Little Separation In Key Position Battles
CHAPEL HILL – The two position battles that have generated the most chatter during fall camp have been as Mitch Trubisky’s backup at quarterback and the starting right guard spot. And 14 practices in, it appears little if anything has been settled since camp began.
That’s not all a bad thing, though. Separation is desired, but coaches love competition.
“I want to see that competition more than anything,” UNC coach Larry Fedora said following Thursday’s practice. “I want to see those guys competing their rear ends off at each of those positions where they’re fighting for it. And then if somebody separates great, if they don’t than maybe both play, we’ll see.”
Both meaning sophomore Caleb Henderson and redshirt freshman Nathan Elliott at quarterback and redshirt freshman Tommy Hatton and junior Brad Henson at right guard. Junior R.J. Prince is also in the mix there, too.
If the reps the media is allowed to see in limited 30-minute segments two days a week mean anything, it would appear that there’s been literally no movement between Henderson and Elliott. According to Fedora, one day Henderson will seemingly take the lead and the next Elliott appears to, and in the end they are where they were when camp started with both working with the 2s and Henderson the first taking snaps.
There have been some changes at right guard, sort of. Henson had worked with the 1s first every practice the media has seen until Thursday, but Hatton was out there with the 1s with Prince serving as his backup. Henson backed up Lucas Crowley at center.
But it should be known that Henson and Hatton both rotate between right guard and center anyway, so the different look Thursday morning was more about where they were in the rotation than anything else, offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic said.
“We’re still rotating Brad, Tommy, R.J., we’re still getting a feel,” Kapilovic said. “A few of those guys are starting to get it a little better than the others. But we have to develop multiple centers and we have to develop multiple guards. So, we continue the rotation.”
With Henderson always going before Elliott, that could be an indication that he’s got a small edge on the Texas native, or the staff is simply going by seniority. Yet, that would be a deviation from how Fedora’s program handles things once competitions heat up. This is absolutely a performance-based program.
That’s why there may be something to Hatton going with the 1s on Thursday morning. And if not, there is something to Prince being the backup again. He’s probably third in the running.
Prince has the size and at times the physicality to be a fantastic lineman, but he seriously lacks consistency.
“It’s up and down,” Kapilovic said. “He had a great day the other day and this morning wasn’t his best day. We’ve got everything in our playbook in right now. I mean, things that we may run once a year, everything’s in. And they’ve got every defense under the sun in. So, it’s a lot and I understand that, but it’s his job to go over it. He’s got to figure it out (and) he’s capable of doing that.
“When you go into game-planning mode you reduce a lot of things against certain things, so that will help him. So it’s kind of up and down.”
Fedora was asked if the Tar Heels had a game tomorrow and something happened to Trubisky who he would put on the field, he joking said both Henderson and Elliott. He wouldn’t offer his comfort level in either if pressed into that situation.
Kapilovic is inching toward an acceptable measure of comfort if pressed to play one of the trio in a game tomorrow.
“I’m getting closer to feeling comfortable,” he said. “I don’t sleep very well already, but if we were playing tomorrow that would be tough on me. (But) we’re getting closer.”
With 16 days before the opener, that’s a good thing.