We move on in our series looking at the weakest and strongest positions on each team in the ACC with North Carolina:
Strongest position: Quarterback
Bryn Renner is one of the more unheralded quarterbacks in the country, but he quietly has also been one of the best, and is poised to build on that this fall. Renner enters 2013 as one of the most accurate passers in ACC history (66.7 career completion percentage), with a career pass efficiency rating of 154.59 -- the fifth-best among active players nationally and a mark which would be the best in ACC history for a career. Last season he tied the UNC single-game record with five touchdown passes against Louisville. He finished with 3,356 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also completed 65.4 percent of his passes.
Weakest position: Linebacker
The Heels have to replace two starting linebackers, including one of their top defenders in Kevin Reddick, who had 31 career starts. Junior Tommy Heffernan (72 tackles) is now the leader of a group which includes junior Travis Hughes (38 tackles), and a pair of redshirt freshman in Nathan Staub and Dan Mastromatteo. Heffernan and Hughes both emerged from the spring as the leading candidates to take over at weakside linebacker, with Hughes having a slight edge. Both will be relied upon heavily, though. Staub and Mastromatteo have been competing to take over Reddick’s job in the middle.
