As the Atlantic Coast Conference had it’s first day of the media get together in Greensboro, N.C., called the ACC Kickoff, a couple of things came out when it comes to the North Carolina Football program. But before we get into that let me just say that it is an extremely nice thing that the discussions about academic fraud and all of that is set aside for the most part as the media and all the teams discuss the upcoming season. The one person that did bring that up, along with the situation at Miami, was Commissioner John Swofford. When the Comish was asked about the future of the conference, and how confident he was that everybody was on board with the ACC, he said…
“In a word, totally. I had a great visit with Clemson. They’re terrific people. I gave you my answer in one word.”
The first thing that comes to mind when you have all the teams of the conference together is that head coach Larry Fedora is the only new coach in the ACC. The two players that went with the head coach are juniors quarterback Bryn Renner and line backer Kevin Reddick, who are both on many watch lists for yearly awards. They are also going to be the catalysts for each side of the ball when it comes to the first year of the new offense and defense in Chapel Hill.
In a post I did very early this morning I talked about the UNC coaching staff bringing in another two recruits from New Jersey for the 2013 season. On the other hand, in a small small article by Scout.com it tells us that a pair of players, D.J. Bunn, a junior free safety, and Keon Virgile, a redshirt freshman middle line backer, have both left the team. Both of the young men were back ups on the depth chart and there is no reason listed as to why the pair of players are no longer on the squad.
While neither of the departing players make any major dents to the depth chart for coach Fedora and his staff Inside Carolina said that the North Carolina’s 2o12 media guide had a pre season two deep. As I had said in another post it would be Travis Hughes replacing Darius Lipford, who re injured his ACL, has to have surgery next month and will miss the entire season. However, from the chart it seems that Hughes is going to be in a race with another sophomore, Tommy Heffernan, for the spot at the weak line backer. Speaking of line backers, when Reddick was asked by the media about the bowl ban the junior defensive star replied…
“We still have 12 games. I don’t know if anyone noticed that.”
Today, on day two of the ACC Kickoff, fans will be able to hear from coach Fedora, and for those that do not have media credentials you can check out a lot of the going ons by turning on ESPN2 (or follow the many main stream media personnel and bloggers on twitter). Once this is done my coverage of the North Carolina Football program will shape up as the season gets closer and closer. So, make sure to come back often to isportsweb to see what is going on with both the football and basketball teams at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.