University of North Carolina Athletics
Peppers Led Nation in Total Sacks
January 4, 2001 | Football
Jan. 4, 2001
In the final NCAA defensive football stats released on Thursday (Jan. 4), defensive end Julius Peppers led the nation with 15 total sacks and was second with 1.36 sacks per game. Peppers also ranked third in the nation with 2.18 tackles for loss per game.
Peppers, who is currently playing with the UNC basketball team, finished the football season with a school-record 24 tackles for loss and was just one sack shy of Lawrence Taylor's school-record of 16 sacks.
No other player in the country finished with more than 13 sacks in 2000 and only one player, Louisville's Michael Josiah, had more sacks per game. Josiah finished with 12.5 sacks in nine games. Georgia Tech's Greg Gathers (3rd, 1.18 per game) and Florida State's Jamal Reynolds (11th, 1.0 per game) were the only other ACC players ranked in the Top 20.
Houston's Wayne Rogers (2.45) and Pittsburgh's Bryan Knight (2.36) finished ahead of Peppers in tackles for loss per game.
Senior Brandon Spoon, who finished with 131 tackles in 11 games (11.9 per game), was 10th in the nation in tackles.
