Here is your first major injury of the new season.
UNC freshman RB Gio Bernard fell prey to the dreaded torn ACL in his knee and will be out for the season. Bernard will have surgery to repair the torn ligament and obviously take a redshirt. What remains to be seen is whether this is a huge deal or not. The take from most people is “huge deal.” Bernard came in highly rated with four stars from Scout.com and ranked as the #13 RB in the class of 2010. In short, Bernard is a talented player which at least means he may have been able to contribute. The other factor though is depth. After Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston there is not much there. A.J. Blue has been spending all of his time with the QBs while still recovering from the complete destruction of his knee last season. Jamal Womble would be in the mix but his academics caused him to leave the team earlier this year. At the time, there was hope he might return at some point but that probably will not be this season.
Needless to say, the offensive line as well as both Draughn and Houston need to stay healthy to keep an effective running game going. Those aspects, more than anything else, is going to help T.J Yates(or Bryan Renner) and the passing game the most.
