Oct. 20, 2002

John Bunting was in a Sunday afternoon staff meeting at 2:15 when he got the news, and it wasn't good. X-rays showed Darian Durant had fractured his right thumb in the third quarter at Virginia. His season is over. Florida transfer C.J. Stephens, who had appeared briefly in four games, will take over as the starting quarterback.

For a struggling 2-5 team, which has no consistency in its rushing attack and has shown no ability to stop the opposition from running, the loss of Durant would seem to take away any chance the Tar Heels might have to stay in games. "Except for a few plays at the beginning of the season," recalled Bunting, "it's hard to beat what he's done. He's played very, very well and against Virginia he was playing extremely well."

In three quarters at Charlottesville, before he told the trainers that his thumb wouldn't allow him to play any more, Durant had gone 14-for-18 for 226 yards and three TD's. He goes to the shelf with nearly 1,900 yards and 15 touchdowns to his credit for the season.

Yet nobody, especially Bunting, is throwing in the towel. "No, not me," he claimed. "I'm ready to fight. I'm ready to fight even harder. I'm excited about this football team trying to overcome something."

This is not a new situation for the second year head coach. He was one of the defensive bosses for the NFL's St. Louis Rams in 1999 when millionaire quarterback Trent Green, acquired as a free agent from Washington, went down with a knee injury during the pre-season. Bunting was one of the Ram assistants who pushed for backup Kurt Warner to get the job. Warner did take over, and he led the Rams to a 23-16 victory over Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV.

"Hey, we've got to go on," he insisted. "C.J. Stephens has got to play, and I think he can play and we're going to find out how well he can play real soon. We're all going to rally around him, just like we did around Kurt Warner."

There won't be any changes to accommodate the Gainesville, Florida, junior. "C.J. takes reps every day with the first unit, so we will run a very similiar package. It's just another challenge for (offensive coordinator_ Gary Tranquill. Obviously, he's very disappointed Darian is out, but he's the perfect guy for this challenge."

Stephens worked the last five offensive series against Virginia, and threw for one score. With limited time in four games, he hit 14-of-30 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns.

When he transferred to Carolina a lot of fans thought the Tar Heels were getting a full blown SEC quarterback, but Stephens had only one snap of game action at Florida. He knew he had plenty to work on in order to improve and become the quarterback he was capable of being.

But he came here to play. Now he has that opportunity, and it's up to him to take advantage of it, starting Saturday at Wake Forest.