Football 2009: The Heel Curtain

UNC's defense returns nine starters and is ready to dominate the ACC. p. 10

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Football 2009A publication of The Daily Tar Heel Friday, September 4, 2009

dth/PhOtO Margaret CheathaM williaMsdth/design ashley Bennett

Bruce Carter (54), Marvin Austin (9), Kendric Burney (16) and Quan Sturdivant (52) are ready to lead a talented North Carolina defense.

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3Football 2009 friday, september 4, 2009The Daily Tar Heel

UNC’s hopes resting on yates’ arm

dth file photo

An ankle injury forced starting quarterback t.J. Yates to miss five games last year. Still, the then-sophomore passed for 1168 yards and 11 scores.

By Powell latimerSportS editor

In 2008, North Carolina’s quarterback depth was more than secure: UNC had an established starter in T.J. Yates, an experi-enced backup in Cameron Sexton, and a young gunslinger in Mike Paulus.

But in 2009, it looks like UNC's hopes for the season will rest on the shoulders — more precisely, the right shoulder and arm — of Yates.

Sexton, the capable backup, transferred to get a chance to start in Division II. Paulus appeared in four games last season and only completed four of his 13 pass attempts while tossing two picks, and Braden Hanson, a redshirt freshman, is challenging Paulus for the backup role.

Hanson hails from Charlotte and was North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year in 2007.

Making things look even more tenuous is Yates run of injuries,

which caused him to miss five games last season and hindered him down the stretch in 2007.

Toss in the three new start-ers on the offensive line, and the result will undoubtedly be plenty of nerve-wracking moments for coach Butch Davis and offensive coordinator John Shoop.

So it comes as no secret that an emphasis for Yates during this training camp and offseason was movement.

"One thing we’re asking him to do is really do a great job in the pocket, when he is moving, keep-ing plays alive, extending them, keeping his eyes downfield," Davis said.

It's an important thing to remember: Yates has three years learning the offense, and the better part of two seasons executing it.

"His comfort level with our offense is very good," Davis said. "He’s got a really good knowledge-able command of everything that we're asking."

And while Yates is, without question, the guy under center for the Tar Heels to open 2009, there are some intriguing options behind him on the UNC roster.

There is Paulus, who still car-ries a highly touted high school billing, but hasn’t seen the field much for UNC. He most nota-bly saw action in 2008 against Virginia Tech when Yates went down with an injury. Paulus threw two interceptions after coming into the game cold, and UNC gave away a lead against the Hokies, losing 20-17.

And while Paulus has stated multiple times this preseason that he is ready to come in should Yates go down again, he remained on the bench for the rest of the season after lasting just two drives in the next game against Miami.

Behind Paulus and Hanson, the waters become a little more murky.

Somewhere in the mix is A.J. Blue, a freshman who sandwiched a year of prep school at Hargrave Military Academy between North Gaston High School and UNC.

Blue comes to North Carolina listed as an athlete, but he made his name in high school as an ath-letic quarterback.

Blue has already gained the respect of his teammates, who say he has the strongest arm on the team.

"That kid can throw the ball so far," Yates said, shaking his head. "He's definitely a versatile player, he's fast, he's strong, he's built like a junior or senior."

Blue has also been featured in some wildcat and option forma-tions in practice this preseason.

backups are shuffled from last year

Numbers not everything for UNC backs

dth file photo

After taking over as the team's starting running back, Shaun draughn paced the tar heels with 866 yards on the season and three touchdowns.

By Jonathan JonesASSiStAnt SportS editor

In a conference that boasts running backs like Clemson's preseason All-ACC selection C.J. Spiller and preseason Heisman candidate Jonathan Dwyer from Georgia Tech, North Carolina's backfield may be overshadowed in the pantheon of ACC running backs.

There are no 2,000-yard rushers — not even a 1,000-yard rusher — returning for the Tar Heels, but quarterback T.J. Yates doesn't read much into the low numbers of last year.

"It's definitely going to help us to have a running game," Yates said. "We're going to have a lot better running game than we did last season."

Shaun Draughn will resume his role in the backfield along-side the burly Ryan Houston and redshirt freshman backup Jamal Womble.

Draughn, who started the final six games of the season, returns as last year's leading rusher after scampering for 866 yards and three scores.

The junior's rushing total was the most for a North Carolina run-ning back since Jonathan Linton's 1,004 yards in 1997.

But Draughn struggled with holding on to the pigskin late in the year. In the final three games of the 2008 season, the junior tailback coughed up the ball four times, including two in the first quarter against N.C. State and a costly fumble in the fourth quarter of the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

"I don't think it's anything about a lot of experience and all this stuff, it's a mentality. You have to be cognizant of what you have in your hand," Draughn said. "The ball is the issue and you've got to hold on to it."

With a year of experience under his belt, Draughn has begun to see the game different-ly. His maturation process and knowledge in the backfield will undoubtedly bolster the UNC offensive attack.

"It's just a thing with being patient and actually knowing what the line is going to do… what the defense is going to

do," Draughn said. "Know what they're going to do before they even do it. Just knowing that helps me out tremendously, and I just let instincts take over from there."

Ry a n Ho u s t o n i s No r t h Carolina's leading returning scorer from last season, racking up eight touchdowns on 299 yards rushing. The 6-foot-2, 245-pound junior will provide some much needed muscle in third-and-short situa-tions.

"Ryan has slimmed down a little bit," Yates said. "He's got a little muscle. He's powerful. He's stronger. He's quicker."

Jamal Womble, described by Yates as "a bowling ball full of muscle," shined in the spring game, where he had 7.1 yards per carry. He could fill the void in the backfield left by Greg Little, who had 339 yards last year and will see most of his action at wide receiver.

"Speed. Power. He's low to the ground," Draughn said, describing his counterpart, Houston. "He can stop on a dime. His cuts are tre-mendous, and he'll bring a spark to the offense."

With the departure of the top three wide receivers from last

year, inexperience will be a factor in the passing game. Draughn and his cohorts will be a bigger option for Yates when he can't find his wideouts.

"It's an emphasis for the quar-terbacks to look for the check-

down more this year," Draughn said. "Most of the time our routes are designed to get the receivers open, but this year I think we put more of a running back scheme to be involved in the actual routes."

draughn and Houston lead backfield

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UNC turns to Jones for production

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Junior Greg little is the most experienced receiver on the roster this year, despite only having half a season at receiver under his belt. he and his teammates hope to fill big shoes left by now-New York Giant hakeem Nicks.

By mike ehrlichSeNior writer

When Dwight Jones finally stepped over the thick white side-line and onto the field last year, he also took a major stride in his jour-ney to play Division I football.

His arduous path to being a starter for North Carolina has included repeated academic ineligi-bility, errors in qualification papers, and a spot on a Division II roster.

In short, it's been a mess.But with that behind him, Jones

is poised to have a breakout year as the Tar Heels' most exciting wide receiver.

"I've made a lot of progress from when I came here," Jones said. "I feel like I've come a long way."

Jones' game experience is limit-ed. He has only lined up for a snap during three games, and he has yet to record a reception.

And he's not alone — the rest of the receiving corps mirror his inex-perience. Only Greg Little, a grizzled veteran among this group as a junior, has real experience at the position, and he caught just 11 passes for 146 yards and no scores last year.

The rest of the cast is made up of underclassmen and position transfers.

"The freshmen at times have done good things; at other times, looked like deer in the headlights," UNC coach Butch Davis said.

"(Citadel) hopefully will be a great measuring stick as to who are

going to be the playmakers. Who's going to be dependable, who's going to be accountable, who we can count on every single play to be in the right spot, to make the plays and catch the football?"

The reason for the brand new group is that graduation and the NFL robbed the Tar Heels of their top three pass catchers from 2008.

Hakeem Nicks, Brooks Foster and Brandon Tate, who combined for nearly 2,000 receiving yards and 17 receiving touchdowns, are all missing from the 2009 roster.

Leading the way to fill their shoes are Little and Jones. But joining them are a host of other wideouts competing for time.

Junior Johnny White, who has played tailback, cornerback and special teams in his career, made the switch to receiver this sum-mer. White is the fastest out of the group, and could be utilized as a deep threat.

"He is a very electric athlete," quarterback T.J. Yates said of White. "He's one of the fastest guys on the team. We are definitely going to use that speed on offense."

Redshir t f reshman Todd Harrelson and freshmen Erik Highsmith, Joshua Adams and Jheranie Boyd will also likely see time early in the season as the posi-tion battle remains undecided.

"We're a talented bunch of guys," Little said. "Guys that like to have fun on the field, guys that have a lot

of personality. And we're building a relationship on and off the field."

Even with some talent, wide receiver will likely be the Tar Heels' least polished position entering the first week. Davis said that the group has shown considerable improvement since the start of

camp, but that there is a long way to go for the group.

He said that five different wide-outs will likely see action against The Citadel.

What the Tar Heels are really looking for, though, is that guy who can be counted on Jones'

teammates think he can be that guy. But for Jones, simply step-ping on the field will be another big stride.

"My goal was to get here," Jones said. "It took me forever to get here. When I step on the field, I just want to make plays."

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New faces on offensive lineBy DaviD ReynolDsSportSaturday Editor

It didn’t take running back Shaun Draughn very long into training camp to notice some-thing was different about the unit in front of him.

After all, losing five players and more than 1500 pounds from one’s offensive line is pretty hard to miss.

“They started off, I wouldn’t say shaky, but as far as depth-wise, we didn’t have a lot of depth,” Draughn said.

“But the freshmen have stepped up. Brennan Williams and Travis Bond are doing a good job of tak-ing coaching and getting better every day.”

The raid on UNC’s offensive line began last winter when start-ers Garrett Reynolds and Calvin Darity, old hands at right tackle and right guard, finally exhausted their eligibility.

Then Aaron Stahl, penciled in after spring practice as UNC’s starting left guard for 2009, opted to forgo his final season of eligibil-ity and graduate early.

And when it became clear early in training camp that reserves Kevin Bryant (who left the team after a misdemeanor) and Carl Gaskins (who tore his ACL) wouldn’t be contributing to the Tar Heels this season, North Carolina was officially thin at the game’s biggest position.

“It's one of those things. You know it happens but you try not to think about it,” starting left tackle Kyle Jolly said. “But then you just have to realize that it happens and you just have to get the young guys ready to play those roles that the guys that are injured were going to play.”

But the departures of those aforementioned players haven’t tremendously affected the wealth of experience UNC will have in its starting linemen. Four out of the five starters rank as upper-classmen, with redshirt freshman Jonathan Cooper as the only out-lier.

It’s in the backups to these start-ers, however, that inexperience at the position shows itself. True freshmen Bond and Williams are backups at right guard and right tackle, respectively, and junior Greg Elleby, who converted to offense after playing defensive line for two seasons, backs up Jolly at left tackle.

Butch Davis said he would like to redshirt Bond and Williams this season to get them more experience at the position, but he might not have a choice should an injury situation arise in a game.

“They may be kids that we may travel,” Davis said. “If some-thing happens, and if they have to go into the game then they’ll lose the redshirt year, and then if they didn’t have to play in a game maybe they won’t.

"A lot of it will be dictated by injuries and things that are out of our control.”

If Bond and Williams are forced to play, they won’t be entirely unprepared for the situation.

North Carolina as a team has known about its depth issue on the offensive line for most of training camp, and third-year starting left end E.J. Wilson said the defensive line has been doing its best to offer pointers and teach their young teammates the ropes.

“We give them pointers. When we go out there in pass rush we’re not going out there just beating up on our guys. That’s not making them better,” Wilson said. “And if we’re not making them better, we’re not making the team better so we’ll give them pointers, and every day you’ll see them start to take those pointers.”

As for Elleby, his conversion for attacking the quarterback to pro-tecting him is progressing rapidly. Elleby is already learning to play both tackle and guard because of the depth issue, and Jolly said his backup has flourished in his new role.

Wilson, who has both played with Elleby on the defensive line and now watches Elleby practice at left tackle and guard, had simi-lar sentiments.

“I’ve been watching him and Greg is doing really, really good,” Wilson said. “He’s way ahead of the learning curb of where we thought he’d be.

“I think he’s going to be a great addition to the offensive line.”

offensive tackle Kyle Jolly hopes to anchor a line that lost five players in the offseason.

sturdivant and Carter to leadBy Mike ehRlichSEnior WritEr

North Carolina’s junior line-backer Quan Sturdivant has prob-ably been compared to many ath-letes during his career.

Maybe to fellow ACC lineback-ers, possibly even to some of UNC’s greatest defenders. But the athlete that fellow backer Bruce Carter likened Sturdivant to doesn’t quite fit that mold: NBA player Tim Duncan.

“He gets the job done, but at the same time, he doesn’t show that much emotion,” Carter said. “For me, I’m trying to get him to get out of that and show some more emo-tion and get excited.”

Even the reserved Sturdivant has reason to be excited entering this season. He led the nation last year with 87 solo tackles, and he is poised to take charge of a defense that lost just two starters from a year ago.

But in spite of Carter’s efforts, No. 52 will likely stay away from any flashiness again this year.

“I just try to let my play speak for itself,” Sturdivant said.

Even if it’s not in celebration, Sturdivant will need to be more

vocal this season. He moved from the weak side to middle linebacker, and took on play-calling duties for the defense.

On the strong side once again will be Carter, who showed a pro-pensity for being in the right place at the right time in 2008. He led the Tar Heels in tackles for loss and sacks, and he led the nation with five blocked punts.

“I guess it’s just my knack for the ball,” Carter said. “Wherever I can make plays, I’m just going to try to do whatever I can do. I think that’s just the main thing, my knack for the ball.”

With their neighboring posi-tions, Carter and Sturdivant are never too far away from each other on the football field. Off the field, it’s the same story. The two line-backers are roommates.

“That’s my man,” Sturdivant said. “We’ve got good chemistry out there. He knows what I’m thinking. I know what he’s think-ing out there.”

Making a strong case to join the two veterans on the weak side are freshman Kevin Reddick and speedy sophomore Zach Brown.

They have the advantage of

learning from their older team-mates as they compete for time, especially with Sturdivant having played that position last year.

But according to Carter, the third linebacker spot will likely not be a one-man show.

“I think both of them are going to play, to tell you the truth,” he said. “I mean, you can shift them in and out. Both of them are athletic, they know what they’re doing, and they want to play.

“You can take that and go wher-ever you want with it.”

The Tar Heels have a lot of talent returning to the defensive side of the ball. But for the man in the middle, simply returning isn’t enough. Sturdivant must go from playmaker to leader. Like it or not, it’s his turn in the spot-light.

It’s a role he has embraced so far.

“The thing I admire most about Quan is his determination,” Carter said. “He is always willing to do whatever it’s got to take. He moved from (weak side) to (middle), and he hasn’t complained yet. He just went in there and started making plays.”

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defensive line ready to bring pain

dth file photo

Against Uconn, UNC's defensive line, including e.J. Wilson (92), pressured huskies quarterback Zach frazer to throw three interceptions in UNC's win.

By AnnA KimSeNior Writer

At this point, everyone — and their mothers — has been fore-warned of North Carolina’s defen-sive line.

UNC returns all 12 members of last season’s unit, which includes starters Marvin Austin, Cam Thomas, Robert Quinn and E.J. Wilson.

But quarterback T.J. Yates need-ed only three words to describe the defensive front four.

“Smarter, faster, stronger,” he said.

The defensive line boasts the most experienced returning unit on the squad with two seniors and two sophomores, all of whom started at least 11 games last sea-son.

The unit began its evolution during the offseason, when com-mitments to conditioning and dieting yielded a quicker front four.

The team will also benefit from offseason additions that comprise a talented group of eight behind them.

And if Austin has his way, opposing ball handlers will have

only one type of experience to remember — nasty, brutish and short.

“If you’re not with [Austin] you’re against him,” Wilson said. “While we’re on the field it’s us against them. He has that attitude, almost like a kamikaze attitude. He’s going in, doing what it takes to get the job done.”

Newcomers include freshman SuperPrep All-Americans Jared McAdoo and Donte Paige-Moss, and transfer Jordan Nix.

The freshmen round out one of the deepest rotations in the con-ference.

"We just want to dominate," Wilson said. "We want to go out there every week and set the tempo for the game.

"We’re in better shape now so we should be able to continue that domination on through the fourth quarter," he said.

With all the hype surrounding the dynamic defensive front, third-year starter E.J. Wilson said the unit has much room for improve-ment.

The Tar Heels ranked 11th out of 12 teams in the ACC and 80th nationally in sacks last year.

Wilson, who started 13 games in 2008, recorded one sack of the defensive line’s total of eleven.

“We have noticed that and one thing we’ve really been focusing on is getting the offensive linemen’s hands off of us, don’t let them hit us first,” Wilson said.

“That was slowing us down a step which would cause us to get there right after the ball was released. That’s a lot of quarter-back hits that should have been sacks.”

Quinn, 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds, emerged as UNC’s top pass rusher last season, record-ing 34 tackles, two sacks, and two forced fumbles.

He received freshman All-American recognition, along with a nod from his teammates.

“I think Robert Quinn’s going to be even better this year,” Wilson said. “I think he’s going to continue on the success that he had last year because he’s been working hard and he has a lot of experience.”

Defensive tackle Cam Thomas rounds out the group, and has rebounded from a year plagued with injuries with four tackles in his first season as a starter.

“Cam tries to play that quiet role, but he’s not a shy guy at all,”

Wilson said. “When he’s out there on the field, he’s hoopin’ and hol-lerin’ like the rest of us.”

Coach Butch Davis said he is expecting the havoc for opposing teams — he just hopes it will hap-pen on a consistent basis.

"There were games when we created turnovers," he said. "When we played well against the run, there were games when we played extremely well against teams who threw the ball. We have to put those games together."

all 12 rotation players return in '09

burney, Williams lead talented secondary

dth file photo

Kendric Burney goes for a tackle against Virginia. Burney will help anchor a secondary that may face difficulty as it struggles with depth.

By mArK ThompsonSeNior Writer

Trimane Goddard is gone and so are more than a third of North Carolina’s interceptions from last season, but that isn’t indicative of where the remaining defensive backs are now.

Entering the 2009 football season, UNC’s secondary is argu-ably the weakest part of the team’s defense, although that is more of a testament to the rest of the defense's depth and strength.

The Tar Heels are returning three of the four starters in the sec-ondary — including safety Deunta Williams, and cornerbacks Jordan Hemby and Kendric Burney.

Coach Butch Davis and his staff have all noted the improve-ment that the defensive backs have made during the preseason.

“The thing that you have to judge them against is where are they in comparison to where they were in the springtime, and then,

where are they in comparison to where you feel like that they can be,” Davis said.

“I will tell you that I think every one of them are better football players than they were at the end of spring.”

In fact, the progression has been so broad that Hemby was in a posi-tion battle that was “too close to call” with Charles Brown for the No. 2 cornerback spot. But on Monday, Brown was named the starter.

He was the starting nickle cor-ner last season and would typically play most when the opposing team had three wide receivers on the field to match up with them.

Davis praised Brown’s funda-mentals and techniques during the spring while equally commenting on the consistent play of Hemby.

Although the secondary is not without competition, it does lack a good amount of depth, which could prove to be a weakness if the team experiences fatigue or

injury.“It may be that right now we

only have three corners, that one may be the backup to both sides and go in and play a pretty signifi-cant amount,” Davis said.

Depth is always good to keep players fresh during a game but the lack of depth will give the top defensive backs a lot of playing time and continued experience.

One of the biggest causes for the lack of depth in the secondary is the loss of safety Matt Merletti to an ACL injury. Merletti was one of the top reserves last season at safety.

“We are kind of having some auditions and stuff with our nickel backs,” Davis said. “We’ve taken a look at some guys; Melvin Williams is one of them. Some of the young, incoming corners. Gene Robinson, Terry Shankle. Those guys. Mywan Jackson; we are taking a look at some of those guys”.

Davis has even referred to Zach Brown as another option in the nickel defense. Traditionally, teams may match up their nickel or third

cornerback with the opponent's third wide receiver, but Davis has suggested they could use the line-backer in nickel situations because of his speed.

Amid the competition and uncertainty in the secondary, Williams and Burney stand out as ready to lead the defensive backs.

Burney received second team All-ACC honors last season and Deunta Williams is a former ACC defensive rookie of the year. Even without those honors, both players have two full seasons as a starter and are expected to have good years.

Last season both Williams and Burney tallied three interceptions, which was tied for the second highest total on the team.

Williams, alongside Burney, will finally play the role that was almost destined for him since his rookie season as a veteran, mentor and leader.

“Burney has improved …Deunta is playing well, so we’re pleased with the way the secondary is play-ing so far,” Davis said.

depth an issue for defensive backs

8


special teams units searching for returns

dth file photo

led by the prodigious punt-blocking skills of Bruce Carter, the special teams unit looks to offset the graduation of star returner Brandon tate.

By Powell latimerSportS editor

For the past four years, special teams have been a strength of North Carolina's game plan.

Things peaked in 2008, when the combination of Brandon Tate's electric kick returns and Bruce Carter's freakish knack for blocking punts made the Tar Heels a threat to score on every special teams play.

But in 2009, things are less sure. Namely, Tate's departure leaves the team without a tested return man.

For the outset of the season, Butch Davis has designated Kendric Burney as the punt returner, but Burney is also the team's No. 1 cornerback at a thin position, and coach Butch Davis wants to keep Burney's legs fresh for his all-important pass defense responsibilities.

That may well mean punt return duties for players like Da'Norris Searcy and Johnny White. In fact, Searcy is listed ahead of Burney on the UNC depth chart for punt returns. But Searcy has never returned a punt in a college game, and Burney was UNC's second punt return man in 2008.

While UNC's return game won't be as dynamic without Tate, it might not have to be. Carter returns, and in him UNC has the premier punt blocker in the confer-ence, if not the nation.

Carter's run of four straight k icks b locked through two straight games last season bor-dered on the supernatural, and Carter wants to have more of the same in 2009.

But Carter's return might be the only spot in special teams that has been solidified. UNC's best return coverage man, backup safety Matt Merletti, went down with a torn ACL in the preseason.

At punter, a position battle has intensified through training camp. Grant Schallock served as the back-up last season and entered camp as the starter.

But freshman C.J. Feagles has pushed Schallock throughout camp, and Davis is quick to note how much ground the freshman

has gained on Schallock, going so far as to say that Feagles and Schallock might split punting duties during UNC's opener against Citadel.

Feagles also possesses the fam-ily pedigree, as his father is Jeff Feagles, longtime punter for the New York Giants of the NFL.

"(Schallock) clearly had the edge from being here," Davis said. "But C.J. Feagles has come in over the last two weeks with his mechanics and he's cleaned up a few issues, and he's realized that in high school you might have had longer to get the ball off in high school than you will in college.

"Tops you're going to have 2.2 seconds to get the ball off your

foot."Family pedigree is something

that runs deep throughout the UNC kicking staff. Casey Barth returns after winning the kicking job last season.

Barth always throws people familiar with North Carolina's history for a loop, since he is the spitting image of his older brother, Connor — the four-year starter at kicker before Casey arrived.

Barth already made a name for himself in 2008 as the kicker for UNC, making 10-of-15 field goal attempts, and was perfect on extra points, on the way to edging out Jay Wooten during the course of last season. Wooten attempted six field goals, making four.

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bulldogs search for missing pieceBy Grant FitzGeraldstaff writer

Last season, The Citadel fin-ished the year by winning only one of its last eight games. Fortunately for coach Kevin Higgins, both of his star players return in quar-terback Bart Blanchard and wide receiver Andre Roberts.

Blanchard, a redshirt junior, found his stride down the stretch, finishing as the single-season record holder in total offense, throwing for 2,609 yards and 19 touchdowns.

The recipient of more than half of those passes was All-American receiver Andre Roberts.

Last season Roberts caught 95 passes for 1,342 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Had Roberts played for a BCS conference school, those numbers would have earned him a first-round draft slot and millions of dollars.

In order for Roberts to repeat those numbers, The Citadel will have to create more rushing oppor-tunities. The running back position for the Bulldogs will be by commit-tee with no clear-cut favorite.

The starter will likely be Terrell Dallas, the team’s top returning

rusher, with redshirt freshman Rickey Anderson as the backup.

With three returning starters on the offensive line, The Citadel should be proficient in the trenches.

The defense is much less prov-en, however.

The good news for the Bulldogs is the return of three starting defensive linemen and three line-backers.

The bad news is that those line-backers and lineman were part of a 2008 unit that allowed 170 rush-ing yards per game.

Last season, Higgins had to start a group of players with no experience because of injury.

The lack of experience gave opponents an opportunity to punish The Citadel through the air, with The Citadel giving up more than 190 passing yards per game.

With opponents averaging 30 points a game, either the defense will have to make a herculean leap or the offense will have to find a way to keep its defense off the field.

If one of these things does not happen, The Citadel may have a repeat of last year.

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10 Football 2009friday, september 4, 2009 The Daily Tar Heel 11Football 2009 friday, september 4, 2009The Daily Tar Heel

By Louie HorvatHAssistAnt sports Editor

They were big, they were strong, they were fast, and now, they’re back.

With nine returning starters, the defense is looking to extend their own — college —

version of the “Steel Curtain” across the East Coast, locking up offenses from Atlanta to Storrs, Conn.

Be it by forcing three-and-outs, picking off passes, or prying the ball from unsuspecting ballhandlers, the UNC defense will be the key element of a team with postseason BCS aspirations.

It’s not a task they’re shying away from.

Their goal is straightforward.“We just want to dominate,” defensive end

E.J. Wilson said. “We want to go out there every week and set the tempo for the game

and dominate the whole game. We’re in better shape now so we should be able to continue that domination on through the fourth quarter.”

It is a lofty goal, but one which is definitely attain-able for the Tar Heels; they weren’t shabby last year, either.

A majority of the game-changing plays were made by players who are still donning baby blue this year.

The interception returned for a touchdown against Notre Dame to take the lead? Returning middle line-backer Quan Sturdivant.

The meandering interception return that broke Boston College? Returning cornerback Kendric Burney.

The three punt blocks against UConn? Returning strong side linebacker Bruce Carter.

With so many returning, training camp took on a dif-ferent tack as fundamentals have already been taught, leaving the coaches time to throw in new wrinkles.

“It could be unbelievable the things we can do defensively with the football this year,” Burney said.

“If our defense can set a tone, great things can come out of our defense.”

Another important return is that of the defensive coordinator Everett Withers.

“This year, we have the same terminology and everything is the same, and it has just helped us grow as a defense," defensive tackle Marvin Austin said.

Not only do the Tar Heel defenders want to dominate, they want to do it with style.

Most defenses break the huddle by chant-ing something that they strive to attain, be it

“hard work!”, “champions!” or “dominate!”This team?“Stupid swag!”“We go out there, we play with a ridiculous swag when

we touch the field,” Austin said. “Those guys on the other side of the ball? I feel sorry for them — but not really.”

Just like Miami defenses of Davis’ past, these players have started to develop that same extreme confidence that the 'Canes showed every game.

Look no further than the self-appointed “swag team king”, No. 9 with the dreads: big Marvin Austin. Even in his first game as a true freshman he would dance in pregame warm-ups, take his helmet off and shake his

dreads at the crowd — and it has stayed the same.“I go out there, and you might see me jigging, you might

see me dancing, you see me talking back to the other team,” Austin said. “Swag speaks for itself. On Saturday you’ll see who has the most swag. Whoever makes the most plays has the most swag.”

Austin’s swag has since percolated to the rest of the team, as players have become at home at Kenan Stadium and with each other.

“I think we’re developing it, slowly,” Carter said. “For

the most part it’s coming, and that’s the most important part. "

Instead of the big linebackers that anchored the Pittsburgh defenses of the '70s, this defense is built on a different, speedier linebacker.

Head coach Butch Davis introduced the concept of using fast linebackers back in his time at Miami, where he recruited players who were able to cover both sidelines.

“One of the things that I like about having fast lineback-ers is that you may not have to go to nickel,” Davis said. “If

you take a nickel defensive back that runs a 4.5, and stick him in the game or you have a linebacker who has a 4.4, why not just leave him in the game?”

Sturdivant and the linebackers practiced and are ready for the undertaking of guarding wideouts.

Zach Brown, the lone newcomer in the front seven, clocked two sub-4.3 40 times this spring.

“Yeah, he’s a lot faster than I am,” the speedy corner-back Burney said.

“He’s going to be a great player for us this year. He

has a lot of attributes that you can’t find anywhere else in the nation. We’re definitely looking forward to seeing him this year.”

To be fair, there are still places the defense can worry themselves with trying to fix. First will be replacing the two departed seniors, including Trimane Goddard — last year’s NCAA intercep-

tions leader.While Da’Norris Searcy will physically fill his spot in

the depth chart, his spot in the locker room as has already

had a committee move into the leader title.In a few of their losses, The Tar Heels had lapses in

concentration at pivotal moments, giving the opposing offense an opportunity to put the team away, or get back into the game.

“During the course of the season last year, there were times where there were pieces of the defense that played brilliant,” Davis said.

“What we need to do is put those kinds of games together for 60 minutes throughout the entire game.”

DTH/David Enarson

UNC returns nine defensive starters E.J. Wilson, defensive line Marvin Austin, defensive line Cam thomas, defensive line robert Quinn, defensive line Quan sturdivant, Linebacker Bruce Carter, Linebacker Kendric Burney, Cornerback Jordan Hemby, Cornerback deunta Williams, safety

DTH/David Enarson

“Swag speaks for itself. On

Saturday you'll see who has

the most swag. Whoever

makes the most plays has the

most swag."

MARVIN AUSTIN, DT

“I think we're developing it

slowly. For the most part it's

coming, and that's the most

important part."BRUCE CARTER, LB

“We play with a ridiculous

swag when we touch the

field. Those guys on the

other side of the ball? I feel

sorry for them — but not

really."MARVIN AUSTIN, DT

“It could be unbelievable the

things we can do defensively

with the football this year."

KENDRIC BURNEY, CB

12


east Carolina boasts 21 returning starters

dth FILE PhOtO

deunta Williams (27) tackles Pirate quarterback Patrick Pinkney. the senior led ECU to a 9-5 record last year as he tossed 13 touchdowns.

By Kevin MinogueStaFF WrItEr

As East Carolina enters the 2009 football season, one thing seems certain: the Pirates will not likely fall victim to youthful mis-takes.

Senior quarterback Patrick Pinkney leads a talented group of upperclassmen who currently occupy 21 of 22 starting posi-tions, and on whom the Pirates will pin their hopes of defending last year’s Conference USA cham-pionship.

Pinkey started 13 of 14 games for the Pirates last season, pass-ing for 2,675 yards and 13 touch-downs.

ECU’s 9-5 record a year ago marks the team’s highest win total since the turn of the cen-tury, but Pinkney and play-mak-ing junior wide receiver Dwayne Harris, who averaged 11.3 yards per catch last year, return to form the core of a passing attack that should be among the most potent in C-USA.

Defensively, East Carolina

returns five of their six leading tacklers from a year ago, includ-ing senior safety Van Eskridge. Eskridge hauled in four inter-ceptions last season and has been named a preseason candi-date for the Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation’s top defensive back.

Perhaps one of the only question marks heading into this year's cam-paign lies at running back, where the Pirates will rely on two backs who did not play for the team last year.

The return of senior Dominique Lindsay, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, as well as the addition of sophomore Brandon Jackson, a transfer from Kentucky, has coach Skip Holtz believing this year’s ECU ground game will be far better than the unit that ranked a lowly 84th nationally last season.

“I feel good we have improved the running back position tremen-dously and I feel good about the guys who are there and the guys who will play Saturday,” Holtz said at ECU's media day.

This stable of talent certainly bolsters the hopes of many inside the ECU program, including Holtz, who hopes to reach new heights in his fifth season at the helm of the Pirate program.

“We want to build one of the best programs on the East Coast and I think it's great that they aspire to that and dream of that,” Holtz said.

“Those are things we aspire to as a program. That doesn't mean we'll reach them, but that's what we aspire to.”

Holtz knows that if the Pirates hope to crack the BCS, they will have to navigate a thorny out-of-conference schedule.

T he nonconference s late includes road dates at North Carolina and West Virginia, as well as a Thursday night showdown against Virginia Tech at home in Greenville, N.C.

Still, Holtz claims that his Pirates look forward to the chal-

lenge of facing some of the top teams on the East Coast.

“I'm excited about the schedule we play,” Holtz said.

“It's a hard, tough schedule and one that gets you excited. You want to line up and play against the best.”

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young eagles ready to fly highGsU boasts prolific aerial attackBy Evan MarlowEStaff WRiteR

The Georgia Southern Eagles are a member of the Southern Conference — one of the stron-gest conferences of the Football Championship Subdivision.

In fact, the Eagles won the FCS championship in 2000.

The Eagles finished last year with a 6-5 record, 4-4 in confer-ence. It was the 25th time the team finished with a winning record in the last 27 years.

The team had an exciting sea-son as they won three overtime games and lost three games by a combined total of four points to FCS nationally ranked opponents. Their losses also included a 45-21 loss to the then-BCS No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs.

The Eagles are coached by Chris Hatcher, who took over the pro-gram in January of 2007 after six years of coaching Valdosta State University. While there he led them to a Division-II national champi-onship in 2004. He has compiled a 13-9 record in his two years of coaching the Eagles.

Georgia Southern was an extremely young team last season with 27 redshirt or true freshman earning a varsity letter.

The Eagles are returning a total of 40 lettermen, while losing 32. The young trend will likely con-tinue this season as Coach Hatcher has said that three-quarters of the team will be freshman and sopho-mores.

Although young, they are returning 14 starters, seven on offense and seven on defense. Among the returning players is quarterback Lee Chapple. Chapple took over the starting job for good the last game of the year in 2008 and completed 39 of 56 passes for 323 yards and two touchdowns while earning Southern Conference offensive player of the week honors.

The Eagles boasted a pass-ing offense ranked No. 1 in the Southern Conference last sea-son.

One of their leading running backs will be sophomore Adam Urbano, who averaged 5.8 yards per carry last season en route to 304 rushing yards — good for sec-ond on the team. Fellow sopho-more Zeke Rozier started the final

six games last season. Both will be used in the passing

game, as well. The duo makes up half of the players returning who caught a pass last season as only four of the 16 players recorded a catch return.

Senior walk-on Tobi Akinniranye is also expected to see playing time in the backfield.

The defense, which uses a 3-3-5 alignment with three down line-men, three linebackers and five defensive backs, will be led by a secondary that returns three senior starters including Ronnie Wiggins, who led the team with three inter-ceptions last year.

The linebacker core is young but received plenty of playing time last season and is led by two Southern Conference All-Freshman team members: Dion Dubose and J.B. Shippy. The experience in the secondary and at linebacker will try to offset an extremely young group of defen-sive linemen that was depleted by graduation.

fsU looks past controversy

dth file photo

florida State posted the aCC’s top scoring offense but were only able to finish second in the atlantic division, behind Boston College.

By Jordan MasonSenioR WRiteR

Most teams spend the offsea-son working to add wins to their program. But Florida State may have an even bigger challenge this season.

The football program was one of 10 Florida State athletic programs that the NCAA plans to strip of victories as punishment for aca-demic violations.

The sanctions have dominated the offseason headlines of what was once the top football program in the ACC. One of the top stories associated with the scandal cen-ters on head coach Bobby Bowden, who may have the most to lose as he continues to chase Penn State head coach Joe Paterno for the most wins by a major college coach.

Lost in all of the controversy is the fact that the Seminoles are still trying to return to the ACC Championship game for the first time since winning the inaugural game in 2005.

The team finished 8-4 last sea-son but second in the Atlantic Division and, therefore, short of a conference championship shot.

The Seminoles are hoping that having junior Christian Ponder for his second season under center will boost their chances.

Senior linebacker Dekoda

Watson seems to believe it will.“Christian is going to be that

guy because he’s upset about what happened last year,” he said. “He studied the film. He doesn’t accept defeat.”

Ponder is upset because he managed to lead Florida State to the top scoring offense in the ACC in his first season as starter yet managed a mediocre 15.75 points per game in four losses.

The defense was unreliable last season as well. The unit that fin-ished fifth in the ACC in scoring defense allowed 28.75 points per game in the Seminoles’ losses.

But Watson believes executive head coach Chuck Amato is bring-ing an attitude that will help the defense play to its potential all of 2009.

“A lot of people say he’s hard, but at the same time, he’s disciplining us,” Watson said. “He’s that old-school type guy, and that’s where I came from. I don’t feel like there should be any easy ways.”

The Seminoles certainly have the talent on both sides of the ball to win an ACC title. The question as of late seems to be whether that talent will show up every game.

FSU will be able to get a good start on regaining the wins it lost if that is the case. But Watson believes the legacy of Bowden and

the program are safe with or with-out the wins in question.

“People know he’s still the win-ningest coach, even if it’s not on paper,” Watson said of Bowden. “He’s still going to be standing on that statue pointing out to the practice field at our stadium. You can take all the wins away. It’s not going to matter.”

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bC chases third consecutive division title

dth file photo

Boston College suffered a rough offseason, losing two defensive tackles to the Nfl draft, a linebacker to cancer and a quarterback who transferred.

“Those guys are going to do well. They'’e not B.J. Raji — but they’re going to do well.”Frank Spaziani, BostoN College head CoaCh

By aaron TauBestaff Writer

When head coach Frank Spaziani leads the Boston College Eagles onto the field for the team’s season opener on Sept. 5, he will become the third man to do so in the past four seasons.

Erstwhile, former head coach Jeff Jagodzinski, who guided the Eagles to ACC division titles in each of his two seasons at the helm, is just one of the pieces the team will have to replace in its pursuit of a third con-secutive Atlantic Division crown.

First among these challenges will be finding replacements for the team’s All-Conference start-ing defensive tackles — B.J. Raji and Ron Brace. The departing pair will have their spots filled by senior Austin Giles and junior Damik Scafe. Senior defensive end Jim Ramella is confident his team-mates will pick up the slack.

“No doubt, those guys are going

to do well,” he said. “They’re not B.J. Raji — but they’re going to do well."

The defensive unit, which led the ACC in total defense last sea-son, also has holes to fill in its line-backing corps.

Tragically, the team will be without ACC Defensive Player of the Year Mark Herzlich, who was diagnosed with a form of cancer known as Ewing’s sarcoma in May. In addition, starting middle line-backer Mike McLaughlin will also miss the first few weeks of the sea-son due to a torn Achilles tendon.

Fortunately, the team has no such problem in its secondary. Last season, the Eagles notched 26 interceptions, tied with Florida for first among Football Bowl Subdivision schools. This year, the secondary returns five players with starting experience, including junior cornerback DeLeon Gause and junior safety Wes Davis.

Barring injury, the Eagles figure to have one of the best defensive backfields in the ACC.

While Boston College should do a fine job of stopping the pass attack, throwing the ball themselves may prove more difficult. This summer, the Eagles not only lost starting quarterback Chris Crane to graduation, but also his backup Dominique Davis who transferred because of academic reasons.

What resulted was a battle for the starting spot between red-shirt freshman Justin Tuggle and freshman Dave Shinskie. Shinskie appeared most likely to win the job until suffering a broken rib in an Aug. 23 scrimmage. Though Tuggle remains unproven, he will be throwing to a battle-tested group of receivers led by seniors Rich Gunnell, Justin Jarvis, and Clarence Megwa, who is back after missing most of last season with a broken leg.

Carrying the ball for the Eagles will be sophomores Montel Harris and Josh Haden. The tandem

combined for 1,379 rushing yards last season, with Harris setting a school freshman rushing record. The duo will run behind one of the nation’s most formidable offensive lines. The unit brings back four starters, including preseason All-Conference selections Anthony Castonzo and Matt Tennant.

With a new head coach and new faces at starting positions on both sides of the ball, the Eagles look to have a difficult year ahead

of them. While it remains to be seen how the adversity will affect the way the team performs on the field, Spaziani believes it will make his players better people.

“I’m a teacher and these moth-ers give us their babies," he said. "So we want to win games with them, but we’re also developing young men.

“And these problems we have are just minimal to what they’re gonna face.”

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duke hopes to keep up progress

dth file photo

david Cutcliffe, and the duke Blue devils look poised for a turnaround with an athletic quarterback in thaddeus lewis, a host of returning starters from 2008 and a couple of high-profile defensive linemen.

By Zack TymanStaff Writer

Duke has long been the laugh-ingstock of ACC football.

From 2002 to 2007 the Blue Devils mustered only 10 wins, including a winless season in 2006.

But in 2008 things appeared to be picking up for the Blue Devils. The team went 4-8, with wins against Vanderbilt and Virginia, and lost five games by 11 points or fewer.

Offensive ly, Duke should be improved on paper since last season. Sophomore Jay H o l l i n g s w o r t h , f r e s h m a n Desmond Scott and senior Re’quan Boyette — who is com-ing off arthroscopic knee surgery — all look to provide some solid productivity at the running back position.

Though a freshman, Scott has a good chance of becoming the starter. He was ranked the No. 1 running back recruit in North Carolina, and the No. 23 running back recruit in the nation, accord-ing to ESPN.com.

The biggest star on the team is senior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis. A second-team All-ACC player in 2008, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound quarterback has expecta-tions of record-breaking success in Duke football, and will rely on wide receivers Austin Kelly and Johnny Williams to get there.

The only problem is that Lewis doesn’t have a battle-tested offen-sive line to protect him.

Though center Bryan Morgan and left tackle Kyle Hill have returned, the offensive line lost three starters in the off-season. That means the final three spots are open for reserves or rookies to fill.

“We’ve obviously got some youth there, some inexperience, so that’ll be an early challenge,” said second-year coach David Cutcliffe. “And we’re going to have to beat people with some quickness. We’re not overly gifted in size.”

Defensively, all eyes will be on defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase, who will line up next to returning linemen Ayanga Okpokowuruk and Wesley Oglesby. Cutcliffe sees Oghobaase as a force to be reck-oned with in his final season at Duke.

“Being an offensive coach all these years, you run occasion-ally into guys that are disrupters,” Cutcliffe said. “And when you run

into a disrupter up front, it changes schemes. It changes protections. It changes matchups. It makes them very difficult, and Vince Oghobaase will be a disrupter in the ACC this year.”

On special teams, the Blue Devils seem satisfied with kicker Nick Maggio, who hit 11 of 14 field goals last season, and punter Kevin Jones, who averaged 40.8 yards per punt.

Overall, Cutcliffe appears to be heading in the right direction with Duke football, though there isn’t a lot of optimism this season.

“We’ve lost three guys who are significant to our program,” added Cutcliffe. “And we ain’t got a whole lot of athletes.”

Still, there are things that Duke football can find solace in.

“We’re resurfacing the tunnel coming out, redoing the players’ lounge. We’ve changed all the sig-nage inside,” Cutcliffe said. “We’ve readjusted our video system, our staff rooms. We’ve totally renovat-ed my office.”

Lewis will lead improving squad

16


Qb Wilson to propel shorthanded Wolfpack

dth file photo

Quarterback Russell Wilson threw for 1,955 yards last season and is already giving opposing coaches headaches before 2009 even starts.

By Chris hempsonAssistAnt spoRts editoR

Anthony Hill. Donald Bowens. Toney Baker. The list just never seems to end.

Since Tom O’Brien took over as the N.C. State football coach, he’s seen many of his significant start-ers go down again and again with season-ending injuries.

But after finishing this past year as one of the ACC’s hottest teams, 2009 promised to be different. The defensive line looked fairly sharp. The receivers and running backs were a year wiser. And of course, All-ACC quarterback Russell Wilson would be returning.

Optimism flowed both from Raleigh and media members throughout the state. Many pre-dicted the Wolfpack to win their division.

In late June, that all seemingly changed. Star linebacker Nate Irving was involved in a car accident, which broke his leg and punctured a lung, sidelining him for the season.

“This is the third year in a row you’ve lost somebody that’s really important to your football team before you even get on the field,” O’Brien said. “I mean, that’s life. So we have to go on.”

Once again, a promising begin-ning was derailed before its start.

Still, even with the loss of Irving, a cause for optimism can still be found with this year’s squad. That

begins and ends with Wilson. During 2008, his first year under center, Wilson endured through two mediocre showings to begin the season. But after a breakout game against East Carolina — in which he threw for three touchdowns — the ACC was never the same.

Throughout the annual ACC football media days in July, a con-stant topic of discussion among the coaches and players was that of Wilson. Players praised and many coaches, like Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, could only bemoan their team’s misfortune about having to play N.C. State.

“I’ve been enjoying my summer, and then you bring up Wilson,” Bowden said. “He is something else. I remember watching him last year. We beat them — I don’t know how — but he is the most dangerous quarterback I saw last year, and he might be the most dangerous in the country.”

Wilson ended the season with 1,955 yards passing, to go along with 17 touchdowns. Add the fact that he was the Wolfpack’s third-leading rusher with 388 yards and four scores, and well, it’s easy to see why Wilson is so highly regarded.

With the now-sophomore at the helm, N.C. State promises to bring a high-flying offensive attack. Senior running back Jamelle Eugene is back, as is wideout Owen Spencer. The junior was singled out by

O’Brien, saying that Spencer didn’t drop a ball this spring.

The gaping holes figure to lie on the defensive side. The team’s sec-ondary is questionable at best, after finishing last in the ACC in pass defense in 2008. The linebackers are rounded out by Dwayne Maddox, who is likely to fill Irving’s spot.

Still, many in the program think the team will be just fine, including defensive end Willie Young.

“Do I believe that? Yes I do,” Young said. “I’m confident in my team. There’s nothing negative, nothing bad to be said about my team. The only thing that can be said is that we have areas that we need to improve on.”

Virginia’s Hall to try his hand at Qbformer cornerback will lead offenseBy sCott powerssenioR WRiteR

Virginia’s Vic Hall is finally get-ting his chance to play quarterback.

Hall started four years at Gretna Senior High School in Virginia, where he was a three-time first-team all-state quarterback and led his team to two perfect seasons capped by state championships.

He passed for a state record 8,731 yards and 104 touchdowns and rushed for 5,039 yards and 66 touchdowns. Rivals.com ranked him the No. 10 quarterback pros-pect in the country.

But when Hall started playing for UVa., it wasn’t under center — it was at cornerback.

“When Vic came to Virginia, we had every intention to give him a full shot at quarterback,” coach Al Groh said. “A set of circumstances devel-oped where he had a chance to play in the games earlier in that spot.”

But by the time Hall’s sopho-more year rolled around, another sophomore had established himself at quarterback. Jameel Sewell was the Cavaliers’ starter. Hall started all 13 games at cornerback.

It looked as though Hall would get his chance in 2008 when Sewell was forced to leave the team because of an academic suspension.

“We gave some thought to it last year,” Groh said. “Unfortunately, two of the corners that we thought might be able to step in and take his role weren’t going to be with us. So who was going to play corner?”

The battle for the starting quarterback position came down to sophomores Peter Lalich and

Marc Verica. Lalich won the com-petition but was kicked off the team two weeks into the season for incidents involving alcohol. Verica played quarterback for the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, Hall started again at cornerback and served as team captain.

Hall was elected captain once more this year, and he embraces his role as a leader.

“I’m not really a vocal guy,” Hall said. “I really more lead by exam-ple.”

Hall added that he is working on being more vocal.

Now Hall, Sewell and Verica are all back and competing for the job. Hall entered training camp as the starter, but Groh said he’s not guaranteed anything.

“There’s nothing like competi-tive conditions to evaluate quar-terbacks,” Groh said.

Hall has the biggest adjustment to make, moving to the other side of the ball.

“You gotta step up to the learn-ing curve quicker, a lot of extra film sessions, a lot of time with your head in the playbook,” Hall said. “But that’s something that if we want to get better, that’s stuff that we gotta do.”

Whoever wins out as the Cavaliers’ starting quarterback will have the challenge of turning around a team that won four fewer games last year than the year before.

“Winning five games was not what any of us wanted to do, so that plays a big part in our moti-vation factor,” Hall said.

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few preseason bright spots for the HuskiesBy Jonathan JonesAssistAnt sports Editor

The University of Connecticut had six punts blocked in the 2008 season. Three of them came at the hands of North Carolina’s Bruce Carter.

With that in mind, UConn punter Desi Cullen, who had the 6-foot-3 junior UNC linebacker stuff a trio of his attempts in October, listed avoiding blocked punts near the top of his list dur-ing the Huskies’ media day.

“I worked with the long snap-pers all summer to get our timing down, making sure I was exact in just taking a two-step approach,” Cullen said. “Everything has been working well so far. I think we’ll be fine during the season.”

The special teams’ concern is just one of many issues fac-ing this year’s Connecticut team that lost a 2,000-yard rusher and retains two quarterbacks who combined for an abysmal two touchdowns and nine intercep-tions last season.

Gone this year is Donald Brown, who ducked out before his senior year to pursue an NFL career.

Brown rushed for 2,083 yards and 18 touchdowns while being named the Big East Offensive Player of the Year. He was the only bright spot when UConn met North Carolina on Oct. 4, rushing for 161 yards and a touchdown in a 38-12 loss for the Huskies.

Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon will try to pick up the slack in the backfield, along with full-back Anthony Sherman, who will be present in both the pass and run attacks. Sherman said few changes have been made to the offense by head coach Randy Edsall and his crew.

“I’m doing pretty much the same things in the running game,” Sherman said at media day. “I play a little more tailback in pass protection, but that’s really the only thing that’s dif-ferent.”

Leading a passing game that was next to last in the Big East in passing yards per game last season is Zach Frazer, who was tabbed as the starter back in April.

Frazer’s first collegiate start came against the Tar Heels, where he took over for an injured Tyler Lorenzen. Against UNC, Frazer went 24-for-44 with three inter-ceptions and averaged less than five yards per pass.

But the defending International Bowl champions do have some pluses heading into the 2009 sea-son.

Defensive end Lindsey Witten returns after accumulating five sacks on a defense that allowed less than 20 points per game last year.

Last season when UConn began the year 5-0, they allowed 10 or fewer points in their first three games.

Also, the Huskies only have two preseason top-25 teams on their schedule — No. 23 Notre Dame on Nov. 21 and their Sept. 12 date with No. 21 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

team to replace prolific rb brown

Va. tech faces uphill battle

By Louie horvathAssistAnt sports Editor

After struggling to gain national prominence in the past couple of seasons, the Virginia Tech Hokies are looking to make a big state-ment to the rest of the country, early.

Va. Tech faces No. 5 Alabama in the annual Chick-Fil-A Kickoff game, and a win in that game can vault the Hokies to a spot they haven’t been since the early 21st century – in contention for a national championship.

That also happens to be the last time Virginia Tech trotted out a tre-mendously talented mobile quar-terback and a solid group of wide receivers, featuring a team with Michael Vick, Emmett Johnson, Andre Davis and Ernest Wilford.

This edition, featuring Tyrod Taylor, Marcus Davis, Xavier Boyce and Danny Coale, may well find themselves in the national championship race, as their ACC schedule could best be described

as fortunate. The team will not face Florida

State, Clemson or Wake Forest, the three contenders most likely to face them in the ACC Championship game in Tampa, Fla.

“I think things have to fall into place,” head coach Frank Beamer said about their national champi-onship hopes. “I think recruiting is going the best it’s ever gone. The caliber of kids we get has never been better. I think that translates to winning. I said as much winning as we’ve done, I still think our best years are ahead of us. You knock on the door enough times, hope-fully you knock it in one of these days. That’s where we are.”

With 17 returning starters, Va. Tech is poised to bust the door down. Offensively, along with Taylor and the wideouts, the Hokies will rely on Darren Evans, who posted an impressive 1,265 yards on the ground last season to beat Taylor for the rushing lead. Between the duo, they accounted for more than

2,000 rushing yards.While running will always be a

staple of so-called “Beamer Ball,” the biggest emphasis is usually special teams. For whatever rea-son, the Hokies uncharacteris-tically failed to score a special teams touchdown last season, and they enter this season with a hole at kicker after Dustin Keys gradu-ated.

The defense returns eight start-ers, including junior Jason Worilds and senior Kam Chancellor. Chancellor briefly flirted with the NFL before choosing to return for his senior season in Blacksburg, Va.

“I was pretty serious about going early,” Chancellor said. “I started thinking about things like my team. I see how it feels for me this year, and we can go very far.”

Safety Chancellor will be count-ed on to help the Hokies minimize the impact of cornerback Victor Harris’ decision to go pro.

And if he can do that, it could go a long way toward bringing Virginia Tech back into the nation-al spotlight.

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18


No longer young, miami ready to win

dth file photo

With Jacory harris on offense and a host of youth on the defense, the Miami hurricanes look to return to dominance in the ACC in 2009.

By Chris hempsonAssistAnt sports editor

The word "young" just doesn’t sit well with Miami safety Randy Phillips. But since Randy Shannon took the reins as the Hurricanes’ coach two years ago, that’s about all Phillips has heard.

For the past two seasons, Miami has received fairly meager contri-butions from its seniors. Yet as the 2009 campaign gets underway, a lack of experience no longer appears to be the problem it once was.

The Hurricanes return 20 seniors to Coral Gables, Fla. — including Phillips, offensive tackle Jason Fox and defensive lineman Eric Moncur. The team is also returning people lost last season to injury.

“(The defense) is going to be dif-ferent in terms of turnovers and hard hitting and things like that, because you add key guys that weren’t on the defense last year that are back,” Phillips said.

“That’s third-, fourth- and fifth-year players. I’m an O.K. player. Eric

Moncur, he’s our best defensive line-man. Colin McCarthy, he’s our best linebacker. He didn’t play last year. When you add those three guys in, it don’t matter who the defensive coordinator is, you’re going to have better play.”

Miami hopes this is the case. With one of the roughest opening schedules in the nation — the first four games are against Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma — the Hurricanes need to play from the get-go.

Shannon seems to think his starting quarterback Jacory Harris will be up to the task. The sopho-more seems to have outgrown his shaky play as a freshman.

“He’s demanding a lot of him-self and the players around him,” Shannon said of Harris. “He brings a lot to the table, and he’s becoming a leader on the team.”

Harris will no longer be splitting time at the position either after the departure of Robert Marve. And he likely won’t have to worry about any mistakes affecting his playing time either – two of Harris’ other backups transferred as well.

Still, if the Hurricanes are to have any sort of success, several fac-tors will need addressing, including Harris’ play.

Another issue of last season was

the freshmen wide receivers. They were garnering all the playing time, and with it, they weren’t doing Harris any favors.

Three of the team’s top four wide receivers were freshmen. And none gathered more than 335 yards receiving. The squad’s backfield wasn’t too successful, either. Then-sophomore Graig Cooper led the team with 841 yards on the ground,

but Miami hasn’t had a 1,000-yard rusher in six seasons.

If such areas don’t improve, Shannon could find his hot seat even hotter. His players keep emphasizing that Shannon’s not under pressure, but clearly, a 12-13 record through two seasons is not going to cut it at Miami. Even so, Shannon appears to have loosened up — at least according to Phillips. Shannon trusts his team now.

“It’s all about the senior leaders, the upperclassmen,” Phillips said. “We didn’t have that last year, so everyone called us young. But now we have great upperclassmen, great seniors.”

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dth file photo

in paul Johnson's first year, Georgia tech averaged close to 273 yards rush-ing. Jonathan dwyer led the ACC with a staggering 107 yards per game.

yellow Jackets ready to runBy Powell latimerSportS editor

Year One of Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson experiment was a suc-cess.

Using Johnson's patented triple-option attack, the Yellow Jackets went 9-4 in 2008, includ-ing a home stretch with three vic-tories against ranked opponents, and garnered a preseason No. 15 ranking in 2009.

But the sour taste of a 38-3 shel-lacking at the hands of LSU in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl still remains, and Johnson isn't satisfied. He intends to run his ground attack out for a second year.

"Everybody wants to talk about balance," Johnson said. "Balance. I can pull out the NCAA stats right now and show you 10 teams that didn’t win four games that were dead balanced 50-50. What do you want to be on offense? ‘I want to be balanced.’ I don’t. I want to be good."

Johnson's Yellow Jackets led the ACC in rushing offense — by more than a thousand yards — and total offense despite averaging less than 100 yards per game through the air.

"Well, if we snuck on anybody, then they weren’t paying atten-tion. There’s 21 years of tape out there they can look at. I don’t know if we snuck up on anybody," Johnson said.

And it's hard to find a player less under the radar than running back Jonathan Dwyer.

Dywer, in just his sophomore

campaign, led the ACC in total rushing yards and rushing yards per game, and his 7.0 yards-per-carry average was a full yard and a half better than his closest com-petitor.

The ACC player of the year in 2008, Dwyer has been mentioned in some circles as a player to watch for the Heisman trophy.

"I knew I had a good year last year, but I mean, to be compared to that type of level – Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford – that’s a whole 'nother level,” Dwyer said.

One thing that Georgia Tech will need to do is get better in the red zone. Despite their effective running game, the Yellow Jackets ranked tenth in the league in red zone offense, and only Virginia had fewer touchdowns inside 20 yards.

Georgia Tech will also need its starting quarterback Josh Nesbitt to stay healthy for an entire season. With top backup Jaybo Shaw out with a broken collarbone, Nesbitt becomes even more important to running the system.

The Yellow Jackets return a defense that finished dead in the middle of the ACC in total defense, and the youth that hurt GT in 2008 is now experience in 2009.

Leading that defense are safety Morgan Burnett and defensive end Derrick Morgan. Burnett was a second-team All-American in 2008, and Morgan was an honor-able mention All-ACC selection.

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Documents

Football 2009: The Heel Curtain