Five To Ponder: North Carolina

There's a few possibilities and I feel like they have a pretty solid guy in

There's gonna be some incoming freshmen who come in and might look to compete for some time. That's one spot they will really be trying to replace a big time player.

One guy that is definitely gonna play a lot this fall and might even start is

A couple more, like

With the spread, one play they'll have three wide receivers and a tight end then have five wide receivers. It's so interchangeable. Everything they knew before, if you ask

This spring was really interesting, watching them adjust to the speed and all that. It was an interesting time and there were a few days where they were confused and befuddled out there and you could tell the coaches were frustrated, the players were frustrated and they're just gonna be adjusting.

On defense, they were running a 4-3 before, two safeties and two corners, but now they're going to the 4-2-5. The key elements to that are that there's two positions in that only two regular linebackers, one of them is like a strong side linebacker and one is a middle linebacker.

This other one is what they call a 'bandit,' which is a hybrid, defensive end/linebacker. It's a guy who can stand up on the line and be a stand up rush end, almost like a fifth down lineman, or he can go back in pass coverage.

Then they have another position called the 'ran' and that's where the fifth DB comes in. It's kinda like a nickelback and he can do a little bit of linebacker stuff, support the run, but also play like a safety. The guy they have there now is

In terms of play calling, it sounds like they'll be more aggressive in this scheme. This is more of an attack from all angles, create confusion up front and more of a college-oriented defense. It's been a big change.

He might be another guy you could put in the breakout category. He didn't play last season because

Romar will definitely play this year and probably be the primary No. 2 guy behind Bernard. But with them trying to run 70 plays a game, he's gonna get touches. He might get 8-10 carries a game and that could add up. I could really see him stepping up big time.

On defense, Smiley had a good spring. The other one I would say is

They got off to a good start last year, 5-1 and kinda fizzled down the stretch. After it was clear the coaches weren't coming back, they fell apart and they got annihilated in the bowl game.

They have a chance to have a better record than last year. I don't know if they'll be contending in the coastal division. They might be a year or so away. But they have four returning starters on the O-line, some guys starting three or four years.

I think they can win at least seven or eight games and sneak up on some people. They play Georgia Tech in Chapel Hill coming off a bye. In that rivalry, that's a bit of an advantage. They play Virginia Tech in Chapel Hill and those games have been close the last couple of years.

The schedule is as favorable a schedule as they've had in a long time. They have one tough road game, at Louisville. Virginia is gonna be a tough one too. In terms of non-conference, Louisville stands out. Then they go to Miami. Carolina has only beaten Virginia once in like 30 years, so you can't take that lightly. The schedule is what makes me think they'll win at least eight games.