UNC held its annual spring game on Saturday with the Blue team made up of many returning starters knocked off the White team 38-17.
While there are various players fighting for playing time next fall, the focus of this game was on the two quarterbacks Mitch Trubisky and Marquise Williams. Both players are competing to be the starting signal caller when UNC opens up play against Liberty on August 30th. Statistically speaking the QBs were fairly even. Williams was 22-32 for 135 yards with one INT, 0 TDs. Trubisky was 20-32 for 183 yards. He also had no TD passes and threw one interception. While the stats were similar, there was a feel that the offense operated more smoothly under Tribusky than Williams, something head coach Larry Fedora indicated.
Via Inside Carolina
Was there any substance to the high rate of success the offense had today with Mitch Trubisky on the field opposed to when Williams was under center?
“I would say that if you look stat wise, they were probably very similar in the things that happened out there. Part of it is, there’s no way I can say the teams were equal by any means. That’s really hard to judge. I thought both of them made some good plays. There were a couple of things that I didn’t like. There were a couple of balls that were thrown that I didn’t like that were thrown. We’ll keep evaluating and they’ll keep competing.”Improvements by each quarterback during the spring:
“I say with Marquise, it’s been leadership. I think with Mitch, it’s been that he really now is comfortable and understands the offense. He hasn’t gotten any live reps really. I mean fall camp and now this so he’s come a long way. He understands the offense now. He’s got a pretty good feel for where to go with the ball. I think he’s starting to learn how to command the offense now. Each one of them has steps to do to keep progressing.”
The comments from the quarterbacks themselves painted an interesting picture with Tribusky offering standard comments for this type of situation but Williams expressed some frustration over being asked about the competition.While it is just one scrimmage, based on Fedora's comments and how the team looked, it will be a little surprising if Trubisky is not the starter next fall.
As for other aspects of the offense, T.J. Logan had 109 yards rushing on 15 attempts. Jack Tabb, who is the next man up in the post Eric Ebron era, had three catches for 37 yards including a 25 yard reception. T.J. Thorpe led all receivers with 71 yards while Quinshad Davis and Bug Howard had the most receptions with six apiece.
On the defensive side freshman cornerback M.J. Stewart had a big day six tackles, one interception and two pass break ups. Sam Smiley record 11 tackles, two pass break-ups and a quarterback sack(Note: All that was required to sack the QB in this game was to get a hand on him which is why Marquise Williams was sacked six times.) Alex Dixon also had an interception to go with two pass break-ups and six tackles.
For the most part there wasn't much in this game that anyone paying attention to UNC football didn't already know. As noted above, the big focal point was the quarterback battle and while this game did provide some insight here, August 30th is a long way off.
