conclude.