North Carolina has completed 12 practices and one scrimmage without a break. As you can imagine, players are gassed, given the fast pace coach Larry Fedora is stressing this season.

"Guys are sore and beat up, the way they should be," Fedora said when asked to assess how practice has gone so far. "We have been able to stay relatively injury free, so that is the good news. Guys are working hard, but we still have a long way to go. It is scary because we have a long way to go to get ready."

There have been early depth concerns at receiver and along the offensive and defensive lines. Players are being tried out at multiple positions up front as the Tar Heels try to find the best combination of starters headed into their season opener against Elon on Sept. 1.

Given the changes on offense and defense, North Carolina players have plenty to grasp in a short period of time. Strides made in spring were early building blocks, but now the opener looms just 18 days away. I asked Fedora if his team will be ready for Elon on Sept. 1, given all that still remains to do in practice.

"I hope so," he said. "We better be. The rest of our practices we have during camp, we can't waste a rep. We have to utilize every bit of time that we have in the day to make sure we get better. The tough thing is keeping guys focused on the task at hand. You have to have a sense of urgency, and stress to them we can't go back over these things later. There just won't be any time."

Perhaps the opener against Elon will give more time to work out some of the kinks. Because the following week, North Carolina opens league play at Wake Forest and then faces Big East preseason favorite Louisville on the road.