New offensive coordinator struggles to install scheme, forcing a step back in North Carolina's spring practice development.
The North Carolina Tar Heels had 15 practices to get their newcomers up to speed for the upcoming season.
The Tar Heels hit the transfer portal this offseason to add more quality players than many of the Group of 6 athletes Bill Belichick brought to Chapel Hill in his first season with the program.
It appears UNC hit a snag during spring football. New offensive coordinator Bobby Bobby Petrino told reporters during spring football that he recently had to slow down his teaching.
The Tar Heels fell behind during spring practice, massing installs for a "couple days" because players had a hard time learning concepts.
“You need to walk before you run,” Petrino said last week, via On3. “The progression on how you teach, and we’ve tried to do a good job with that in our installation, and slow down a little bit.
"And there’s a couple days where we didn’t move on to the next day’s install because we had to come back and get it right before we were ready to move on.”
Belichick said that development would be huge for the Tar Heels this year. He wanted to take the development of his players one step at a time.
At the same time, Belichick's new players could fall a few steps behind.
Running back Benjamin Hall is expected to play a larger role for the Tar Heels in 2026. He thinks Belichick's staff is developing into better college coaches this spring.
“Everyone feels like, even just putting the record aside, we’re a few plays away from winning some more games,” Hall said.
“(There is) a better understanding of how college football works now for the staff that was here last year, because a lot of them had their first time dipping their foot in the water.”
North Carolina isn't expected compete for the ACC championship this season. But a bowl game should be on the table for a program led by a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach in his second year with the Tar Heels.
Eventually, the staff will have to get the players up to speed. Or once again, they'll need to get better players.