Ready or not…
UNC ready? I think so!
Ready or not here we come, this is what head coach Butch Davis basically said during his last meeting with the media. The actual quote is this: “We’re pretty close, obviously, I think that if we were playing Saturday, we have a pretty good idea as to who the starting 11 [would be] on both sides of the ball.” And for the offense the starting eleven would include fifth year senior T.J. Yates. While this might not be the case for most of the fan base, I do like the fact that it will be the incumbent getting the start when #18 UNC will square off against #21 LSU in the Chick-fil–A kickoff game in Atlanta. On a side note, for the first time since ESPN has been doing College GameDay it will open for the third straight time in the same location. You know what this means, right? The eyes of all college football will be watching, and for two teams like Carolina and LSU that is something that can be very good or very bad.
One thing that coach Davis seems very happy about is his team’s depth. From the offensive line, which last year took way too many hits and didn’t have enough replacements, to most other sections of the team, the head coach feels that there is plenty to go around if need be. This is probably the best news for anyone that roots for the Heels, having some good back ups can help out a ton in the games where the temperature will be high and the humidity higher. To have players that can come in without making the team drop in talent is one of the best things that any coaching staff can ask for. Also, having the second team being good pushes the starters, which is what Butch Davis said about his two quarterbacks…
“Clearly, as I said the other day, T.J. Yates is still the starting quarterback,” Davis said. “And I think that he’s done a very, very good job. I think that Bryn has pushed him and Bryn has earned the respect…”
Again, as I have said many times on this blog, I think that Yates is going to have his best season at Chapel Hill, both because he is at his last go around and because he was pushed this season by the player that will take over for him next year. Competition helps everyone, but the starters and not, both the ones that need the occassional push and those that don’t. In the end, when you do not know who is going to get the nod and who won’t, everyone will work that much harder. That also will mean that people will work that much harder in the games knowing that the player that could take their place is ready to go and on par with the starter. If the NCAA finally gets the last question mark out of the way (aka what will happen to both Marvin Austin and Greg Little) I believe that this team is ready to go on the field and do things that we have been waiting to see.
Here is the full interview by head coach Butch Davis…
Can this be the season that the Tar Heels get to double digit wins? Can it be the break out year for the offense? Can the defense live up to its reputation as one of the best? Can it all come together to give the fan base one heck of a season? It could all be true, and if all of it does happen it will also be in part due to those players that might not start but have given the starters all they could handle to get just that much better! Football, more than any other sport, is a team’s game, and when all of its members work as hard as possible the only thing that can happen is that the whole team improves. And that is what I am hoping for when I see the 2010 version of North Carolina football.
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