bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina coach Butch Davis said earlier in the week that there wouldn't be any changes to personnel after a poor performance by the Tar Heels' offense in a loss to Georgia Tech.
So what about tinkering with the offense scheme as a whole?
"We're going totally to the wishbone this week," Davis jokingly said Thursday.
The Tar Heels might have had trouble moving the ball against the Yellow Jackets, but that doesn't mean they'll drastically change their play calling. Instead, the coaching staff hopes the offense will execute the plays better.
"We're just going to try to get better at the stuff that we do," Davis said.
Davis said the team has a good week of practice and they've been working to fix mistakes. He said the young and inexperienced offense is still a work in progress after suffering multiple set backs before the season even started.
During the summer offensive linemen Aaron Stahl and Kevin Bryant decided not play this year, and Carl Gaskins was lost for the season because of an injury during training camp. After the first game of the year senior center Lowell Dyer was lost for three to four weeks with an injury and guard Jonathan Cooper has been plagued by an ankle injury that has left him less than 100 percent.
UNC also had to replace three wide receivers who went to the NFL, and one of the players it hoped would help fill the void, Dwight Jones, is just returning from an injury.
Add in that the Tar Heels' top target through week two, tight end Zack Pianalto, is out three to four weeks with an injury and his backup Ryan Taylor is also just returning to practice, leaves the offense looking thin.
"We took some major hits on the offensive line [before the season] that made us younger and more inexperienced than we were already probably going to be," Davis said. "And so we're trying to piece together groups of guys that can play, and gain some confidence, gain some momentum. And I said in week one, it's going to be a work in progress and it still is."
Injury update
Tight end Ryan Taylor was practicing for the first time this week after spraining his knee in training camp, but he won't be seeing the field Saturday. Taylor, along with center Lowell Dyer (shoulder) and Zack Pianalto (foot), are out for the game against Virginia. Wide receiver Josh Adams, who bruised his shoulder in a win over ECU, is questionable for the second consecutive game. Offensive lineman Jonathan Cooper (ankle) and fullback Anthony Elzy (shoulder) are also questionable. Linebacker Linwan Euwall (ankle) is listed as doubtful.
