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.

At N.C. State's team awards banquet last season, defensive coordinator Mike Archer had fond words for cornerback Jimmie Sutton.

Last season Sutton lost his starting job at the midseason open date. After that, it seemed he didn’t have much to play for as a senior.

The Duke women’s basketball team will host Stanford during the upcoming 2008-2009 season, a Blue Devils athletic department spokesman said Wednesday.

The non-conference game is scheduled for Dec. 16 and will be nationally televised on ESPN.

Leesville Road High standout Zach Greene's football commitment might surprise local fans who know his father, Dwayne Greene.

Dwayne is a former N.C. State defensive back who is a member of the Wolfpack Club's board of directors. His son committed Monday night to a different school that's a 25-minute drive from his home in the Olde Creedmoor subdivision in North Raleigh.

Zach Greene plans to play cornerback at Duke and turned down an N.C. State scholarship offer.

Denzelle Good, a huge rising senior offensive lineman from Gaffney, S.C., has committed to N.C. State.

Good is 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds and was rated the ninth-best player in the Class of 2009 in South Carolina by The (Columbia) State Newspaper in February.