Staff Looking For Clarity In The RB Room

**************************************************************************************

Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!

***************************************************************************************

CHAPEL HILL – Options abound on the offensive side of the ball at North Carolina these days.

Fall camp is about installing schemes, shoring up fundamentals, figuring out player rotations, and getting a team ready for the coming season. It is the rotation stuff, however, that still carries the biggest question marks as the Tar Heels are ten days into camp.

Perhaps no position group appears more up in the air than running back, as six scholarship players are fully in the mix, and if one goes by the words emanating from camp so far, each are capable of handling a significant load.

“Tell me what day it is,” UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo said after practice Friday, noting how each day a different player in that room stands out. “That’s kind of where we are right now.”

The staff obviously sees it, but so do the players.

“That’s what’s crazy because we have a deep room with six running backs,” junior back D.J. Jones said earlier this week. “Everybody in the room is talented, and everybody has a different skillset. So, it’s going to be fun to see who’s going to be able to compete the most every day, who’s going to be able to jell with the team the best, and that’s who’s going to come out on top to be on the blue team and be able to play in the first game.”

The six scholarship players that comprise the room have played a total of 416 offensive snaps in their careers. And if special teams plays are included, they have combined for 1,211 game reps.

On the surface, that might seem like a lot to some observers, or barely anything to others. What it absolutely means is that the four returning Tar Heels have been on the field enough to understand the speed and physicality of the college game, with British Brooks and Jones logging by far the most snaps.

Yet, while they were named RBs one and two, respectively, coming out of spring practice, it appears the rotation is more up for grabs now than it was then. Consider:

*Sophomore Elijah Green has fully adapted to playing in a passing offense, thus he can run routes and catch balls, while also excelling in pass protection. He played in a run-all-the-time offense in high school, so these aspects of the game were new to him when he arrived.

*Caleb Hood was the third back as a true freshman last fall through the first four games before suffering an injury. He was Carolina’s short-yardage back, and had some success, and surely showed signs of making considerable progress.

*True freshman George Pettaway came in as one of the top players nationally in the class of 2022 and has been compared to former Heel and current New York Jets running back Michael Carter, but with a higher ceiling in every element of the position. He has raised eyebrows in camp.

*Fellow true freshman Omarion was also in the Rivals250 for the class of 2022 and immediately grabbed everyone’s attention in camp. Note: Hampton just arrived in June, but has made considerable progress since then. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he’s quicker and faster than many expected, yet can run with power.

A battle with six guys jockeying for position is exactly what’s taking place in that room. But instead of it being contentious, the players are pushing each other. Words are words, but it appears the group is going about this the right way.

“It’s been great competing with those guys every day and learning from each other,” Hood said. “It’s been fun, we’re building bonds and stuff. So, learning from those guys every day and competing with those guys has been really cool.”

Brooks ran the ball 31 times for 295 yards and four touchdowns last season. He had seven carries for 89 yards versus Wofford, then was huge with 124 yards on 15 attempts in a narrow loss at NC State, before running for 72 yards on five attempts in the bowl loss to South Carolina.

Primarily a special teams performer the last few seasons, and also its captain, Brooks has seen action in 675 plays on the kickoff return, kickoff coverage, punt return, and punt coverage units. He was Carolina’s special teams captain last fall.

The leader of the room, Brooks is the likely starter when Florida A&M visits August 27, and even if someone else jumps him in the rotation, he will be a factor in the ground game all season. Brooks might be the closest thing to a guarantee in the rotation from that room.

“British is the one with the most experience and he is the best blocker and he is the most secure with the ball,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said. “So, he will probably have one of those spots when we get done, and we gotta figure out who the other guys are.”

With Carter and Javonte Williams having opted out of the Orange Bowl two seasons ago, Jones would have started versus Texas A&M, but a broken foot kept him out of the game. Injuries, in fact, have thwarted his progress, and thinking, since he arrived.

Jones is at full strength now, and says the mental bugaboos that came with having multiple injuries are also a thing of the past. He ran the ball 60 times for 253 yards (4.2 average) but didn’t score a touchdown. In 2020, Jones carried the ball 11 times for 65 yards and scored the only touchdown of his Carolina career.

Hood ran for 97 yards on 22 attempts and scored a touchdown last season, and in limited action the last two falls, Green has run the ball 21 times for 94 yards.

In all, the returning four players have combined for 970 yards on 179 attempts (5.4 average) and seven touchdowns. But the two most talented players in the room, and the ones who project the highest down the road, are the newbies.

Pettaway and Hampton could emerge as the primary carriers by November. They have that extra level of pretty much everything when it comes to the position, but now that the team is in full pads and scrimmaged Saturday, how they handle that part of their duties could escalate or slow their processes.

The opener is less than three weeks away, but game week commences in two weeks, so the staff working in new starters and rotation guys everywhere else on offense, soon identifying three running backs is on the check list.

“We’ve got two more weeks to do that, and that’s not a lot of time when you’ve got six,” Longo said. “So, we’re competing and we’re going to put them in some positions here and make some decisions very shortly.”

Very shortly as in maybe by the end of this week.