Heel Tough Blog: Tar Heels OL Expected to Miss Remainder of the Season

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The Tar Heels offensive line has been steadily improving over the last three weeks and in order to continue that improvement, they will likely have to do it without the help of the guy who has anchored the unit all year long.

As first reported by Noah Weiskopf of Tar Heel Illustrated, starting center Chad Lindberg is likely out for the remainder of the season after sustaining an arm injury in last week’s game against the Syracuse Orange. The injury occurred shortly before halftime last Friday, leading to left tackle Austin Blaske sliding back over to the center spot that he played last season.

Lindberg, who was shifted over to center a couple of weeks before the season because of injuries to Blaske and Christo Kelly, started each of the first eight games of the season and had become the anchor of the offensive line after working out some slow snapping issues early in the year. In those eight games, Lindberg graded out with a 71.4 run block grade, a 79.5 pass block grade and a 75.8 overall grade while failing to allow a single sack and allowing just four quarterback pressures.

Blaske looked great in his 31 reps at center on Friday night and he should have no problem anchoring the line from the position moving forward because he is back at the position that he is most comfortable at. Meanwhile, at left tackle, the team will likely turn to Jordan Hall, the UAB transfer, who really looked really good in his 41 snaps for the team against Syracuse last Friday. The hope is that this offensive line can continue to progress so that this offense can continue the steady progression that it has made in recent weeks.