Okay, I know I’m late, but since the public sale doesn’t go live until next week, I’d like to think I’m early. ? I’ll admit, I don’t love how Nordstrom staggered the sale this year because SO much is already sold out, but I promise you I’m going to be on the lookout for restocks...{Read more} The post Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Picks appeared first on Coffee Beans and Bobby Pins.

On July 21, 2020 our lives were forever changed when Noah James Wilkinson came into the world. That day will always be embedded as the best day of our lives. It’s the day we first met our son and the…

Nell Redmond-USA TODAY Sports Can the Heels get enough help in the trenches to complement their skill positions talent? Well, until further notice, I guess we’re still doing this. Last year, UNC’s offensive line had its ups and downs. They powered a rushing attack that nearly led to two 1,000-yard rushers, but they also allowed 37 sacks over just 13 games and experienced pretty significant turnover throughout the season. It didn’t stop Sam Howell from having one of the best true freshman seasons ever, but it definitely didn’t help, and as the offense looks to take a step forward this year, the line is going to have to improve for that to be possible. Let’s take a look at what the Heels are working with up front: Key Losses The loss that will be felt most on UNC’s offense is that of Charlie Heck, the starting left tackle who graduated last year and was drafted in the 4th round of the NFL Draft by the Houston Texans. His NFL future is uncertain on a roster filled with backup tackles, but there’s no denying that he was a stalwart for the Heels and will be tough to replace. Do-it-all swingman Nick Polino has also graduated after years of filling in admirably at just about any position he was asked to, leaving UNC with a depth problem in terms of guys who can play multiple positions along the line. Key Returnees Starters The other four players who finished out the season as starters all return: Sophomore left guard Josh Ezeudu, junior center Brian Anderson, right guard Marcus McKethan, and right tackle Jordan Tucker. The guards were both very good last year — Ezeudu won the starting job late in the season after putting in a ton of work as a true freshman and McKethan was named UNC’s most consistent lineman by several of his teammates (Heck’s hand injury made him ineligible, I guess). He allowed just two sacks over the course of the season and should be considered UNC’s best offensive lineman this year. After some talk that Ezeudu might shift over to left tackle, it seems like he’ll be sticking at guard, and according to Tucker, he’s gotten to be just as good as McKethan on the other side. Tucker was good, too — he actually finished the season as Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded player on the line, and even though he was a little leakier than the guards were, he’s got some nasty to him that UNC offensive lines have desperately needed. He was second on the team in knockdowns to Heck, according to his GoHeels profile, and is a very good finisher. Anderson was the position group’s weakest link last year; he’s clearly an intelligent player and didn’t have trouble snapping the ball but was just physically overwhelmed far too often up the middle, leading to pressure that Sam Howell couldn’t really get away from. He could have improved after a year of starting, of course, but his spot is probably the most vulnerable of the returnees’. Subs Mack Brown and Phil Longo, for reasons that mostly elude me, like rotating their offensive linemen when the talent gap between 1st string and 2nd string isn’t that big. I think it impairs cohesion, they seem to think it furthers development. Both could be true, and I’m not going to argue the point, but one thing that does mean is we have more of an impression of last year’s non-starters than we would on most other teams. The two biggest names in this group are redshirt freshman Asim Richards and redshirt sophomore Ed Montilus. Richards is, after a year of playing experience and college weight training, slotted to start at left tackle after Heck’s departure, according to the team’s recent Training Camp interviews. He’s talked a lot about how much Heck and Tucker helped him learn the offensive scheme and mental aspects of playing left tackle, so that’s something to look for - he’s got fantastic athleticism for a tackle, but played pretty light last year and got bulled too often to be comfortable with. UNC’s roster now has him listed at 305 pounds, so that might be a sign of good change. Montilus started the 2019 season starting at left guard before being benched in favor of Ezeudu. He started the season really well next to Heck, but his play declined over the course of the season. If he can get back to that early form and maintain his conditioning, he could slip into the line without much of a drop in play. Redshirt sophomore William Barnes is, I believe, the offensive lineman who was rated highest among the position group. He’s looked really impressive in limited snaps at guard the past two years, but word is that he struggled to handle the scheme change from Larry Fedora’s spread to Phil Longo’s Air Raid more than most. He’s got the body and technique to dominate, though, if he can get the playbook down. Longo mentioned him as a potential starter at left guard back in April, and while that probably won’t happen now with Ezeudu staying at the position, he may well get extended snaps. And finally, junior Billy Ross kind of fills the Polino spot; he can play any of the three interior spots in a pinch but probably isn’t a starting-caliber player. Newcomers As alluded to above, the position that’s most up for grabs on UNC’s line right now is the center spot. Anderson would love to hold on to his starting position from last year, but he’s being challenged by redshirt freshman Ty Murray, who’s already splitting first-team reps with Anderson according to Tucker. Murray already endeared himself to UNC fans last year with the below GIF from his action against NC State, and you can’t find an evaluation of him anywhere that doesn’t mention his edge. I think he’s got a real shot to be the Day 1 starter, and if that happens, we get to see more of this: Eat dirt, Payton Wilson Fellow redshirt freshmen Triston Miller and Wyatt Tunall might also see time, especially Miller, who’s absurdly talented from looking at his high school film. It’s hard to expect true freshman offensive linemen to make immediate impacts, because of the weight training that incoming freshmen so often need to be able to bang around in the trenches of college football. That said, Longo mentioned Jonathan Adorno as somebody he liked in the battle for the center position back in April. He isn’t splitting reps with Murray and Anderson now, it would seem, but he could rotate in over the course of the season. Does that speak to his college readiness, UNC’s lightness at the position, or a little of both? I’ll let you decide. UNC’s 2020 class also includes offensive tackles Cayden Baker and Trey Zimmerman and guard Malik McGowan. Outlook The biggest determinant of an offensive line’s success is year-over-year continuity, unless you have a truly legendary offensive line coach. Stacy Searels, the Tar Heels’ offensive line coach, did some good things with new players adjusting to a new scheme last year and has coached some good lines, but hasn’t been anywhere longer than 3 years since the turn of the millennium — it’s not an insult to say he’s probably not in the elite tier there. Returning at least three starters is pretty good for this group, and the right side looks particularly good for returning McKethan and Tucker. The left is a bit more of a question mark, because Ezeudu only started a few games last year and doesn’t have the same rapport with Richards, who’s replacing an NFL-level talent. But both of them have shown themselves to be good players, and if Richards’ weight gain is legit and hasn’t hampered his movement, the left side of the line should be at least solid. Center remains the concern here, and it’s not one that’s easily neutralized: you can use tight ends and running backs to help tackles with edge rushers, but pressure up the middle is hard to avoid or plan around. Especially towards the end of the season, UNC put together masterful offensive performances even with this weakness, because the nature of line play is that if they’re at all serviceable, offensive linemen win most of the time, so it’s not a make-or-break weakness for this offense, which should still be very good. But if it hasn’t improved, it does have the ability to hold them back from greatness. It should be the spot on offense where all eyes are focused to see if this team can reach its lofty 2020 expectations. (well, if there’s a 2020 season) Check out our other positional breakdowns if you haven’t already! Receivers Running Backs Quarterbacks

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports If it is actually possible for a social media platform to spontaneously combust, it may have happened yesterday. Let’s be honest: Monday’s college football Twitter was a really chaotic place to navigate yesterday. Coming out of the day, it was hard to know what was the truth and what was merely he-said-she-said information, but what we do know this this: for now the college football season seems to be on still for the Power Five conferences. Still, with everything that happened, it’s hard to imagine that things haven’t been stirring behind closed doors with representatives of each conference. Big Ten, I’m especially looking at you. The Big Ten conference was perhaps the biggest catalyst in yesterday’s Twitter explosion. It all started when sportscaster and radio personality Dan Patrick was referenced in a tweet saying that the Big Ten had officially voted on opting out of the fall football season: Dan Patrick reports Big Ten had internal vote & by 12-2 margin, league members opted on not having a fall football season. Nebraska & Iowa were only schools that voted to play this fall, @dpshow said. Patrick said Big Ten & Pac-12 would cancel fall seasons Tuesday— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 10, 2020 There had been rumors brewing Sunday night that the Big Ten might be the first brave(?) conference to decide not to risk playing football, and Patrick delivered what seemed to be confirmation. The most interesting part of this is that he included the PAC-12 as a conference that would opt out, but there wasn’t any real information released that pointed to that being true. Still, this was what Twitter/media had to run with for a good while, and much like with everything else in 2020 a lot of people had a lot of things to say about what would basically be a hollow college football season without one of the bigger conferences in the fold. Power 5 AD just texted me: “It’s looking more and more like it’s Big Ten and Pac-12 vs. SEC, ACC and Big 12."— Matt Hayes (@MattHayesCFB) August 10, 2020 Power 5 official: "Rather than prepare for every scenario (such as the spring model), as any efficient, well-managed organization would, we collectively buried our heads in the sands of hopes and prayers." Yep. Spring model has been viewed as a last resort.— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonAspen) August 10, 2020 The silver lining of this CFB mess is that it’s shining a brighter light on how much of an absolute clown show the NCAA is. The worst to ever do it.— Kayce Smith (@KayceSmith) August 10, 2020 Paul Finebaum says that NCAA President Mark Emmert, "has been a complete embarrassment," for college football.https://t.co/NbnsQIUyz3 pic.twitter.com/9vRNZf7dAV— 247Sports (@247Sports) August 10, 2020 Of course the fun didn’t just stop there. While there had been some mysterious Power Five personnel speaking out on the Big Ten situation, we finally had some staff from Big Ten and ACC schools speak out on what their plans were for the football season: Satterfield said as of this morning he was told the ACC is moving forward no matter what other conferences do. "That's what we will do until we hear otherwise."— Cameron Teague (@cj_teague) August 10, 2020 Scott Frost said Monday that the Cornhuskers are prepared to play this upcoming season, even if it's outside the Big Ten. https://t.co/srhciAv8Wb— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) August 10, 2020 "We owe it to these kids to exhaust every single option we possibly can. ... Doing that right now would be abrupt."@OhioStateFB's @ryandaytime says the Big Ten can not cancel the season right now. pic.twitter.com/IATRm369cn— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) August 10, 2020 Joining the choir of coaches speaking out about wanting fall football to happen were players, and from Sunday night going into Monday there was a loud chorus of players tweeting the hashtag #WeWantToPlay. For a deeper dive into that situation, check out Akil Guruparan’s piece from yesterday, but the short synopsis is that players not only want to make sure that they can play this fall and play safely, but the graphic that many of them are sharing expresses their desire to form a player’s association. The implication that is included with this idea is that players are wanting the NCAA to eliminate their amateur status and give them some form of pay in order to play, but the honest truth is that we just don’t know enough about what what they actually seek to do. The player whose tweet likely got the most attention is Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s: #WeWantToPlay pic.twitter.com/jvQhE7noGB— Trevor Lawrence (@Trevorlawrencee) August 10, 2020 While sports Twitter’s fire burned on for the entire day and night, it turns out that the Big Ten never officially made any kind of announcement about postponing or canceling their season. What it sounds like according to multiple analysts is that there is a major disconnect between conference presidents and coaches, and as of right now they are unable to make any kind of definitive decision. Not expecting any news tonight from #B1G, per sources. More meetings in the morning, sources say. In all my years covering Big Ten, can't remember a day when the league seemed more divided (presidents vs. coaches). Certainly could see presidents opting against a full postponement— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) August 11, 2020 So, to answer the question of whether or not the Big Ten will be postponing their season, we just don’t know yet. As far as the ACC goes things have been extremely quiet, and it’s hard to predict what would happen next if the Big Ten or any other Power Five conference did hit the eject button. On a surface level it’d be hard to imagine that the schools didn’t at least try to play, but with reports being released of five Big Ten athletes being diagnosed with Myocarditis as a result of contracting COVID-19, there’s enough cause for conferences to reconsider what should and shouldn’t transpire. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from everything that has happened to this point is that the NCAA has done an excellent job of sticking their heads in the sand ever since the college basketball season was canceled in March, and now that football is going into September with no plan or structure the conferences are scrambling to do the hard part for Mark Emmert & Co. When Emmert decided that the decision whether or not to play was on each individual conference, it was clear that he didn’t want to take any responsibility for what would or would not happen to athletes that participated in their respective sports this fall. I could write an entire manifesto about the leadership failures of the NCAA, but I will spare you all and just say that this wasn’t an impossible task to navigate. All they had to do was show some kind of leadership and make a firm, conscious decision that resulted in a lot less chaos. Unfortunately that is asking a lot, and it’s one of the many reasons some people wouldn’t be upset if college sports operated within a new organization. Alas, the NCAA is still here, and college football is still here...for now. Let’s see how things unfold the rest of this week, and hope that maybe there will be a safe way for us all to get to enjoy some Tar Heel football next month.