Sept. 7, 2007

by Lee Pace, Extra Points

Reams of paper, gallons of ink and gigabytes of cyberspace are consumed each winter during the college football recruiting season as coaches, parents, prospects, media, talent gurus and fans jostle for position and information. Of late the "star" system of ranking recruits has become the be-all end-all of the recruiting junkie world.

It turns out two of the most impressive performances by Tar Heel newcomers Saturday night were virtual unknowns in the recruiting universe last year.

Punter Terrence Brown was headed to Santa Barbara Westmount College to play baseball last spring after two years punting at Fresno City College. But the Tar Heel coaches knew the Fresno coach Tony Caviglia and called to ask if he knew of a punter. Caviglia recommended Brown, sent the Tar Heel staff a tape and soon Brown was invited to Chapel Hill for the Blue-White Game in April. Butch Davis offered him on the spot and Brown accepted.

Brown won the punting job in preseason camp with good distances, hang times, direction control and fast get-offs. Against James Madison, he had four kicks averaging 50 yards. Launching two kicks from just inside the Tar Heels' 30 yard line, Brown hit two solid punts that were not fielded, bounced and rolled toward the end zone. One was downed at 58 yards, the other at 64 yards.

Another Brown, this one named Charles and hailing from Maple Heights, Ohio, started as the "nickel back" on the Tar Heel defense and notched six solo tackles and three assists.

"Charles is one of those kids who have good stick-and-ball sense," says Tar Heel coach Butch Davis. "If he were playing ping-pong, he'd be pretty good at it. If he were playing pool, he'd be pretty good. Charles is one of those kinds of athletes. He played well Saturday and I was really pleased with his poise."

"Charles was unflappable, that was very impressive," secondary coach and defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano says. "He's instinctive, he understands football and he's great in traffic."

Brown was offered a scholarship by Bowling Green and other Mid-America Conference schools as well as Connecticut. Tar Heel sophomore Richard Quinn played with Brown at Maple Heights High and thought Brown was good enough to play in the ACC. He had Brown's tape sent to Tar Heel assistant coach Tommy Thigpen, who liked what he saw.

"I knew of his talent, knew he was capable and was a great athlete," says Quinn. "I wanted to see him down here with me and not any of those other places. I figured he could fly around and make plays, and that's what I saw Saturday."

Brown admits to a certain level of nervousness Saturday but that didn't last long.

"In pre-game I was kind of nervous," says Brown. "I'd never seen a crowd like that. I was pretty jittery the first couple of plays. Then I figured out, `This is just football. I know how to play football.' So I relaxed and just played and had fun."

I've been a fan of your "Extra Points" since inception but miss your "extra" final stats that only you gave us, i.e., tackles, sacks, pass break-ups, fumble recoveries, etc. Any chance of including them again in your coverage of UNC football games?
Alex Galloway, Winston-Salem

Some of those statistics were published in the old print version of "Extra Points." But with the advent and evolution of the Internet and the ease of providing information quickly and in volume, it seemed no longer necessary.

You can go to the game coverage each week on Tarheelblue.com. This link will contain a game story, box score, notes and photos and usually is posted within several hours after the conclusion of the game. The box score is the official package provided to the NCAA, the ACC and the NCAA. The "Participation Report" lists all players who played, and the "Defensive Statistics" includes tackles, break-ups, fumbled forced, etc. The stats package from the JMU game can be found here.

I am happy to hear the term "Tar Pit" has resurfaced in a way that speaks to the support from the student body and the home crowd overall. As a Tar Heel during the Mack Brown era (1994-98), I remember Coach Brown speaking to us about the "Tar Pit" and how opponents would come into Kenan Stadium and just feel "like they are stuck in tar" due to the speed we had on the field. As a letterman, I was enthused to see all the Carolina Blue in the stadium Saturday for the James Madison game. It is always great to have a strong home field presence in the stands. I am confident that the current players noticed the stands rocking and showing support throughout the game and are equally appreciative!
Mark Dunn, UNC '98

Brown would no doubt have been impressed with the crowd Saturday night. He was preaching "Come early, be loud, wear blue" as early as the 1991 when the Tar Heels started to win some games. As the Tar Heel football team evolves under Davis, the fan base will hopefully follow. Both will have big tests next week when the Tar Heels play their first ACC game, in Kenan Stadium against Virginia at 12 noon. Tar Heel crowds are notoriously late-arriving for early starting times. A great statement on the fans' part would be to fill the stadium well in advance of kick-off.

I was astonished to read that we have only had one 1,000-yard rusher since 1993. I attended UNC from 1980-1983, so I was spoiled with both Amos Lawrence and Kelvin Bryant (who lived on my floor, sixth floor of Morrison Dorm). I am thinking that this is the biggest result of the decline in our program in the last 10-15 years--out inability to run. Do you agree? Do we have a new coach who can help us improve our running game?
Stephen Partrick, UNC '83, Atlanta

There is no question that the lack of a healthy and consistent running game over the last decade has been a deterrent to winning.

The Tar Heels have not had a tailback drafted since Jon Linton was taken in the fifth round by Buffalo in 1998, and Linton played fullback in the pros. From 1990-97, only Natrone Means and Leon Johnson had outstanding running careers at Carolina and went on to careers carrying the ball in the pros.

Since 1990, Carolina has had only four offensive linemen drafted: Kevin Donnalley in 1991, Brian Bollinger in 1992, Jeb Terry in 2004 and Jason Brown in 2005.

Jeff Saturday at center and Willie Parker at tailback have been impact players in the pros after entering the league via the free-agent route.

The reasons for the lack having a consistent level of outstanding talent along the O-line and at tailback are numerous. The Tar Heels signed four tailbacks in 1997 (Rufus Brown, Ravon Anderson, Domonique Williams and Tyrell Godwin), and none evolved into a premier back. They were also at that time focusing on signing defensive linemen only and moving the culls to offense; that generally doesn't work well because playing the offensive line takes a certain breed of body type and mindset. There have been highly regarded tailbacks who left the program (Daniel Davis) and many near misses on the recruiting trail to N.C. State, Florida State and Virginia. And there have been issues such as the Tar Heels' abominably bad defenses of 2002 and '03 that forced the offense to throw the ball most of the time in catch-up mode.

Butch Davis and the offensive staff are committed to building a balanced offense--that includes being able to run the ball.

I saw No. 86 on the extra-point team on the line blocking. The roster says that is John Choate, who is a punter. I figure that was someone else but wondered who it was.
Harvie Edwards, Tarboro

That was actually offensive tackle Mike Ingersoll, who is normally No. 66. Ingersoll plays on the end of the extra-point/field-goal unit, so he needs to have a number in the 80s. Thus the vest he puts on with No. 86.

***

Interesting footnote: Former Tar Heel receiver Adarius Bowman traveled with his Oklahoma State team to Athens, Ga., last Saturday to play the Georgia Bulldogs (Georgia won, 35-14). Bowman's younger brother is a high school receiver in Chattanooga, Tenn., and he was invited along with parents Tara and Terrance Bowman to attend the game on an unofficial recruiting visit.

Seems the elder Bowmans both wore orange Oklahoma State jerseys to the game in support of Adarius, who transferred to OSU in 2005 and joined former Tar Heel receivers coach Gunter Brewer. They were greeted by a "really mean" Georgia administrative staff member when they first arrived, in Tara's words, and then were asked to remove the jerseys and instead wear Georgia shirts. They refused and were sent to the far side of the stadium, to enter on tickets that were no good because the stubs had been removed. Finally they were given seats outside the section where recruiting guests sit and caught a fair amount of razzing from Georgia fans.

"It's Michael's choice whether he wants to go to Georgia or not, but he won't get any encouragement from me at all," his mother told the Athens Banner-Herald.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace is in his 18th season writing "Extra Points," a colorful and in-depth look at Tar Heel football. He'll answer your questions about the Tar Heels regularly during the season in his "Extra Points Mailbag" column and on the Tar Heel Sports Network's pregame show. Email him your questions (please, no recruiting questions) about the Tar Heels at leepace@nc.rr.com and he'll answer the most interesting ones.