Plenty of QB Options for Petrino - Today's Take
Inside Carolina senior reporter Greg Barnes offers his thoughts on North Carolina’s quarterback room and the potential for success with new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino running the show.
“The first piece of the puzzle is making sure you have a good offensive scheme in place. And the one thing we can say about Bobby Petrino is that pretty much everywhere he’s been over the last four decades, he has put a scheme into place that maximizes what his players do best. He’s big on to the FTS acronym, ‘feed the studs’. He wants to make sure that his quarterbacks are capable and that they know where to find the running backs and the tight ends and wide receivers in the best position. So that’s an easy pass for the quarterbacks, while also setting up the skill players for success. That’s a key part and something that Bill Belichick hit a home run with in hiring Petrino — so from there, I think Carolina is in good shape.
“And then you get to the actual quarterback room. From watching North Carolina’s quarterbacks in spring ball, there are a lot of options. Freshman Travis Burgess obviously needs to put on a lot of weight, which will come, but he’s got a big arm and there’s a reason the coaching staff really liked him. Miles O’Neil, another really big arm. Billy Edwards Jr, he’s battled some injuries throughout his time, but he’s a savvy player. He’s played at some some high profile programs in both at Maryland and Wisconsin. He’s experienced, and there’s a lot of value in having a experienced leader to direct and take charge in the position group room. Tori Newkirk is a little bit different than the others. He has a big arm as well, but he’s more mobile, and he brings a lot of different things to the equation that maybe some of the other guys do not. Then Taron Dickens from Western Carolina, who was not able to participate in spring ball because he wasn’t here yet. And he’s a different type of player as well, not a big guy, not near the same size as these other ones, but he is somebody who is incredibly accurate. He’s had a lot of success at a lower level.
“So five guys and that’s incredibly deep for a North Carolina quarterback room dating back for about as far as I could remember, and a lot of good options that Bobby Petrino is going to have to work with in training camp.”