Kirk Herbstreit offered an outlook on North Carolina Tar Heels as the program heads into Year 2 of the Bill Belichick era. This comes after a disappointing debut season in Chapel Hill.
Belichick arrived last fall with enormous expectations after his legendary run with the New England Patriots, but the Tar Heels struggled, finishing 4-8 and posting one of the least productive offenses in the FBS.
While on this week's Nonstop podcast, Herbstreit said the next phase of the rebuild must center on upgrading the offense through the transfer portal.
“I’m sure North Carolina is going to be incredibly active on trying to bring in quarterbacks and skill players and offensive linemen,” Herbstreit said. “They’ve got to get their offense going.”
Some help is expected to arrive with the reported addition of offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. It' a move Herbstreit and fellow analyst Joey Galloway believe could change the entire unit. While Petrino’s career has been polarizing, Herbstreit explained that his reputation as an elite play-caller will be the top priority.
“As far as drawing up plays, Bobby Petrino — you talk to the coaching fraternity across the country — there’s skill people that look at him as one of the better offensive minds in the game,” Herbstreit said.
North Carolina averaged just 19.2 points per game, ranking 121st nationally, and topped 30 points only once, against an FCS opponent. Fixing that production is priority No. 1 as Belichick enters his second season.
The Tar Heels open the season in Ireland against the TCU Horned Frogs, offering an early glimpse of whether progress has been made. Belichick will be one of the biggest storylines going into next year.
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