What's new, what to look for this spring for UNC football

North Carolina’s football team has more healthy bodies and some new blood on the coaching staff. There’s even a new look to Kenan Stadium.

Spring football, by nature, is about change and those are all good ones for the Tar Heels after a difficult 2017 season.

UNC, 3-9 a year ago, limped to the finish line with 22 players on the injured list. They are not all back for spring practice but enough of them are to make a difference.

As a policy, Fedora doesn’t talk about injuries but he was willing to concede there are more healthy players who are capable of going through practice on the spring roster than there were at the end of the 2017 season.

It’s not quite the full complement of available bodies that Fedora would like to see, though.

“That I would like to see?” Fedora said. “No, that’s a loaded question, never. No, but we’ve got everybody we need to have right now and we’re going to get.”

Spring is for building depth, Fedora said.

“You’re trying to get as many reps with as many people as possible, knowing that somewhere down the road, they’re going to benefit from it and we’re going to use them when we need them,” Fedora said.

Fedora also has a modified coaching staff for his seventh season in Chapel Hill. Gone are receivers coach Gunter Brewer (who left for a job with the Philadelphia Eagles), running backs coach DeAndre Smith (Utah State) and defensive backs coach Terry Joseph (Notre Dame).

New to the staff this season are Luke Paschall (receivers), Robert Gillespie (running backs), Henry Baker and Tommy Thigpen.

With the NCAA rule change to allow a 10th assistant, Thigpen was hired in January and will coach the safeties and Baker will handle the cornerbacks.

“All of our new coaches have jumped in right away and are building relationships with our existing players, building relationships in areas they are recruiting,” Fedora said. “So, yeah, I’m really pleased with them.”

In addition to the new position coaches, Fedora will also get some help from some recent UNC football players. Quinshad Davis, Jordan Marsh, Jeff Schoettmer and Shakeel Rashad have joined the football staff as graduate or quality control assistants.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who have been in the program and understand the culture that we want and have had success,” Fedora said. “It’s good to have those guys.”

Fedora officially hired Gillespie, who worked at Tennessee last season, this week after Brewer had jumped at the chance to coach with the Super Bowl champions. Brewer was an original member of Fedora’s staff and had also worked for John Bunting at UNC.

Progress is also being made inside Kenan Stadium. The aluminum bleachers on the lower level sidelines are being replaced with new seats. The capacity will be reduced to 51,000 but it’s a good trade for the fans, Fedora said.

“We’re going to lose a few seats but to me it’s well worth them being comfortable and them enjoying the gameday experience,” Fedora said.

This story was originally published March 23, 2018 at 12:11 PM with the headline "What's new, what to look for this spring for UNC football."