Oct. 20, 2009
By Kathryn Young
As Carolina comes off of a bye week and into a historic game on Thursday, one question that has been looming over the Heels is whether or not the offensive line will be healthy enough to compete against Florida State. With a season-ending shoulder injury for Carl Gaskins and significant injuries for Lowell Dyer, Kyle Jolly, and Jonathan Cooper, the varied personnel has created many problems for the offense.
When discussing the important keys for Thursday, Davis acknowledged, "One of the things that is very important is getting healthy in the offensive line, getting some of those guys back so that we can get that consistency and continuity of guys playing side-by-side with each other. You cannot play and you cannot win with just a one-dimensional game plan." Without an effective offensive line to protect the rest of the offense, a team cannot make significant improvements on the scoreboard.
Luckily for Carolina, the team had an extra week to recover further from their many injuries. Offensive guard Jonathan Cooper, who was held out of the Georgia Tech and Virginia games due to an ankle injury, noted the importance of a week off both mentally and physically. He said, "It was very important from an injury standpoint, but also mentally, it was very good to just be able to regroup. Now people are coming back, and we're really looking like an offensive unit, so it was a great time for a bye week. Coach Davis said our practice on Sunday might have been one of the best practices from the o-line he's seen in a couple of months. It was very full-energy and hard-hitting."
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The team not only used the extra practice days to rest some players but also to specifically prepare for Florida State, a team they have not played in five years. "All the guys that have been nicked up, we pretty much held them out of practice all last week," said Coach Davis. "They got a chance to look at some film, to go through some walk-throughs, to go through some identification of fronts and coverage on some of the blitzes. But as far as actual, physical practice of it, we held most of those guys out and they didn't return until yesterday."
Cooper also mentioned the importance of preparation for this team in particular. "Watching film was very important, because they do have a scheme. It's not very complicated, but they have the personnel to execute it fairly well. Knowing the guy across from you is going to help us immensely."
By spending plenty of time examining Florida State's defense, Cooper had a good feel for what Carolina needs to do to succeed on Thursday. "We need to be aware of our gaps and our assignments," he said. "They do a lot of moving around, so as long as you stay on the track that you know you are supposed to do, you'll eventually end up on the right guy. We can't let what they're doing, coming in as an impressive-looking team, get to your head. We need to just be ready to do what we're supposed to do."
With the unfamiliar opponent comes an unusual game atmosphere. This game marks the first time in Carolina's history that the Heels have hosted a Thursday night game. Although Coach Davis pointed out the difficulties in this time change, Cooper thought the overall mood of the team was positive. "The schedule worked perfectly with classes," Cooper said, "because of the break coming up. It's more exciting than anything. Especially because we're starting to get everybody back, we're just hopeful, thinking that we will be able to advance."
Cooper particularly shares Davis's excitement at the exposure that the unrivaled game will bring. "Even at the beginning of the season, when I found out I was going to start," he said, "that's all I've been talking about: making a big block on national TV during the Thursday night game and making history with it being the first one in Chapel Hill. I'm just ecstatic. I've been telling all my friends to watch for me, I just can't wait."
