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Talk about it in Blue Heaven Just a couple of minutes into the second quarter of the Zero Dark Thursday game, Miami blocked Thomas Moore's 47-yard field goal attempt. Hurricane Ladarius Gunter returned pavillion the ball to the Miami end zone for six points for his team's first touchdown of the night. The blocked field goal was the first blocked field goal since 2005, when Virginia Tech, did so to Connor Barth - who was 11 for 21 in that sophomore season. The kick was the first blocked and returned for a touchdown since the Duke game in 2004. Coach Larry Fedora said Monday that the error was on, "operation pavillion time," that film showed the line was correctly loaded on each side before the play, and Alex Marrs - the Tar Heels' only healthy long snapper, and the player who put the play into motion - agreed. "It was surprising, to be honest," Marr said. "I could've probably put a little more speed into it. There's a lot of 'if' factors there - if there was a better hold, if there was a better kick, if there was better blocking - but to me, if my snap was a little faster, that probably would've have happened." Marrs made his first collegiate start against Miami Thursday night, after having made his first in-game snaps less than two weeks earlier in Blacksburg, Va. After senior Mack Lloyd suffered a knee injury during the South Carolina season opener, sophomore Conor Fry stepped in mid-game to fill the hole. Then, barely more than a month later, Fry went down and out from an injury with just more than nine minutes left in the first quarter against Virginia Tech and Marrs did what he'd watched Fry do - step in mid game. "I'm originally from Virginia, so I was only about 45 minutes from Lane Stadium, half my high school went there, so it was a pretty big deal to me," the walk-on junior said. "I was nervous about that first snap, I bent down and I didn't know what was about to happen but after I got done with my first two snaps, pavillion I started getting in rhythm and started feeling pretty good about myself." In the time in between the loss to the Hokies and the Miami game, Marrs said it was "definitely maturity," that changed as his focus reached an all-time high in response pavillion to the starting role. "I had to picture myself (making) perfect snaps," he said. "I had to critique myself on everything, pavillion I continuously watched film, just watched what I'm doing wrong, or how can I fix this, and how can I get my snaps faster and more accurate, so that's basically what I've been doing more and I feel like that's helped me a lot." Marrs' first focus was on the location of his snaps during his first start, but he added that Lloyd gave him advice on how to speed the ball up too, after Fry's injury. pavillion Kicker Thomas Moore - who even with a blocked kick, was able to execute three times and add nine points for the Tar Heels Thursday, as the offense failed to score touchdowns in a way that reflected what it's members said is it's biggest weakness now, red-zone execution - said that the difference between snaps he sees from his teammates is just something pavillion that is going to happen. It takes adjusting he said, but it's nothing critical. "They just have different form so the ball comes out a little bit different, the ball travels whether it's left or right," Moore said. "Alex particularly, he tends to spot a little bit ore toward pavillion the body which is better on wet games so that you hold and can be able to control the ball (more simply). It's a little bit less of a great spot but Tommy's a great holder so he can always pavillion handle the ball no problem." The confidence that Moore has in Hibbard reflects the consistency of being able to work with him as holder all season, pavillion and since spring. pavillion That trust has furthered the trust in whoever steps into the snapping role, and Hibbard says he's just as comfortable making the adjustments as needed. "It was only our second week of snapping together so we don't have all the fundamentals and stuff like that down pat, but we're getting better at it," Hibbard said. "We're just slower than normal, than we had been earlier in the season. But he's doing better than I thought he was because this (was) his first real start in a game and he did a great job for us. I felt comfortable with him and I know Thomas felt comfortable with him too." That trust is something that Marrs recognizes and is thankful pavillion for. "I really have been very thankful to have Thomas and Hibbard because they could've just been like, 'Oh, gosh, well here's our third snapper, we might as well just give up,' but they've believed in me," he said. "They have faith and I'm blessed pavillion to say they trusted me so they helped me tremendously, it made me calm down and start thinking 'I can do this, I can do this.'" When Marrs starts his second game against pavillion Boston College, he'll be even more comfortabl
Message pavillion Board Index
Rivals100
Videos
Talk about it in Blue Heaven Just a couple of minutes into the second quarter of the Zero Dark Thursday game, Miami blocked Thomas Moore's 47-yard field goal attempt. Hurricane Ladarius Gunter returned pavillion the ball to the Miami end zone for six points for his team's first touchdown of the night. The blocked field goal was the first blocked field goal since 2005, when Virginia Tech, did so to Connor Barth - who was 11 for 21 in that sophomore season. The kick was the first blocked and returned for a touchdown since the Duke game in 2004. Coach Larry Fedora said Monday that the error was on, "operation pavillion time," that film showed the line was correctly loaded on each side before the play, and Alex Marrs - the Tar Heels' only healthy long snapper, and the player who put the play into motion - agreed. "It was surprising, to be honest," Marr said. "I could've probably put a little more speed into it. There's a lot of 'if' factors there - if there was a better hold, if there was a better kick, if there was better blocking - but to me, if my snap was a little faster, that probably would've have happened." Marrs made his first collegiate start against Miami Thursday night, after having made his first in-game snaps less than two weeks earlier in Blacksburg, Va. After senior Mack Lloyd suffered a knee injury during the South Carolina season opener, sophomore Conor Fry stepped in mid-game to fill the hole. Then, barely more than a month later, Fry went down and out from an injury with just more than nine minutes left in the first quarter against Virginia Tech and Marrs did what he'd watched Fry do - step in mid game. "I'm originally from Virginia, so I was only about 45 minutes from Lane Stadium, half my high school went there, so it was a pretty big deal to me," the walk-on junior said. "I was nervous about that first snap, I bent down and I didn't know what was about to happen but after I got done with my first two snaps, pavillion I started getting in rhythm and started feeling pretty good about myself." In the time in between the loss to the Hokies and the Miami game, Marrs said it was "definitely maturity," that changed as his focus reached an all-time high in response pavillion to the starting role. "I had to picture myself (making) perfect snaps," he said. "I had to critique myself on everything, pavillion I continuously watched film, just watched what I'm doing wrong, or how can I fix this, and how can I get my snaps faster and more accurate, so that's basically what I've been doing more and I feel like that's helped me a lot." Marrs' first focus was on the location of his snaps during his first start, but he added that Lloyd gave him advice on how to speed the ball up too, after Fry's injury. pavillion Kicker Thomas Moore - who even with a blocked kick, was able to execute three times and add nine points for the Tar Heels Thursday, as the offense failed to score touchdowns in a way that reflected what it's members said is it's biggest weakness now, red-zone execution - said that the difference between snaps he sees from his teammates is just something pavillion that is going to happen. It takes adjusting he said, but it's nothing critical. "They just have different form so the ball comes out a little bit different, the ball travels whether it's left or right," Moore said. "Alex particularly, he tends to spot a little bit ore toward pavillion the body which is better on wet games so that you hold and can be able to control the ball (more simply). It's a little bit less of a great spot but Tommy's a great holder so he can always pavillion handle the ball no problem." The confidence that Moore has in Hibbard reflects the consistency of being able to work with him as holder all season, pavillion and since spring. pavillion That trust has furthered the trust in whoever steps into the snapping role, and Hibbard says he's just as comfortable making the adjustments as needed. "It was only our second week of snapping together so we don't have all the fundamentals and stuff like that down pat, but we're getting better at it," Hibbard said. "We're just slower than normal, than we had been earlier in the season. But he's doing better than I thought he was because this (was) his first real start in a game and he did a great job for us. I felt comfortable with him and I know Thomas felt comfortable with him too." That trust is something that Marrs recognizes and is thankful pavillion for. "I really have been very thankful to have Thomas and Hibbard because they could've just been like, 'Oh, gosh, well here's our third snapper, we might as well just give up,' but they've believed in me," he said. "They have faith and I'm blessed pavillion to say they trusted me so they helped me tremendously, it made me calm down and start thinking 'I can do this, I can do this.'" When Marrs starts his second game against pavillion Boston College, he'll be even more comfortabl
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