T.J. Yates
It’s kind of weird that Carolina fifth year senior T.J. Yates (6′3″/215 lbs) begins his pre-season as Brett Favre is in the news. By no means am I making any comparison when it comes to total talent, but both these gun slingers are known for a huge negative: throwing interceptions. The Heel has thirty-seven in thirty one games played, and plenty feel like they came at the perfectly wrong time for Carolina. If UNC is to get to ten wins, as a lot of the so-called experts and the fan base believe they can, this year the INT can not happen. Now, I am not going to put all the blame on the quarterback, especially last year, when the line resembled a revolving door as so many players headed to the sideline with injuries. But if there is one thing I am going to put square on Yates’ shoulder is that he, just like the other QB, has to stop trying to create something from nothing.
Unfortunately the young man from Marietta, Ga. does not have the speed on the ball or the pin point accuracy to make “the play” that he so eagerly tries to do a lot of times. What the senior QB has to do is to move the chains, and that means that he has to find the open player, the safe pass and not make costly mistakes. This is on him, but it is also on his team mates, which need to hold on to the passes thrown to them, that have to protect their quarterback, that have to do the right things as well. It is pretty common knowledge that it is going to be the D that will lead this squad, but it has to be Yates that leads the offense. A decent running game and short passes can open up the field for the gun slinger, and that could make him dangerous this year. I think with the competition he is going to face in the pre-season, with one more year of maturity and with the fact that this is his last go around, he might just surprise a lot of people.
I think that in the Coastal Division T.J. Yates is the third best at his position, behind Joshua Nesbitt (Ga Tech) and Tyrod Taylor (Va Tech). It is going to be up to him to keep that ranking, but as I said before, he is going to need help from the entire offensive unit. With some of the fans wanting the senior gone, with tough games to begin the season (LSU (nuetral), Ga Tech (home), Rutgers (on the road) and ECU (home)), it could be either a great season for Yates or a short one. If I had to choose here and now I would say it is going to be a good one, as I believe the Heels can come out of those games at 3 and 1 or even 4 and 0.
