North Carolina Football: Larry Fedora Looks to Energize UNC with Potent Offense

Monday was a not-so-good day for North Carolina Tar Heel fans as the NCAA released the sanctions against the University for the 20-month violation saga. On Tuesday came the fall-out from the sanctions as some folks were flat-out upset about how the investigation sorted itself out. Now Tuesday's gone and the Heels are looking forward, because spring ball kicks off in Chapel Hill today.

The sanctions marked the absolute end of the Butch Davis era at UNC, and now today marks another first in the Larry Fedora era. We've seen Larry Fedora's first presser, it was a doozy. We've seen Fedora's first recruiting class, he held it together nice given the circumstances. We've seen Fedora's first winter conditioning, Blue Dawn was an overwhelming success. 

Now we'll see the coach's first spring in Chapel Hill.

For Fedora we are looking at the first chance the coach has to work the tempo of practice, install his offense and take a good, hard, honest look at the players that he has at his disposal. The positives for the coach are that he's got a quarterback in Bryn Renner who has proven himself capable at the BCS level, a running back in Gio Bernard that is among the ACC's best returners and a few other pieces that help make the plate quite appetizing offensively.

Look for guys like Eric Ebron to make some moves this spring, provided he can grasp the depth chart. One of the big question marks will be what Fedora decides to do with AJ Blue. The super-talented athlete has yet to truly contribute to the Tar Heels in any regular capacity, and the rising junior has to find a way to get on the field. Hopefully for a kid like Blue the multiple looks and varied roles within Larry Fedora's offense will give him more opportunity than John Shoop's pro-styled attack.

On defense, the Heels are looking to install a sort of hybrid 3-3-5/4-2-5 with combo players at the first two levels of the defense. A "Ram" end that moves between hand in the dirt and stand up rush man, and a "Bandit" player that is a hybrid linebacker-safety. Filling these roles is going to be job one as they require special types of players. We've seen Virginia Tech have success with the hybrid safety-backer but other teams, such as Maryland with Kenny Tate, have not been so lucky.

Vic Koenning is a heck of a defensive coordinator and Dan Disch is one of Fedora's favorites, as evidenced with Disch following him to Southern Miss. More intriguing than the actual on-the-field installation of the defense is how Disch and Koenning work their relationship. Both are used to running a defense, Koenning has made no bones about wanting to run the show himself in the past. How the dynamic between these two guys works out from a teaching and decision-making standpoint is just as essential to the Heels being successful on defense as the actual players filling in the holes.

This is an important spring for Fedora and he must take the first step on the field to building goodwill in the Tar Heel community. The coach has got some pretty dang interesting tricks up his sleeve, including a barnstorming like an April scrimmage at a high school in Charlotte to give one of the biggest UNC fans and recruiting bases a chance to check out the Heels.