BY BRIANA GORMAN

bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668

CHAPEL HILL -- When North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates dropped back in the pocket a year ago, he automatically looked for one of his three top wide receivers -- Hakeem Nicks, Brandon Tate or Brooks Foster.

But the loss of those three players to the NFL left behind a receiving corps with little college experience, and its part of the reason why the Tar Heels will be looking for more balance in their passing game this year.

"I think for us to take the next step offensively, we've got to do a better job distributing the ball," said John Shoop, UNC's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

The offense spent the preseason working on spreading the ball more among the running backs, halfbacks and tight ends. Running back Shaun Draughn said Shoop keeps telling him he's going to have eight to 10 catches a game this season.

The most Nicks had in a game a year ago was nine.

"He might have hyped it up a bit," Draughn said with a laugh.

But what Shoop wasn't exaggerating was UNC's need to look beyond its receivers. In 2008, 74 percent of the passes went to the wide receivers, and the year before that, 75 percent were to the wideouts.

"The message that I would like is that I would like us to be a lot more balanced offense," Coach Butch Davis said. "We had three phenomenally talented wide receivers last year, and they deserved all the opportunities to touch the ball.

"I think it would have made us even more lethal and a better offense had we been able to incorporate other people besides those three."

Besides Draughn and the rest of the running backs, tight end Zack Pianalto could see an increased role in the offense. Pianalto was hurt for most of the 2008 season, but he has received much praise during preseason training camp.

"I feel like Coach Shoop is trying to spread the ball around, not just get it to the receivers," Draughn said. "We've got receivers that are coming in, and they have to be acclimated to the system. ... Coach Shoop, he's incorporated plays where the ball comes to me."

Druaghn never has played receiver, but he said he feels comfortable catching the ball. He had 16 catches for 81 yards a year ago, and his career receiving game (28 yards) was against Duke.

The win over the Blue Devils and the bowl loss to West Virginia were the two games in which Shoop said the Tar Heels' distributed the ball the best last season. In those final two games, six players caught passes and four of them were not wide receivers.

"Last year, we had the three guys and we liked to throw to them a lot and we didn't get as much to the backs and [tight ends] as we should have," Yates said. "But since we had those guys, we really didn't have to. But now we don't have them anymore, so we definitely have to distribute the ball more throughout the all skill players on the offense."