HeelsBlog is pleased to announced the addition of contributor Ted Enarson, whose as-yet-untitled column begins today. His first entry focuses on the Tar Heel offense.

The biggest question mark coming into Carolina’s season opener at Georgia Tech on Saturday had to be Matt Baker. Every news outlet imaginable seemed to doubt the fifth year senior, especially after poor performances by new quarterbacks at Oklahoma, Auburn, Miami, and Florida State the week before. However, I never had any reservations about Baker and how he would handle the offense. With the exception of two plays, he played very well throughout the game.

However, the statistics do not tell the entire tale. Baker went 18-39 with many of those incompletions coming at the fault of his receivers. In order for the Tar Heels to succeed this season, he will need his veteran receiving corps to play much better. Derrele Mitchell showed his playmaking ability on an 87 yard touchdown reception, but was underutilized throughout the rest of the game. Baker looked most comfortable throwing to Senior Jarwarski Pollock who caught 4 balls for 65 yards and a touchdown. Of his three interceptions, two were on desperation throws and should be overlooked.

However, passing to the tight ends was a huge problem all day and could have led to more turnovers. Nearly all the short passes over the middle to Jon Hamlett were intercepted. Freshman Richard Quinn subbed in for Hamlett but also had problems catching the ball.

The brightest spot for the Carolina receivers came when Mike Mason reeled in a long throw from Baker and held onto the ball after taking a bone jarring hit. Mason, who broke his jaw in spring practice 2 years ago, was considered to be traumatized by the injury and a little timid last season.

Baker seemed very poised in the pocket all day long and never overreacted to the barrage of blitzes from Georgia Tech. The senior knew when to take off running and when to take the sack rather than throwing an arrant pass. Baker also proved many wrong who had criticized his mobility, rushing for a touchdown on the day.

However, to take more pressure off the pass and help move the ball downfield, the Tar Heels will need to get the running game going. Both James Arnold and Barrington Edwards showed flashes of greatness, but neither could consistently gain yardage. Arnold is a little undersized as a true freshman and could be a dominant back in the coming years once he adds some size and strength. Rikki Cook saw some action at tailback, but has added a lot of weight since his last time at the position and looked a bit slow and immobile. Since John Bunting prefers to rotate his halfbacks, Carolina will need to find a solid third player at the position before the Wisconsin game. Candidates include Antwain Carey, Richard Rich, Kennedy Tinsley, as well as Justin Warren who held the third spot last week but didn’t see the field. Now that Matt Baker has removed the question mark from his head, I believe it rests firmly on the backfield going into the Wisconsin game.