Notre Dame Football Opponent Preview: North Carolina Tar Heels Offense

Following the 2016 season, the North Carolina offense lost a ton of talent. With the second pick in the NFL Draft, the Chicago Bear selected Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, the former Tar Heel. In addition to the loss of Trubisky, Wide Receiver Ryan Switzer and Running Back Elijah Hood departed for the NFL. This left North Carolina Head Coach Larry Fedora rebuilding his offense from the ground up.

Quarterback

LSU transfer Brandon Harris hoped to jumpstart his career and the North Carolina offense when he joined the team this year. After starting two games, Harris was benched in favor of Freshman Quarterback Chazz Surratt. Surratt ranked as the 11th dual-threat Quarterback in the class of 2016. After sitting out for a year, Surratt earned the starting role this year.

Surratt ranked as the 11th dual-threat Quarterback in the class of 2016. After sitting out for a year, Surratt earned the starting role this year. In five games, Surratt threw for 988 yards with 5 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He presents a real threat running the football, both designed and improvised. The Irish defense will need to know exactly where he is at all times including employing a “spy” on the Quarterback.

Running Back

As stated above, the Tar Heels lost the majority of their rushing yards to the NFL at the end of the 2016 season. Both Elijah Hood and TJ Logan departed from the University in favor of the NFL. Their third rushing option for the Tar Heels in 2016 was Quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Combined these three players produced 1816 rushing yards or 95.7% of the entire North Carolina rushing attack.

Sophomore Jordan Brown and Freshman Michael Carter now grab the majority of the carries for the Tar Heels. Thus far, Brown and Carter have rushed for 269 yards and 206 yards respectively.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

In addition to losing a ton of rushing, the Tar Heels also lost their top two Wide Receivers, Seniors Ryan Switzer and Bug Howard. Four of their top five Wideouts did not return in 2017. The one player who did, Austin Proehl, suffered a season-ending injury during a loss to Duke.

These five players who will not play on Saturday caught a grand total of 237 passes for 3089 yards. 81.1% of North Carolina’s are simply not there.

Sophomore Anthony Ratliff-Williams, Freshman Roscoe Johnson, Freshman Dazz Newsome

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Offensive Line

Left Tackle Bentley Spain brings much needed experience to the Offensive Line. Spain will make his 27th career start against Notre Dame. Along with Spain, the Tar Heels start Left Guard Khaliel Rodgers, Center Cam Dillard, Right Guard R.J. Prince and Right Tackle Charlie Heck. LG Rodgers, a USC grad transfer, announced his retirement this fall before returning to the team. This group is the most experienced on the Offensive Line. Four of the five players are Seniors or Graduate students.

Bottom Line

The Notre Dame football team definitely possesses the talent on defense to slow the Tar Heels offense. Despite losing a lot of personnel on offense, the Tar Heels are still posting 28.4 points per contest. However, the Tar Heels are only scoring 22.3 points against Power 5 teams. The Tar Heels are still dangerous despite their losses. But, the Irish can definitely keep the Heels under control.

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