CHAPEL HILL — While there will be plenty of folks watching the kicking contest to replace Connor Barth during UNC's training camp, two other key position battles resumed on special teams during the Tar Heels' second day of practice on Saturday: at deep snapper and holder.
With Michael Murphy (last year's deep snapper on extra points and field goals) and Ryan Baucom (holder, and deep snapper on punts) both gone, Tar Heel coaches must find new players to fill the oft-underappreciated positions.
The ritual N.C. State’s players performed at the end of practice Friday night didn’t sound like a lot of fun.
Second-year coach Tom O’Brien is establishing a tradition called “Wolfpack Warriors,” a once-a-year conditioning marathon that will establish how fit the players are.
Wolfpack Warriors is a long, arduous series of up-downs and sprints.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates said he knew his shoulder was recovering well from offseason surgery earlier this summer when he overthrew wide receiver Hakeem Nicks — 65 yards down the field.
CHAPEL HILL — UNC sophomore Greg Little hopes to apply a lot of what he learned while playing for the basketball Tar Heels to the football field this year.
And when he returns to the Smith Center next season, it will be as a spectator, not a player.
"[Football coach Butch Davis] looks at me as a pretty smart guy, and me being his featured back, I don't think he wants me on the court,'' Little, UNC's starting tailback, said Friday.
"That's what I understand, and that's what I understood going into it last year — if I couldn't get the majority of the the [playing] time or be a heavy contributor, this is where I was going to be."
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina was missing two players at it prepared for its first training camp practice on Friday: freshman linebacker Kevin Reddick, and defensive end Joseph Townsend, a junior college transfer.
Reddick, from New Bern, attended summer school classes but was not allowed to report because of an NCAA Clearinghouse issue, UNC coach Butch Davis said.
"Hopefully it will resolve itself in the very near future,'' he added. Townsend, who played at Los Altos Hills (Calif.) Community College, has to take care of some academic work before he can enroll in the fall, a team spokesman said.
We didn’t exactly need evidence that the SEC rules college football.
The last two national champions (Florida and LSU) have come from the SEC. LSU and Georgia both won blowouts in BCS bowl games last season.
USA Today’s rankings, released Friday morning, demonstrated that the coaches voting in the poll expect the SEC’s domination to continue.
Coach Tom O’Brien has never been in this situation before.
A college football team typically enters a preseason with two or three players, at most, competing for a starting quarterback position. N.C. State has five.
That would seem to be a good situation, until you try to figure out how to divide the repetitions during practice.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina's football players won't begin their first practice until 1:30 today, but they were on the Kenan Stadium field bright and early, posing for pictures. Coach Butch Davis will hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m.
— Robert Willett
Wake Forest announced today that for the first time in school history its football team will be ranked among the nation’s top 25 teams entering the 2008 season.
In the USA Today Coaches Poll released today, the Demon Deacons are ranked 23rd headed into their season opener against Baylor on Aug. 28 in Waco, Texas.
Note from N.C. State's preseason-opening practice.
Glennon stands tall. James looks strong. Evans follows Jeff Garcia's example. And more.
