UNC Football Catch-all | Bill Belichick Era underway

[SnoopRob]

The problem wasn’t failing to contact the 27th prospect. It was the decision to contact the 31st prospect.

Eh, let's be fair, Lopez was a fall-back option after the Browne experiment fell apart. At that point in the Spring portal, Lopez was likely about as good as we were going to do.

 

[wmheel1287]

If you are talking about that thread started by TrueNorthTarHeel- and it seems like you are- then everyone else should know that that is the poster formerly known as ticket2ride who completely disappeared for the first month of the season after spending all offseason blowing a gasket at any posters who dared question the Belichick hire. He has now resurfaced with a new username after we won two games against FCS-level opposition and spent all of Saturday night on the board calling everyone else a bunch of "Wake Forest riders" and "Deacon dick riders." His posts are so nonsensically over the top that several folks have taken to assuming that he is Michael Lombardi himself posting screed after screed.

Lord have mercy...really?

 

[CFordUNC]

In my opinion, Belichick doesn't even need to win either of these next two games to make a lot of fans- myself included, as a matter of fact- feel at least some semblance of optimism going into next season. He simply has to do one thing that he has refused to do thus far: play one or both of the freshmen quarterbacks. We've lowered the bar so much that simply signaling a willingness to try something different would be tangible progress to me. If we go into the offseason with Bryce Baker and Newkirk having taken no snaps for UNC this year, it's way worse of a transgression IMO than even going 4-8 with this terrible schedule. How can we possibly get an idea of what we may have in the quarterback room if we refuse to give either of the two guys we have waiting in the wings an opportunity to show what they've got against live competition? How can we go shopping in the transfer portal for a QB without at least being able to see what we have on the roster already outside of Gio Lopez? Who knows- maybe instead of having to go big-game hunting alongside every other P4 program this offseason, and having to spend a ton of money to try to land one, we could be shopping for a serviceable backup to Baker or Newkirk, thus saving us considerable money that could be spent to recruit impact players around them.

To me, not playing either of them is a damning indictment of this staff's seriousness.

 

[CFordUNC]

Lord have mercy...really?

Oh yeah, really.

 

[akillesheel]

Eh, let's be fair, Lopez was a fall-back option after the Browne experiment fell apart. At that point in the Spring portal, Lopez was likely about as good as we were going to do.

well, they're tied together. it's still malpractice to not have taken a look at who was available before running Browne off and trying to steal his NIL; they didn't have to do that. the only sensible conclusion is that they genuinely thought Lopez would be better for them.

 

[Calheel]

Eh, let's be fair, Lopez was a fall-back option after the Browne experiment fell apart. At that point in the Spring portal, Lopez was likely about as good as we were going to do.

Tulane did a heck of a lot better. Tennessee, too.

I think it would have been a lot better to see who else we could get or take our chances with Baker and Newkirk -- at least you would be building for the future that way. Or, stick with Jacolby. He could at least beat Wake. Admittedly, this view has the benefit of hindsight, but Gio has been the worst QB I've seen at UNC, save maybe Joe Dailey or Chazz Surratt. Maybe Conner Harrell is the same.

 

[SnoopRob]

well, they're tied together. it's still malpractice to not have taken a look at who was available before running Browne off and trying to steal his NIL; they didn't have to do that. the only sensible conclusion is that they genuinely thought Lopez would be better for them.

I agree that once they believed Browne wasn't the answer, they had to try something else.

But it's a failure of the staff to have to punt on your first portal QB after spring practice and go back to the portal for another try at that point, given the importance of spring practice in getting players acclimated to the team and program.

 

[SnoopRob]

Tulane did a heck of a lot better. Tennessee, too.

I think it would have been a lot better to see who else we could get or take our chances with Baker and Newkirk -- at least you would be building for the future that way. Or, stick with Jacolby. He could at least beat Wake. Admittedly, this view has the benefit of hindsight, but Gio has been the worst QB I've seen at UNC, save maybe Joe Dailey or Chazz Surratt. Maybe Conner Harrell is the same.

I don't think you want to throw freshmen QBs into the starting role straight out of HS, unless they are NFL-level prospects, that rarely works out well and you may end up hurting their development.

I will say it's hard to compare Gio to other QBs because our offensive scheme seems really, really, really bad. We're very predictable and we don't seem to put our QBs in the best position to succeed. All around, the offense seems to be a huge cluster in a variety of ways.

 

[stankeylegjones]

What I'm trying to get at there (and probably doing a bad job of articulating it) is that the excuse that Belichick inherited some moribund awful UNC roster just isn't accurate. By no means did he inherit a great roster, but he inherited a roster that at least had really good pieces like the ones I mentioned above that we could have tried to build around and supplement with whatever additions from the transfer portal, instead of running them off. In particular, Jacolby Criswell should have been someone that they wanted to keep around at least through spring practice, given that he was the starting quarterback, to see how he might be able to fit into their scheme.

Similarly, in my opinion, we had player personnel and recruiting department staffers already in place- people who were already intimately familiar with the college game, and even more so, intimately familiar with UNC and our recruiting territories- that we could have at least leaned on that first offseason instead of firing them all on essentially day 1 with nobody to replace them for months. We essentially had Michael Lombardi running a one-man recruiting department during the entirety of the first transfer portal window opening.

I do agree, I think they didn't do a good job at all with the portal last year. This year, so far high school recruiting has been going well, and we'll just have to wait to see how good of a job they do with the portal. If they don't, it's going to be, or should be, two and done for the BB regime.

 

[Calheel]

I don't think you want to throw freshmen QBs into the starting role straight out of HS, unless they are NFL-level prospects, that rarely works out well and you may end up hurting their development.

I will say it's hard to compare Gio to other QBs because our offensive scheme seems really, really, really bad. We're very predictable and we don't seem to put our QBs in the best position to succeed. All around, the offense seems to be a huge cluster in a variety of ways.

Gio is so SLOWWWWW in making decisions. He doesn't have that many interceptions because he simply won't throw the ball unless a receiver is already open. Of course, that has resulted in him taking a number of fumble sacks because he holds the ball too long or else him running out of room on a bootleg.

His other big problem is accuracy. He is terrible on the deep balls. But even the short and intermediate stuff is in the wrong place, often requiring the RB to alter stride and turn a 15 yard gain into a 3 yard loss.

These problems would be there no matter the scheme. For whatever reason, the QB training and coaching has not made these problems get better over the course of the season. If anything, he seems even slower than the start of the season and less accurate.

Starting a freshman QB is not ideal (Ronald Curry learned the hard way) but it has worked for Cal and it worked for us with Sam (someone with whom Bryce was favorably compared). Moreover, at least you are building toward the future that way. I am not sure what we are building with Gio's experience this year.

Regarding scheme, I suspect a lot of that has to do with the QB's limitations.

 

[SnoopRob]

Gio is so SLOWWWWW in making decisions. He doesn't have that many interceptions because he simply won't throw the ball unless a receiver is already open. Of course, that has resulted in him taking a number of fumble sacks because he holds the ball too long or else him running out of room on a bootleg.

His other big problem is accuracy. He is terrible on the deep balls. But even the short and intermediate stuff is in the wrong place, often requiring the RB to alter stride and turn a 15 yard gain into a 3 yard loss.

These problems would be there no matter the scheme. For whatever reason, the QB training and coaching has not made these problems get better over the course of the season. If anything, he seems even slower than the start of the season and less accurate.

Starting a freshman QB is not ideal (Ronald Curry learned the hard way) but it has worked for Cal and it worked for us with Sam (someone with whom Bryce was favorably compared). Moreover, at least you are building toward the future that way. I am not sure what we are building with Gio's experience this year.

Regarding scheme, I suspect a lot of that has to do with the QB's limitations.

I'm not going to defend Gio. He's not been a good QB by any measure.

But the scheme has been atrocious, as well. If the scheme weren't the issue, we'd look decently iimproved when Max has been in the game and that hasn't been the case. And the scheme, if not at least a significant problem, would cater to what Gio does well and that has also not been the case.

I am concerned that the freshman QBs haven't gotten any game snaps this year, but I wouldn't have wanted to roll into the season with them as options 1A and 1B with Max in the mix coming off such a significant injury. I think we needed to get a good QB out of the portal no matter how we planned to handle the freshman, but Gio has not been a success and we've not gotten the freshman any game reps to see what we have.

I think it's safe to say that QB has a been a failure all the way around this season.

 

[stankeylegjones]

In my opinion, Belichick doesn't even need to win either of these next two games to make a lot of fans- myself included, as a matter of fact- feel at least some semblance of optimism going into next season. He simply has to do one thing that he has refused to do thus far: play one or both of the freshmen quarterbacks. We've lowered the bar so much that simply signaling a willingness to try something different would be tangible progress to me. If we go into the offseason with Bryce Baker and Newkirk having taken no snaps for UNC this year, it's way worse of a transgression IMO than even going 4-8 with this terrible schedule. How can we possibly get an idea of what we may have in the quarterback room if we refuse to give either of the two guys we have waiting in the wings an opportunity to show what they've got against live competition? How can we go shopping in the transfer portal for a QB without at least being able to see what we have on the roster already outside of Gio Lopez? Who knows- maybe instead of having to go big-game hunting alongside every other P4 program this offseason, and having to spend a ton of money to try to land one, we could be shopping for a serviceable backup to Baker or Newkirk, thus saving us considerable money that could be spent to recruit impact players around them.

To me, not playing either of them is a damning indictment of this staff's seriousness.

For me, regardless of how we play in these next two games, dominate or get dominated, if there isn't a change in OC, a good QB coming in from the portal, keeping the high school class intake, and a good portal haul, then I'm not going to be confident at all with this staff. If those things are met, regardless how we play in these next two games, them I'm going to be optimistic.

 

[akillesheel]

I agree that once they believed Browne wasn't the answer, they had to try something else.

But it's a failure of the staff to have to punt on your first portal QB after spring practice and go back to the portal for another try at that point, given the importance of spring practice in getting players acclimated to the team and program.

i'm not sure what we "agree" on.

The excuse for Lopez having missed spring practice doesn't fly anymore for me. he's had enough practice and game time to overcome that, and now, instead of the worst starting quarterback in Division I, he's only like the 30th worst. that's still not nearly good enough to absolve the process that led to BB and ML tossing aside Browne (who's having a perfectly fine season for Purdue) and ignoring the freshmen this deep into the season.

either their evaluation skills are program-tankingly bad, or they're using Lopez as a scapegoat so that people can still believe in the hype and get suckered into thinking that things will be okay if only they can find a good QB (and maybe a legitimate OC to go with him), at the expense of a season whose schedule gave UNC one of the best chances it will have in any of our lifetimes at a conference championship and a playoff appearance.

 

[gregh1]

Tulane did a heck of a lot better. Tennessee, too.

I think it would have been a lot better to see who else we could get or take our chances with Baker and Newkirk -- at least you would be building for the future that way. Or, stick with Jacolby. He could at least beat Wake. Admittedly, this view has the benefit of hindsight, but Gio has been the worst QB I've seen at UNC, save maybe Joe Dailey or Chazz Surratt. Maybe Conner Harrell is the same.

Tulane's guy was a former recruit of Sumrall's

 

[heelinhell]

For me, regardless of how we play in these next two games, dominate or get dominated, if there isn't a change in OC, a good QB coming in from the portal, keeping the high school class intake, and a good portal haul, then I'm not going to be confident at all with this staff. If those things are met, regardless how we play in these next two games, them I'm going to be optimistic.

So say we change the OC, get a good QB out of the portal, and keep the high school recruits...

When you say being optimistic what do you mean going forward in terms of wins next year and the year after and the year after that ?

 

[stankeylegjones]

Gio is so SLOWWWWW in making decisions. He doesn't have that many interceptions because he simply won't throw the ball unless a receiver is already open. Of course, that has resulted in him taking a number of fumble sacks because he holds the ball too long or else him running out of room on a bootleg.

His other big problem is accuracy. He is terrible on the deep balls. But even the short and intermediate stuff is in the wrong place, often requiring the RB to alter stride and turn a 15 yard gain into a 3 yard loss.

These problems would be there no matter the scheme. For whatever reason, the QB training and coaching has not made these problems get better over the course of the season. If anything, he seems even slower than the start of the season and less accurate.

Starting a freshman QB is not ideal (Ronald Curry learned the hard way) but it has worked for Cal and it worked for us with Sam (someone with whom Bryce was favorably compared). Moreover, at least you are building toward the future that way. I am not sure what we are building with Gio's experience this year.

Regarding scheme, I suspect a lot of that has to do with the QB's limitations.

Not only with making decisions, but also physically speaking. He's not fast, nor is he all that quick. Which is why I'm wondering if he's still hurt or not.
Max is a much slower decision maker than Gio, or at least was when he was getting some run.

We've seen that Max is not the answer. Let's see what the freshmen can do....unless they're afraid of getting them hurt because the line can't block.

 

[stankeylegjones]

So say we change the OC, get a good QB out of the portal, and keep the high school recruits...

When you say being optimistic what do you mean going forward in terms of wins next year and the year after and the year after that ?

Oh, I don't know. I think it's way too early to predict anything, since teams will also change a lot due to the portal. If UNC is not in the conversation for ACC champs then I'd be disappointed (assuming those things I mentioned were met).

 

[akillesheel]

Not only with making decisions, but also physically speaking. He's not fast, nor is he all that quick. Which is why I'm wondering if he's still hurt or not.
Max is a much slower decision maker than Gio, or at least was when he was getting some run.

We've seen that Max is not the answer. Let's see what the freshmen can do....unless they're afraid of getting them hurt because the line can't block.

i don't think there's a football fan in the country that's satisfied with their team's offensive line.

UNC's has been absolutely fine this year. they had a really bad game against Clemson but otherwise, it's been Gio making them look bad by being one of the slowest quarterbacks in the country from snap to release. they're certainly nowhere near bad enough to be worried they'd mess with a young quarterback's development.

reminds me of the conversation around the patriots and Maye last year. their OL was, comparatively, much worse than this one, but he started 13 games behind it anyways and now he's an MVP candidate.

 

[Peppers49]

I'm not going to defend Gio. He's not been a good QB by any measure.

But the scheme has been atrocious, as well. If the scheme weren't the issue, we'd look decently iimproved when Max has been in the game and that hasn't been the case. And the scheme, if not at least a significant problem, would cater to what Gio does well and that has also not been the case.

I am concerned that the freshman QBs haven't gotten any game snaps this year, but I wouldn't have wanted to roll into the season with them as options 1A and 1B with Max in the mix coming off such a significant injury. I think we needed to get a good QB out of the portal no matter how we planned to handle the freshman, but Gio has not been a success and we've not gotten the freshman any game reps to see what we have.

I think it's safe to say that QB has a been a failure all the way around this season.

I hate that we haven’t even tried to use the either of the freshmen. I can’t imagine that they could be any worse than Gio.

Barring injury though it seems unlikely we’re going to see them in either of the final 2 games. Staff seems hellbent on running out the string with Gio for whatever reason.

 

[SnoopRob]

i'm not sure what we "agree" on.

The excuse for Lopez having missed spring practice doesn't fly anymore for me. he's had enough practice and game time to overcome that, and now, instead of the worst starting quarterback in Division I, he's only like the 30th worst. that's still not nearly good enough to absolve the process that led to BB and ML tossing aside Browne (who's having a perfectly fine season for Purdue) and ignoring the freshmen this deep into the season.

either their evaluation skills are program-tankingly bad, or they're using Lopez as a scapegoat so that people can still believe in the hype and get suckered into thinking that things will be okay if only they can find a good QB (and maybe a legitimate OC to go with him), at the expense of a season whose schedule gave UNC one of the best chances it will have in any of our lifetimes at a conference championship and a playoff appearance.

My apologies if we didn't actually agree. It seems I may have misunderstood your post.

Gio has been a bad QB. Browne has been a bad QB. (Browne has not had "a perfectly fine season" for Purdue. He's conceivably been marginally better than Gio, but he's not played well and his team is 2-9 on the season.)

I don't think that Browne nor Gio were the answer for this team at QB. My hunch is that Belichick & Lombardi thought that a top transfer portal QB (e.g. Mateer) would run to CH to be coached by them, in the same way they seemingly thought they'd dominate CFB simply by showing up, and they were caught off guard when that didn't happen and settled for Browne. Then, when it was fairly obvious Browne wasn't going to be the answer, they then ran him off and went back to the portal for Gio.

As for this season, I have no idea why they haven't tried Max more nor given the freshmen some game snaps. My hunch on the latter is that we've been competitive in games as the season has progressed and they've not wanted to mess with what is kinda sorta working to see what the freshmen offer. But there are other, less charitable, guesses that one could make that could very well be accurate.

I do think we need a good portal QB and a new OC - who is given the power and responsibility to install a good scheme - to have any chance for next season to be appreciably better. But it obviously remains to be seen what happens on those fronts.