2010 NCAA Football Preview: North Carolina
When you think about sports and the North Carolina Tar Heels you think about the basketball team and their six national championships. Some of the best players in the game made their way to the professional ranks through North Carolina including Vince Carter, Michael Jordan, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, and James Worthy.
Little do most sports fans know that the Tar Heels have had some stellar players on the gridiron too. Some of the best in the league, past and present, have paid their dues as a Tar Heel including Lawrence Taylor, Jeff Saturday, Alge Crumpler, Willie Parker, Greg Ellis, and Julius Peppers.
Success has been much harder for the football team to come by then the basketball team, but the Tar Heel football program has had its moments. In the 1990s the team went to bowl games in seven of 10 seasons, winning five and only losing two. The 2000s have not been as successful, but since Butch Davis took over the program three seasons ago, the team has been to two consecutive bowl games following 8-5 seasons.
In college football, success tends to breed success, and after two quality seasons Butch Davis is ready to take the team to the next level.
Offence
With the defence that the Tar Heels had in place last season the team could have easily won 10 games if they only had a little help from the other side of the ball. However, the Tar Heel offence was for lack of a better word—offensive. They ranked 108th overall, 79th in rushing production, 102nd in passing, and 83rd in scoring.
That should change in 2010 with the experienced group that they have coming back. The only losses of note were two offensive linemen, but the team did a good job of getting other players experience and ready to step in this season.
They will need to give quarterback T.J. Yates the time he needs to get the ball to wide receivers Greg Little and Erik Highsmith. Perhaps with more time, Yates can make some better decisions; last season he threw 15 interceptions and only 14 touchdowns. Little had a good season in 2009 considering the team did not throw too much catching 62 balls for 724 yards and five touchdowns.
The biggest beneficiary of so many experienced players returning should be senior running backs Shaun Draughn and Anthony Elzy. Draughn saw his carries and overall numbers drop significantly from 2008 to 2009, and would likely love to see some more daylight in order to prove he deserves the starting job. Elzy has yet to get much time on the field and would probably love to do so in his final season.
Defence
It had to be frustrating to be on this unit in 2009. When you have one of the better defenses in the nation (sixth overall) you would think that a 10 win season would be a reasonable expectation instead of the eight that the Tar Heels ended up with. It just goes to show how important both sides of the ball are to the success of the team.
Six all-conference players return to lead the defence for the 2010 season. Two of them reside on the front four, senior tackle Marvin Austin and junior end Robert Quinn. The only other players missing from last year’s unit happen to be the other two spots on the line; juniors Quinton Coples, Tydreke Powell, Michael McAdoo, and sophomore Donte Paige-Moss will all compete for time at the open positions.
The linebacker trio has a pair of all-conference players returning there as well, seniors Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant. Carter has been steady over the last two seasons with 68 and 65 tackles respectively; Sturdivant actually slipped a little making only 80 tackles in 2009 (after making 122 in 2008).
With four seniors returning to the secondary it would not be surprising to see this unit gel into one of the best in the nation. After ranking 14th at the end of the 2009 season, they will not have real far to go.
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