Why North Carolina HC Bill Belichick Sees Threats All Over Clemson's Offense This Weekend

The headlines for the Clemson Tigers last weekend centered on true freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds, and this week, he will have the objective of downing Hall of Fame head coach Bill Belichick and the North Carolina Tar Heels.

To begin ACC play, Clemson hosts its first in-conference opponent in what will hope to be the Tigers’ second straight win to head to California with some momentum. When speaking to the media on Tuesday, Belichick had high praise for Clemson and head coach Dabo Swinney.

He also had tremendous respect for Reynolds, who he looked at in high school when Belichick was beginning his tenure at North Carolina.

“Tait’s a guy we spent some time on last year in the recruiting process,” he said on Monday. “Really athletic kid, very, very productive in some of the high school tape that we saw. I’m sure that he’s going to be a really good quarterback in the ACC and college football.”

Reynolds will be making his first start for Clemson in just his third game of his collegiate career, being the earliest true freshman starter for the Tigers since 1975. While preparing to start a quarterback with limited snaps, Belichick said that the Tigers played similarly with redshirt junior Christopher Vizzina.

While the expectation was to see both quarterbacks, Vizzina’s injury will prevent that.

“I think, in a way, they’re both similar,” Belichick said. “They both can run the ball, and they have quarterback runs incorporated in their offense. Vizzina did against LSU, so we know that they will do it with both guys.”

However, the eight-time Super Bowl champion sees plenty of physical traits in Reynolds that could see him stand out this Saturday.

“[He’s a] hard guy to tackle, has a good arm, can make a lot of throws, and they’re a well-balanced team,” Belichick said. “They mix up the runs and the passes pretty good.”

It’s not just the freshman quarterback that North Carolina will need to worry about, as Belichick praised junior wide receiver tandem Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore as well, calling them “as good as anybody we’ll see this year”. Reynolds will be looking frequently to the potential All-ACC wideouts, and the job will be to make the freshman’s first start a lot smoother.

The Tar Heels have one objective in mind to prevent that.

“The big thing with Clemson is going to be obviously tackling,” Belichick said. “Their running backs run hard, but Moore and Wesco get a lot of yards after the catch. Obviously, Wesco is a returner as well, so we have to do a good job of tackling those guys.”

However, the opportunity for Belichick to go to Memorial Stadium this weekend is special, being able to being his season 3-0 in his second year as head coach. Clemson will look to prevent that, and the head coach expected “a real hostile environment on Saturday afternoon.

Kickoff is set for noon with the game to be broadcast on ESPN.

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