Larry Fedora welcomed 105 players to preseason camp last Thursday and the Tar Heels took to the field in shells Friday and Saturday and then pads on Sunday as they being preparations for their 2016 season opener against Georgia in Atlanta.

            “Our players have done a tremendous job preparing to this point—over the winter, Blue Dawn, spring ball and on into the summer,” Fedora says. “The leaders have done a great job. We have some of the pieces of the puzzle put together. It should be an exciting year, a fun year.”

            The offense has a battery of weapons—two veteran tailbacks and three talented and experienced senior receivers. Mitch Trubisky takes over at quarterback for Marquise Williams; he has all the physical tools, and he’s being challenged on the mental side of the game by QB coach Keith Heckendorf.

            “He can make all the throws,” Heckendorf says. “The thing we’re focusing on is when to take that chance and when not, when to throw and when to check it down. His mindset needs to be, ‘I have a lot of great people around me, together we can do something pretty special. I don’t have to do anything super human—just get the ball to the play-makers and let them make the splash play.’”

            Lettermen are invited to practice on Saturday morning, August 13, at Navy Field, from 9:50 to Noon.

            Lettermen are also invited to a monthly breakfast at The Egg and I on Hwy 54 East in Chapel Hill on Thursday, Aug. 11, from 7:30 to 9.

            Lettermen will have the opportunity at breakfast Thursday and after practice on Saturday to get a look at Lee Pace’s new book, Football in a Forest—the Life and Times of Kenan Memorial Stadium. The book has been sponsored by the Lettermen’s Association, and sales of the $39.95 coffee-table book will go back to the Lettermen’s Assn.