Oct. 12, 2007

By Lauren Brownlow

Every Thursday, check TarHeelBlue.com for the latest edition of the Game Guide, which provides all the information you need to get ready for gameday.

The Basics

The Tar Heels will play its last game before the bye week and will end a stretch of four tough games in a row when it faces South Carolina at home on Saturday at 3:30. Carolina (2-4, 1-2) is coming off of its second win of the season and its first win since its opening game, beating Miami 33-27 at home last weekend. No. 7/12 South Carolina (5-1, 3-1) defeated then No. 8 Kentucky 38-23 last Thursday night at home. Carolina leads the series 34-16-4. The two schools met every year from 1949-1964. The two teams have not played for 16 years, the longest drought in series history.

Game Time: South Carolina at North Carolina, 3:30 PM, ABC

Carolina's game notes can be found here and South Carolina's official football site is here.

Last Time: Carolina beat South Carolina 21-17 in Kenan Stadium on November 16, 1991. Natrone Means rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Jason Stanicek threw for two touchdowns and the Carolina defense had eight sacks. Linebacker coach and former Tar Heel Tommy Thigpen started at linebacker and had six tackles. South Carolina outgained Carolina 332-311 (243 to 119 passing), but Carolina outrushed the Gamecocks, 192-39.

Gameday Weather: Check the local weather forecast before heading for the game.

Radio Coverage: Tar Heel Sports Network coverage begins at 2:30 PM. The radio broadcast is also available on XM Channel 191 at 3:30 PM. Since it's a home game, the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast can be heard on XM.

Game week TV/radio coverage: The Butch Davis Radio Show will be broadcast live from the Top of the Hill restaurant on Franklin Street every Thursday at 7:00. Inside the Huddle with Butch Davis airs Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on FOX Sports, 10 a.m. on MASN and 11 a.m. on WTVD in the Triangle. The Tar Heel Rewind show featuring highlights of the previous week's games will air Tuesday's at 7 p.m. and Thursday's at 8 p.m. in the Triangle and Fayetteville.

Storylines

Defending the pass: Carolina picked off four passes against Miami, marking the first time Carolina has had four interceptions since 1999 against Duke. Those four interceptions bring Carolina's total on the season up to seven, which matches last season's total. But with a young and talented secondary, over-eagerness and mistakes will undoubtedly follow. Miami's Kyle Wright went right at redshirt freshman Tavorris Jolly on the 97-yard touchdown pass that brought Miami to within seven points of Carolina.

After allowing no passing plays of more than 20 yards against James Madison, the young Carolina secondary allowed six against East Carolina, including a 78-yard play and a 50-yard play. In its next three games, it allowed just five big plays, three against South Florida and one each for Virginia and Virginia Tech. Of those, no pass play was longer than 32 yards. Then against Miami, the defense held Kyle Wright to just 17-of-33 passing with four of the 16 incompletions landing in the hands of the Carolina secondary. But it allowed four big plays, most since the East Carolina game, including the 97-yarder and a 32-yard pass play. Those 129 yards accounted for 42.7% of Miami's 302 passing yards and one of its two passing touchdowns.

Kendric Williams started the season at one of the corner spots and then tore his ACL against Virginia Tech. Jermaine Strong performed well in his absence, then Strong was bothered by a shoulder problem against Miami, forcing Jolly into action. Coach Davis said that the secondary must be as cohesive a unit as the offensive line in order for the defense to have success.

"We've been a little big maligned. People have picked on some of those guys in the secondary. Then all of a sudden now guys start making some plays. I think it's a byproduct of being in games and gaining some experience," Davis said. "The offensive line and the secondary are probably the two units that them playing together as a unit are the most critical groups because those five guys are all connected, along with the tight end. Same thing in the secondary - they don't make the right adjustments with that, the guys in the black-and-white striped shirts are raising their hands and it's a touchdown."

But Carolina's defense must avoid the temptation to make the big play and concentrate on playing its responsibilities. As Coach Davis pointed out, part of what let Miami back into the game on Saturday was mistakes made by the young defense in not recognizing things like down and distance and just trying to make a play.

"We've got to do a better job of being detailed and organized on the backside of some of the defenses - staying home and making sure that you play responsibility from that standpoint. We missed a chance to get a couple of sacks. One of the times, we let them out of a 3rd and 15 when they got a big completion over the middle of the field. When you're talking to your defense, you're always talking about the sticks. What do they need to convert? If it's third and four they need to get four. If it's 3rd and 15, what do they need and make sure that you have stick awareness," Davis said. "You can't wait until the play snaps and then start talking about it. You have to say, `Okay, this is the down and distance. Here are the personnel groupings. Here are the formations.' Guys have got to chatter. There has got to be a lot of communication going on. One of the areas that we made some mistakes in was that we got sucked up on routes that we would have loved for them to throw that route, because it was going to be tackled and it's going to be fourth and eight and they're going to punt. Guys, through youth and inexperience, they see somebody flash across their face and they want to go jump that route and let somebody at the down and distance where we need to be in the throwing lane."

South Carolina's offense has struggled to run the ball and it has relied largely on its passing attack. The Gamecocks have averaged 130.7 yards per game on the ground (3.7 yards per carry) and has passed for an average of 229.3 yards per game (12.2 yards per reception, 6.9 yards per pass). South Carolina has attempted 210 rushing plays and 198 passes, but the balance is not as much there on the ground as opposed to through the air.

The Gamecocks have a young offensive line that has allowed 16 sacks on the season. Despite beating Kentucky, the South Carolina offensive line allowed five sacks. The Gamecocks have allowed at least two sacks in every game this season and the five sacks allowed against Kentucky was a season high. The Gamecocks have allowed 29 quarterback hurries on the season (including 17 against Georgia). After notching just seven sacks and seven quarterback hurries in its first four games, Carolina has had five quarterback hurries and seven sacks in its last two games alone. Carolina ranks 46th in the country in pass defense but 72nd in pass efficiency defense. South Carolina ranks 66th in passing efficiency and 60th in passing offense. Carolina ranks 43rd in sacks, averaging 2.33 a game and the South Carolina offense ranks 90th in sacks allowed with 2.67 per game.

Finding ways to move the football: Every single week, the Carolina running game has been steadily improving. Carolina moved the ball well through the air despite having little success on the ground in its first three games, and then it ran into a wall at South Florida. All the pressure to move the ball fell on T.J. Yates, and he simply could not do it on his own. Carolina threw nine touchdowns in its first three games and has not thrown a touchdown pass since.

Carolina began the season with 13 pass plays of over 20 yards and just seven running plays of over 10 yards. However, against South Florida and Virginia Tech combined the passing offense had four big plays while the rushing offense had six plays of 10 yards or more. Against Miami, the two seemed to click for the first time. Carolina got five passing plays for more than 20 yards (including a 49-yard pass play to Brandon Tate, the longest pass play since the East Carolina game) and the running game added six plays of 10 or more yards. Tate's 54-yard run on the reverse was Carolina's longest play from scrimmage this season and a 39-yard Anthony Elzy run for a touchdown against the Hurricanes was the second-longest.

"Those first couple of games, we went downfield a lot and threw the ball pretty deep. Teams are smart. They catch on to that and they back up and play you conservatively. So we definitely had to switch our style up a little bit and just do different things. Teams aren't stupid. They're not going to let that happen after having it happen a couple of games. So they play back and play different types of defenses that help them take away the big plays," Yates said.

But now, Carolina's running game has emerged into a legitimate threat. Anthony Elzy (37.2 yards per game, 3.9 yards per carry) has appeared to increase his field awareness, finding the holes with more and more ease each game. Ryan Houston (36.7 yards per game, 3.3 yards per carry) is a bruiser that can get tough yardage and tire out opposing defenses. Johnny White (37.2 yards per game, 4.0 yards per carry) has a lot of speed as well. When speedy wide receivers like Brandon Tate (six rushes for 82 yards), Brooks Foster (one rush for four yards) and Greg Little (one rush for nine yards that converted a key first down against Miami) are added into the mix, it really opens things up in the running game and stretches the field.

Carolina had a season-high 183 yards on the ground against Miami and had 124 yards against Virginia Tech, marking two of Carolina's three 100-yard rushing games and its first two 100-yard games against Division I-A teams. In its last two games, the Carolina rushing attack is averaging 153.5 yards per game and 3.4 yards per carry.

"It's the growth of our running game that has made a significant difference. And also the games have been competitive to the point that everything is still part of the game plan. It's very difficult to win the time of possession when you're behind like we were against South Florida. When you're down a significant amount and you're having to throw an awful lot, it's almost impossible to win the time of possession. But when the game is close and you're either up by a score or down by a score and your whole game plan is still intact, it's easier to have that kind of success," Davis said.

The running game has to get explosive plays early and often not only to keep the Tar Heels in the game but also to make Carolina's opponents respect it and open things up in terms of the play-action pass. "I think so far this year, we've been a pretty good play-action team. If you can get that conflict of assignment rolling, a great defense like this that really reads their keys and hits their gaps that's well-coached like this team, you can take perhaps a great strength of theirs and make it a weakness if we can execute what we want to do," offensive coordinator John Shoop said.

Carolina will face the No. 26 defense in the country this week, marking the fourth consecutive week that Carolina has faced a top-30 defense. South Carolina has the No. 99 rushing defense in the country (193.8 yards per game allowed). But it is the No. 1 pass defense in the country (126.5 yards per game) and spent last week frustrating Kentucky's Heisman Trophy candidate Andre Woodson into a fumble returned for a touchdown and only his second interception of the season.

This is a defense that both Coach Davis and T.J. Yates said was as complex as they had seen so far this year, throwing as many as 10-15 different looks at the other team whereas other teams this season have given Carolina maybe 3-5. "It will put an enormous mental challenge on our quarterback and on our offensive linemen. It will be a team that clearly in weeks 1 or 2 you would hate to have to play someone like South Carolina. Hopefully having played six ballgames we're a little further along with some of the things that we're doing from an offensive standpoint that hopefully will give us a little bit of a chance," Davis said.

On the season, South Carolina has allowed 84 completions on 172 attempts (48.8%) for 759 yards, four touchdowns and seven interceptions. After allowing Louisiana-Lafayette to complete 63.2% of its passes in the season-opener, South Carolina did not allow a team to complete more than 40% of its passes, including a season-best 40% completion percentage allowed at LSU. No team has completed more than 23 passes against South Carolina and only one quarterback has completed more than 20 (Andre Woodson). South Carolina has at least one interception in all but one game this season and has held three teams to under 100 yards passing. Despite the fact that South Carolina's passing defense ranks No. 1 in the country, not a single South Carolina player ranks in the top ten of the SEC in passes defended. That is largely because the defensive line of South Carolina gets pressure on the quarterback while the secondary blankets wide receivers and quarterbacks are frustrated into making bad decisions or throwing the ball away.

"They're aggressive and they're all over the place. It's like you're playing a basketball team that's in a full-court press for 40 minutes. Some guys will come out at the end of that game, and say, `Well, we just had a bad shooting night.' Well, it seems like everybody has a bad shooting night them, against a team that pressures you like they do. A lot of quarterbacks have bad passing nights - well, it just so happens that they're all against the University of South Carolina," Shoop said. "It's not just one thing that they do. They've got great corners that contest every single pass. One of the big problems is that the quarterback is rarely throwing the ball from a position of comfort. These guys up front, it's like minnows swimming in a bucket sometimes the way they're getting to the quarterback. When you're throwing into tight coverage from an uncomfortable position, you don't always have a great shooting night. So we're really working on trying to protect our quarterback, make him as comfortable as possible to avoid the rush, and we're working like heck on getting some separation from what we think are some premier corners."

Big-time football returning to Chapel Hill: Miami was supposed to roll right over Carolina last weekend. Duke had "scared" the Hurricanes the previous week, and Coach Shannon had tried to convince his players that Carolina would be just as scrappy as Duke was. Carolina was able to get off to a quick start and withstand the eventual Hurricane onslaught to hang on for a huge win. But this is a young Carolina football team and no one knows how it will respond to getting such a big victory when it plays a top-10 opponent this week. Certainly it's a positive that this team can have the confidence that it can play with anyone, but it can't become complacent.

"Any time that you win, you hope that your kids will respond the next week as well. You hope that there are no letdowns. This is a young team and they've made mistakes, and you hope that they don't stop preparing and think that we've arrived, because we haven't. We're not even close to being as good as we need to be. We want our kids to just keep coming in and studying," linebacker coach Tommy Thigpen said.

The preparation aspect is something that each Carolina player and coach has cited as key in the victory over Miami last weekend. The team has also had what they term as at least three weeks of "physical" practices with a lot of 1-on-1 competition, and the combination of good practices with good preparation has finally yielded a winning result. But Coach Davis says that game-planning against a coach like Steve Spurrier will ensure not only his own staff's hard work but the continued hard work of the players on the team.

"We focus so much on us and we try to not spend a great deal of time talking about the opponent other than where they line up and their x's and o's. We worry about our execution. We worry about our fundamentals. We worry about our practice habits. As we continue to do that, I think our performances have shown that we've gotten a little bit better. We're going to need a dramatic improvement this week," Davis said. "You have to cover so many bases. With a more experienced, veteran football team - not that you ever take anything for granted, but it's easier to be able to say, `We've played a team that's similar to that and we're going to do these same adjustments and this is how we're going to line up.' But with the football team that we've got, every single game plan for us every week has been somewhat of an ordeal because it's almost been a brand-new experience. It will be a challenge. As I told the players yesterday, `What ever you did last week - watching film, studying tape, talking to coaches - you've got to do 10, 15, 20% more this week just because of the complexity of who we're playing.'"

Up 27-0 at halftime, despite warnings from the coaches that the game was not yet over, Carolina came out a little flat while Miami came out ready to fight and try to mount a comeback. Miami outscored the Tar Heels 20-6 in the second half, but a few big plays on defense and offense late in the game helped ensure a Carolina victory. Instead of panicking, the young team stuck with it, shook off mistakes (like allowing a 97-yard pass play) and did what it needed to do. Many on the team feel that the close game against Miami and withstanding the Miami comeback helped them grow as a team perhaps a bit more than a blowout would have. "Coach Davis talked about Tiger Woods. He said play as if your opponent is always going to play well. Play as if he is going to make the next birdie. That's how Tiger Woods plays in his golf tournament. That is the kind of mindset we had. Don't look at the scoreboard. Don't worry about it. Just go out there and make your best play every play," Marvin Austin said.

This team has persevered through coming so close and yet not quite getting the win against good teams for three out of six weeks this season. This is not a team that believes in moral victories, but the team does believe in Coach Davis' message of preparation and the fact that it finally paid off in a tangible win was important for this young group. However, they have a top-10 team coming to town in a geographical rivalry game on a national network. It is a challenge that team leaders like Hilee Taylor are eager to meet.

"I've seen it every game. I really do believe now we should be at least 5-1, I really do. To see that, it relay helps the team's confidence. What better week to have South Carolina up than having a bye week? We really have to go into this bye week with a win and South Carolina is a great opportunity for us to show on national TV, to show the world what Carolina football is about - North Carolina football is about," Taylor said.

At The Game

Listening to the Tar Heel Sports Network at the game: WCHL 1360 is the local affiliate.

Parking/construction update: For the latest information, click here.

Pregame activities: Tar Heel Town will open at 12:30 on Saturday. Besides, the usual activities, this year Chapel Hill Sportswear will be stationed in Tar Heel Town for the first time to sell all kinds of Carolina merchandise. The Old Well Walk will be at 1:15 and then the Marching Tar Heels will perform on the steps of Wilson Library at 2:30 before heading to the stadium. Then at 2:45, start making your way to Kenan Stadium and make sure you're in your seats early. For more information, see the new Fan Guide on TarHeelBlue.com.

Postgame activities: See the Fan Guide on TarHeelBlue.com for the latest information on postgame parking and activities.

Watching At Home

Turn down the sound: If you're watching at home while listening to the radio or over the computer via Carolina All-Access, there will inevitably be some delay. For the reason - and a possible solution - click here.

A full list of THSN affiliates can be found here.

ABC coverage: The game will be available regionally on ABC.

Names To Know

T.J. Yates: After a disastrous outing against South Florida in which he completed a season-low 11-of-27 passes (40.7%) for 85 yards, no touchdowns and four picks, Yates has worked his way back with solid play. In the last two games, Yates has completed 31-of-48 passes (64.6%) for 400 yards, no touchdowns (one rushing touchdown) and just one interception.

"The defenses have been getting better every week from JMU to ECU and from to ECU and Virginia and on and on, the defenses have been getting progressively better and better. We're playing against better teams every week, so I think I'm slowly getting better, slowly getting used to life in the pocket against some of the top defenses in the country," Yates said.

In his first three games, Yates was sacked five times and hurried four times. In the last three games, Yates has been sacked 12 times (six against Virginia Tech) and hurried four times (all by against Virginia Tech). Even though it seemed like Yates was constantly on the run against South Florida, the statistician recorded just four sacks and no quarterback hurries, but six passes defended. Virginia Tech sacked Yates a season-high six times, hurried him a season-high four times and had four passes defended. But against Miami, the offense protected Yates very well and held the ACC's leading defenses to just two sacks, zero quarterback hurries and two passes defended.

Though the big plays haven't been there as much for Yates, he has learned to take what the defense gives him in a sense and make the right decision rather than trying to force a route that is not available. Instead of stretching the field, the Carolina offense and Yates have adapted and are finding creative ways to get yardage.

"I think that T.J. realizes that it's not so much about him. He's got to just play smart and distribute the ball and let guys like Brandon, let guys like Brooks Foster, let guys like Hakeem do the bulk of the work for him. I think one of the things that young quarterbacks can do, and we saw it a little bit at South Florida, is trying to make something out of nothing," Shoop said.

Brandon Tate: Brandon Tate's 54-yard touchdown run marked the fourth different way he has scored in his career - rushing, receiving, a punt return and kickoff return. He now has nine career touchdowns - three receiving, three kickoff returns, two punt returns and one rushing. Only Tate and Wake Forest's Kenneth Moore have scored touchdowns receiving, rushing and on a kick return this season. His 263 all-purpose yards against East Carolina are the highest of any ACC player in one game so far this season.

Against Miami, Tate had 223 all-purpose yards - 54 yards on three catches, 64 yards rushing, and 105 yards combined on kick and punt returns. Tate's 54-yard touchdown run was Carolina's longest rushing touchdown since Darian Durant scampered for a 64-yard score at Clemson in 2003. Tate averaged 22.3 yards every time he touched the ball.

"He's a field position changer. He's got the ability - because of his speed, he can take potentially any play to the house. Those are obvious. Those are the things people see Brandon do. But some of the not so obvious are where he's gotten even better - the routes he runs when he's not going to get the ball, when he's not the primary guy, blocking downfield. I think that there are areas where receivers make a lot of growth, but certainly Brandon is growing into being a very, very valuable part of this offensive structure," Davis said.

Of Carolina's 22 passing plays of 20 yards or more and 19 rushing plays of 10 yards or more, Tate has accounted for nine of them. Only Nicks (eight) and Anthony Elzy (seven) come close. Tate has had five catches for more than 20 yards and of those, including two against James Madison (28, 46), East Carolina (39, 51) and then one against Miami (49). Tate also had a 15-yard run against James Madison and a ten-yard run against Virginia Tech before exploding for a 54-yard run for a touchdown and a 10-yard run against Miami.

Tate ranks second in the league in all-purpose yardage with 159.2 yards per game and is one of only three people in the top ten with at least 50 yards rushing, receiving, and punt and kickoff returning. In career kickoff return yardage in the ACC, Tate is sixth all-time with 1,902 yards and needs just 412 yards to hold the all-time mark. Tate is on pace to have one of the top five seasons in Carolina history in all-purpose yards with 955 yards and could challenge Don McCauley's record of 2,021 set in 1970.

Hilee Taylor: It was 27-20, Carolina. The Tar Heels had just gone three-and-out for the second time in their first three-second half possessions. Carolina is forced to punt to Miami and with 3:13 to go, Miami starts what it hoped would be a game-tying drive. Kyle Wright completes a 16-yard pass to the Miami 40-yard line and then Graig Cooper runs for seven yards to the Miami 47-yard line on a draw play. After an incomplete pass on 2nd and 3, Kyle Wright drops back to pass on third down and Hilee Taylor comes barreling through the line to sack Wright for a 13-yard loss, forcing Miami to punt.

Taylor leads the ACC and ranks 14th in the country in tackles for loss with 9.5 (1.58 per game). He is third in the ACC and tied for 11th in the country in sacks with 1.0 per game (6.0 total). Taylor is also tied for the team lead in quarterback hurries with three and he also has a pass defended. He is tied for first in the ACC and sixth in the country in fumbles forced with three (0.5 pre game).

All season long, Taylor has been right there on potentially game-changing plays - most notably, forcing a fumble against Virginia that neither he nor his Tar Heel teammates could recover. But Taylor has been leading this young defensive line all year long - not only through his words, but by the example of his hard work and ability to constantly fly to the ball and try to make something happen.

"There are so many things that I think that Hilee represents in such a positive manner. Not only is he a captain, but he is a phenomenal young man. His character, his integrity - he's one of our best recruiters; he's one of our best practice players. He comes in, he watches film. My biggest regret is I wish he was a freshman or sophomore - you'd love to have him for another 2-3 years," Davis said. "On game day, when you ask kids to spill his guts and leave everything on the field, there is no question in my mind that when Hilee Taylor walks into the locker room, there's nothing left in the tank. You're getting everything you can out of him. Although we don't have very many seniors on this football team, the ones that we do have, you couldn't ask for better examples for a lot of our young freshmen and redshirt freshmen."

Quan Sturdivant: In his first start against Virginia Tech, Sturdivant had eight tackles and his first career sack of the slippery Tyrod Taylor. Against Miami, he had four tackles, an interception and a blocked punt that set up the Carolina offense at the Miami 11-yard line and an eventual T.J. Yates touchdown. Sturdivant also returned a punt for 15 yards. Sturdivant also assisted on a tackle for a four-yard loss on Javarris James in the first quarter.

Sturdivant's interception came on Miami's first drive in the fourth quarter right after Carolina had made the score 30-20 with over 14 minutes left in the game. The pick set up a Connor Barth field goal that gave Carolina its final points of the day and made the margin 33-20 with 10:55 to go. Sturdivant has been all over the place on defense and special teams, and he will need to continue his solid play in order for the Carolina defense to slow down the Gamecocks.

Eric Norwood: The sophomore defensive end is the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week and will mark the third game out of the last four that the Tar Heels have faced a prolific defensive end (Virginia's Chris Long, South Florida's George Selvie and Miami's Calais Campbell). Norwood had five tackles last week and he also became the fourth player in Division I history to return two fumbles for touchdowns in one game against Kentucky. One of his five tackles was for loss and he also had two pass deflections and a quarterback hurry.

"Their linebackers are very good, but Norwood is a great pass rusher and he comes up with big plays. He's had a blocked punt, he's picked up two fumbles and scored touchdowns against Kentucky. He is a very, very athletic and a very active football player," Davis said.

Norwood leads the Gamecocks in sacks (3.0), tackles for loss (7.5), fumbles recovered (two), and is tied for the team lead in quarterback hurries (three). On the season, he has 35 tackles (20 solo), three passes defended and one blocked punt. His 7.5 tackles for loss rank seventh in the SEC and his 3.0 sacks are eighth.

Chris Smelley: The redshirt freshman quarterback has started just three games in his career and will make his first road start this weekend, but already he has made quite an impression. The reigning SEC freshman of the week out-passed Kentucky's Heisman Trophy candidate Andre Woodson, completing 17-of-30 passes for 256 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions compared to Woodson's 23-of-40 for 227 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Smelley also led two fourth-quarter scoring drives that both ended on touchdown passes.

In Smelley's three starts this season (against Louisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi State and Kentucky), he has completed 46-of-81 passes (56.8%) for 636 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. He has played in all six games this season and total, he has completed 67-of-122 passes (54.9%) for 922 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions. Smelley did not start but did face the vaunted LSU defense, completing 12-of-26 passes for 174 yards, one touchdown and one interception. In his last two games, Smelley has completed 36-of-67 passes (53.7%) for 535 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Like Miami's Kyle Wright, Smelley isn't known for his mobility but has made good decisions and managed games well for the most part. The entire defense must play as a focused unit to force Smelley into bad decisions.

Captain Munnerlyn: Sophomore cornerback Captain Munnerlyn is just 5-9, but he has been bigger than his size so far this season. Munnerlyn is tied for sixth in the SEC in interceptions with two and is tied for the lead on the team. On the season, he has 23 tackles (19 solo), three passes defended, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble. Munnerlyn also returns kickoff and punts and ranks eighth in the SEC in yards per punt return (6.5). He has 12 kick returns for 258 yards (21.5 yards per return) and 10 punt returns for 65 yards. He is fourth on the team in all-purpose yards per game with 60.2. Munnerlyn's 4.35 40-yard dash time is tied for the fastest on the team.

Against Georgia, Munnerlyn had two punt returns for 15 yards and four kickoff returns for 93 yards, including a 33-yard return. He followed that up with four tackles, a forced fumble, an interception and a pass defended against South Carolina State. He managed four kickoff returns for 78 yards (a long of 23 yards) against LSU. Against Kentucky, Munnerlyn had just one punt return for zero yards but had a season-high seven tackles, a fumble recovery, and an interception returned for 38 yards. His interception was in the South Carolina end zone as Kentucky was driving in the second quarter and was just Andre Woodson's second interception of the season.

With the injury to cornerback Carlos Thomas, Munnerlyn's play will be particularly important as true freshman Addison Williams will start opposite him.

Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.