UNC QB Bryn Renner and his teammates found their locker room decorated in red on Sunday. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina suffered a 33-30 defeat against Duke on Saturday. The next day, on Sunday, the Tar Heels showed up to the Kenan Football Center and discovered a whole lot of red in their locker room.

UNC QB Bryn Renner briefly left the game on Saturday at Wake Forest after a violent collision near the goal line. PHOTO: Robert Willett

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner said on Monday that the hard hit he endured on Saturday at Wake Forest didn’t affect his play.

“I just want to clear that up for everybody,” he said, adding that any mistakes he made after that play weren’t a result of it.

The nasty collision happened early in the second quarter of Wake’s eventual 28-27 victory. On a 3rd-and-goal play from the Demon Deacons’ 1-yard line, Renner scrambled to his right and attempted to break through the goal line.

UNC quarterback Bryn Renner wasn't satisfied with the Tar Heels' pacing on Saturday. Neither was coach Larry Fedora. PHOTO: Robert Willett

CHAPEL HILL — If you haven’t already, be sure to give the story I wrote for today a quick read. It’s about North Carolina’s offensive tempo during the Tar Heels’ 62-0 victory on Saturday against Elon – and how UNC coaches and players weren’t all that happy with it.

To recap, UNC on Saturday ran 74 plays – about 12 more on average than what the Heels ran last season – and accumulated 524 yards. But even when they ran 43 plays for 336 yards, offensive coordinator Blake Anderson described that as “slow” on Saturday.

UNC will begin the 2012 season against Elon at Kenan Stadium on Sept. 4. PHOTO: Robert Willett

CHAPEL HILL — And we’re back from Greensboro, and from the ACC’s annual preseason football kickoff. As you know by now, the ACC media picked the Tar Heels to finish third in the Coastal Division, behind Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. UNC received two first-place votes.

Lots of things came out of the ACC’s media days, which were somewhat overshadowed by the NCAA’s announcement of debilitating sanctions against Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case. I wrote a story you can read here about how the ACC coaches reacted to the news.

As for UNC, lots of things of interest emerged. I’ll write about some of those both here and in the paper in the coming days, but first wanted to provide a recap of five things we learned about the Tar Heels during the ACC kickoff. Here goes …

UNC quarterback Bryn Renner shares a past with N.C. State quarterback Mike Glennon. PHOTO: Robert Willett

GREENSBORO — Don’t want to give too much away, because I made them the focal point of the story I just wrote off of Day One of the ACC’s annual preseason football kickoff, but North Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner shares a lot in common with N.C. State quarterback Mike Glennon.

Both are natives of northern Virginia. Both grew up playing basketball and football. Both competed against the other. Both went on to play collegiately at North Carolina schools. And both are part of perhaps deepest returning class of quarterbacks the ACC has ever seen.

UNC QB Bryn Renner will spend this weekend as a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy. PHOTO: Robert Willett

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner this weekend will be a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy. But he’s also there to learn.

UNC coach Larry Fedora address his team after the Tar Heels' spring game on Saturday. PHOTO: Robert Willett

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina held its annual Blue vs. White spring football scrimmage at Kenan Stadium on Saturday. In case you missed the story that ran in the paper about this yesterday, you can read it right here. The Blue team defeated the White, 44-7. Well, actually, the final scoreboard read 44-21 – but that includes 14 points that the White team received at halftime to make the game a bit more competitive.

Of course, the final score of a spring scrimmage doesn’t mean much. And it’s difficult to read too much into the Tar Heels’ spring game, anyway, because it was, you have to remember, UNC’s 14th practice in the completely new, completely different offensive and defensive system that first-year coach Larry Fedora and his assistants are installing. A lot will change between now and September.

Even so, the spring game provided us some insight and some lessons. Here are some of them:

UNC coach Larry Fedora wants to see energy and enthusiasm during the Tar Heels' spring game on Saturday. PHOTO: Robert Willett

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Larry Fedora wouldn’t mind another 25, 30 practices or so this spring. Maybe by then, he said earlier this week, the Tar Heels would be able to accomplish all they need to accomplish before heading into the off-season conditioning program.

But there will not be 25 or 30 more practices for Fedora and UNC. NCAA rules limit teams to 15 spring practices, and UNC’s final one comes on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Kenan Stadium, where the Tar Heels will play their annual spring scrimmage (admission free, game televised at ESPN3.com).

Here are some things to watch:

UNC coach Larry Fedora says the quarterback competition between Bryn Renner and Marquise Williams (pictured, left) is "wide open." PHOTO: Robert Willett

CHAPEL HILL — Here’s a story I wrote today about Marquise Williams, the rising redshirt freshman quarterback at North Carolina.

Williams, a former standout at Mallard Creek High in Charlotte, came to UNC for a couple of reasons, mainly: One, his cousin played for the Tar Heels years ago. And two, Williams formed a bond with former UNC offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach John Shoop.

Two days after ending the season with a 41-24 loss against Missouri in the Independence Bowl, North Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner on Wednesday underwent successful surgery on his left ankle, the university announced.