UNC kicks off their football season tonight vs Minnesota!

but tonight at 8:00 North Carolina on your television against Minnesota a real live functional opponent we think uh brenn rener who has played in many a big game for the Tar Heels former quarterback uh manab about town uh he joins us now part you're going to be a broadcaster Bren is are you real are you serious you know Adam first of all it's great to hear your voice and great to be on it feels like it's been forever but um but I'm excited for this opportunity I get to join the media for the first time nobody's excited to do this all first of all you you explored coaching uh that I can't you're you're too nice a human being uh to to make that your uh your VOC it had to be a it had to be hard and B it had to be tough to give up because I know once you once it's in your in your blood uh then it's it's just hard but Welcome to our side now you can give out hot takes and make people mad that's right I get to ask the tough questions on why you threw four interceptions or why you didn't see the three technique in in your lap in in the pocket so I'm excited um like you said I enjoyed coaching my dad was a high school football coach for 30 years so was my grandfather and and I enjoyed coaching the kids and giving back to the great coaching that I had but as you know the landscape of college football changed and it kind of kind of out of control and um and I'm happy with what I'm doing now so it's great yeah maybe High School coaching is really is the real coaching actual coaching to do all right let's talk about this Tar Heels team uh you have been you know in situations where there were two quarterbacks and I remember a time where not only did you have two quarterbacks you had two outstanding quarterbacks uh when you were uh in your career at UNC um I don't know I we honestly do not know what North Carolina has at quarterback so max Johnson I'm assuming will start even though m brown hasn't said who it's going to be uh and he says he's going to play two uh and we're go we're going to see Connor Harold we saw him in the bowl game uh your thoughts on that position for UNC yeah I think you know Adam you hit the nail in the head I've been in every single situation that these two young men are going to go through I sat behind TJ uh for two seasons and was on the precipice of playing U before the LSU game and along with that Marquis and I my senior year uh split time and so I've been cut I've been benched I've thrown interception I've thrown touchdown so I know what these two young men are going to go through throughout the season so um to answer your question I think it's going to be an interesting time to see who emerges as the leader um and you know I think their their skill sets are completely different right like Connor can is is an athletic kid that can run the Zone read and get you yards with his legs and then Max is more of a pocket passer who has experience in the SEC um I'm honestly excited to see who emerges with with their opportunity um and so I think as a as a UNCC fan and a guy that's going to be calling the games this year I'm optimistic about this team because a lot of guys have to step up and make plays and and you know the world of college football you never know who that's going to be no you don't and it's it's it's what what made me so angry when I like I voted in the AP poll a long time ago but I was an AP pole voter for two years and to have to come up with a preseason top 25 I'm like we haven't seen any of these teams play Everything is a guess why would you make people do this but I guess who cares it's just an exercise and futility anyway uh and people didn't like the way I did it and that's fine I gave up on it because I can only I could barely watch enough games that I have to watch I can't watch uh San Diego State play at midnight as well I got things to do uh brenn rener is Jo joining us here on the Adam Gold show former Tel quarterback now part of the UNC broadcast team with Jones and others um you mentioned different styles can because of the the the different skill sets of the two quarterbacks can you have two different offenses or does one need to be more of a change of pace than the other I think it's a little bit of both right I think you need to do what the quarterback does well um I think that's what the great offensive coordinators do and and I think I've said this before to you the offensive coordinator relationship and quarterback relationships is more important than probably any relationship in the building because they're tasked with scoring points and I think it's a little bit of both I think you have to call plays that that kid feels comfortable with um and that's through practice that's asking the quarterback what he feels comfortable with and I coached quarterbacks at FIU when when Butch was there and we would have meetings on Friday and if I didn't like a play or the quarterback didn't like a play it was out of the book and I think that's the biggest thing that I want to see from this Tar Hill team is okay let's run plays that Max let's have these certain plays that Max does well and on on the back burner or whoever if Conor's starting let's have those plays and what he does well but there's going to be two different offenses because they're two different styles of players um and I think that's what's exciting for the fan base like you said it's like playing poker we have no idea what what we have in in the tank because there's no preseason games and so that's what's crazy about college football I think that's why the anticipation has been so big this season yeah that's I I North Carolina's like the the ultimate Texas Holden we don't know what the what the fa what the cards facing down uh have to offer one thing we do know is that Omarian Hampton is one of the best running backs in the country I think the AP named him preseason First Team all America I mean he is he is an absolute I mean when you look at him you just marvel uh at the size and the strength I mean he is uh he is put together um what you would certainly like to have somebody like this uh in the back field to hand it to uh is there a there's no uh benefit you know difference in for him is there in which offense he's in I I think getting him the ball first and foremost is the number one job of of of Chip this year chip LS the offensive coordinator I I think that's going to be the number one is is make sure that that amaran uh gets his Tes and if you remember giovan Bernard was you know probably the best back that you know before Maran and we had a lot of great backs but Gio was the same way we wanted to get him the ball in space so he could go be goo and I think that's what you have to do with the Marion we have to make sure that you know there's opportunities that we can get the ball out of the back field if they load the box with they guys in there and then also find ways in the screen game to to get him to get him his touches um and that's going to allow Max to be a little bit you know Freer on those third and sixes and third and eights um that he has to convert and you know when you watched the season last year Drake and amarion worked hand inand um amarion got his touches and Drake was able to use his legs and people kind of forget that Drake rushed for you know 600 yards and was the second leading rusher on the team so you're also losing the impact of that um and so it's going to be one of those years where you got to get Amari on the ball and along with that kind of protect Max in some situations so he's able to convert those those third Downs brenn rener is joining us here on the Adam Gold show former Tar Hill quarterback now part of the broadcast crew uh on the radio by the way I hope you uh asked questions uh better than I asked the last one um uh but you bring up Giovanni Bernard and that was one of those electric players and North Carolina has had a Litany of them on the offensive side of the ball for the last decade my biggest question mark going into this season isn't replacing Drake May or TZ Walker or anybody on offense it's can Carolina play defense at a level that is conducive to winning a lot of games I can't remember Bren I think you probably played on the last UNC team with a legitimately good defense I I can't recall the last good defensive team at UNC yeah I would I would um I would say that that we I I would probably say that that def need to be be a priority this year um because there's a lot of experience over there Dez Evans is defensive end that was a festar kid coming out um has been decently productive but I think he needs to have a big year and our defensive line I mean you mentioned it I played with a really good defensive line and a defense that you know we would only have to score 21 points so I think that's going to be an emphasis the this year um as well and Jeff Collins coming in and kind of bring bringing A Renewed Energy uh to to the program is going to be really good with his head coaching experience but also his ability to call plays defensively um is going to be is going to be key for the kids and if you if you look at what everyone's saying in the media and the kids are saying is they feel they feel free to be able to to kind of go play in his system so I honestly am looking forward to it Adam I I am I'm looking forward to a defense that's going to be flying around and and hopefully we can kind of grind out wins um in this season because you know last year in the last couple years we've relied on Sam and Drake to kind of carry the torch there's there's no question it's a Bright Lights game uh as well tonight uh just before I let you go brenn rener former UNCC quarterback now part of the broadcast crew um the so some Years start with one of those FCS games State and I'm not knocking it State starting with one wake Duke both starting with one this is a this is you know arguably the most difficult non-conference game on North Carolina schedule I mentioned JMU won't be easy because jmu's got great pedigree now too uh but how do you like starting the season with a game like this I enjoy it and from a players perspective I think we we we enjoy it um we started always with you know I think exception of one year we started with South Carolina pretty much every year and it it kind of you kind of see where you stack up right um it's an exciting time I I think you know we as players we enjoy it we as coaches enjoy it um and and as fans we want to see play really good competition um like I said it's different in the NFL when I was in there we had four preseason games games to get ready and you kind of knew where where you stood but right now we're going to kick this thing off and it's against a good really good Minnesota team that's well coached and I'm fired up to see it and I I think as a player you really Embrace this opportunity especially on the road all right final this is a statement I you can do whatever you want with this do you think you could name all 17 ACC schools I could I could do you want me to do it uh sure well well I think I think you know and and this is what's crazy about the ACC when I grew up I was watching uh you know the the ACC on on Wednesday night basketball and and I could you know I missed Maryland being in the conference as well but I think you know with the additions of SMU and cow it's it provides a different West Coast uh West Coast atmosphere but it's going to be interesting to see and and you know I I like to see the competition increase um and I think that's the biggest thing is this slate of games there's 21 games today and then there's going to be a ton of games on Saturday that I'm really excited to watch across the board so I like to see the good teams play the good teams and I know you do too so I'm fired up for this season I am so glad you're gonna be part of this Tar Hill season so now I'm going to bug the living blank out of you uh Bren rener I appreciate your time man it's good to talk to you uh I will uh I'll talk to you very soon any time Adam anytime you're the best all right man I'll talk to you later Brun rener former North Carolina quarterback back