UNC QB Bryn Renner: Hard hit did not affect play against Wake Forest

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.

But Wake safety Duran Lowe stopped Renner short. Renner collided at full speed with Lowe and another Demon Deacons defender, and the hit knocked Renner to the ground for several moments. The collision solicited an audible "ooooooh" in the press box at BB&T Field, and a hush fell over the crowd while UNC medical personnel tended to Renner on the field. He eventually walked off without much assistance, and sat out the next play - a 1-yard touchdown run from A.J. Blue that tied the game at 14.

Renner returned for UNC's next possession. He ran for a loss of two yards, threw an incomplete pass and then fumbled when Hasan Hazime sacked him. Hazime recovered the fumble, and Wake turned the turnover into a touchdown a few plays later.

UNC coach Larry Fedora on Monday defended his decision to put Renner back into the game after that jarring hit.

"After going back and evaluating it, it [had] nothing to do with his head," Fedora said. "I mean, there was no contact to his head. He got the wind knocked out of him. And got hit pretty good. Actually, the two guys that made contact with themselves - it was a pretty violent hit on each other.

"[Renner] didn't get the most of it, I can assure you. He really came out of it fine physically."

Renner said he passed two concussion tests after the collision. He took one in the moments after sustaining the blow, and another at halftime.

Asked what those concussion tests entail, Renner described them this way:

"The basic protocol - months backwards, hand to nose. Things like that. Walk in straight lines. It's almost like a sobriety test - I've seen one on TV, I haven't taken one. I don't want to put that out there, but I've seen it on TV."

Renner has had a concussion before. He suffered one last season at N.C. State.

"This year, it was a different type of thing," he said. "It was more my ribs, and getting the wind knocked out of me."

- Andrew Carter