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Can you hear me now?
Good!
Raleigh__ Remember that cell phone commercial on TV - "Can you hear me now? Good!"? That's exactly what we heard yesterday afternoon from Coach John Bunting in response to any question of a quarterback controversy at UNC. "Let me just say this: We didn't give Darian the job. He earned the job. He earned it by his play through training camp. He most definitely will be our starting quarterback against Syracuse", Bunting stated emphatically. Man, was I glad to hear that. Durant has proven he can move the chains and lead this team. Is there room for improvement? Most definitely. But the rough edges can't be worked out by shuffling quarterbacks like a deck of cards. What bothered me most was the rough exchange between center Jason Brown and Durant. It was Jason's first game playing for Carolina. "There was a little bit of sound, a little bit of a bad connection with me and the quarterback with the sound and the cadence," Brown said. Well, it didn't look like a little problem. I thought it was huge. The center-quarterback exchange should be a given, second nature if you will. The play doesn't start after the snap. It starts as the quarterback walks up to the line of scrimmage. As the game wore on, I thought Slinger was becoming distracted and more worried about the snap. With the snap worry, Darian began forcing some plays in trying to overcompensate. Not good. What we need to remember is that he's still learning how to be a starter. Dating back to the Georgia Tech game last season he's 0-3 as a starter. The stats are there, but we need the wins.
Usually the biggest improvements are gained between the first and second game. And after some of the game costing problems we saw Saturday, there's no place to go but up. I say we see the Durant we know and love at Syracuse. I was glad C. J. Stephens got some game experience. But a good showing during the last 1:39 of the game against a prevent defense does not warrant becoming the starter. At best he earned more playing time. And that's entirely up to the coaches. Can you hear me now? Good! Go Heels!
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