The North Carolina Tar Heels were extremely lucky to have experienced offensive lines in past seasons, allowing the likes of Sam Howell and Drake Maye enough time to throw and orchestrate explosive offenses.
This year though, particularly in losses against James Madison and Duke, UNC quarterbacks are running for their lives.
Jacolby Criswell was pressured a combined 27 times against JMU and the Blue Devils, leading to some poor decisions. Criswell turned the ball over three times against the Dukes, then tossed a game-ending interception in Durham last weekend.
In North Carolina’s three victories, though, the combination of Criswell, Conner Harrell and Max Johnson were only pressured 13 times.
Facing Pitt won’t get any easier for the Tar Heels, though, as the Panthers average 17 QB pressures per game.
UNC offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey is confident in his linemen despite their recent struggles, noting their continued improvement from the spring, but pointed to how difficult it was trying to engineer a game-winning drive against Duke.
“They’re somewhat on islands,” Lindsey told InsideCarolina’s Evan Rogers. “That’s tough on them, and it’s a two-minute or one-minute situation, and those (opposing) guys are really gassed up to rush the passer. That’s why we try to help them in different ways, but at the end of the day, they are improving. I’ve seen a lot of improvement from, say, since spring when we were doing that. Those guys are getting better each and every week.”
Willie Lampkin is the only returning starter along North Carolina’s offensive line. Left tackle Howard Sampson, now a sophomore, was sparingly used in his two years at North Texas. Graduate center Austin Blaske rarely played at Georgia, left guard Aidan Banfield is a freshman and right tackle Treyvon Green, a sophomore, only played on special teams last season.
Can the Tar Heels’ young offensive line find a way to protect Criswell and help generate a couple victories?
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