University of North Carolina Athletics
Eight Tar Heels Named To ACC Top 50 List
July 23, 2002 | Football
July 23, 2002
Eight former Tar Heel football greats have been named to the Atlantic Coast Conference's 50th Anniversary Football Team. The 50-member team was voted on by a 120-member blue-ribbon committee that was selected by the league's 50th Anniversary Committee.
Clemson led all league schools with nine members on the Golden Anniversary team while Florida State and Carolina were tied for second with eight honorees each. NC State had six players selected, followed by Virginia (5), Maryland (4), Duke (3), Georgia Tech (3), Wake Forest (3) and South Carolina with one.
Carolina's honorees were as follows:
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Dre' Bly, North Carolina (1996-1998)
Kelvin Bryant, North Carolina (1979-1982)
William Fuller, North Carolina (1980-1983)
Amos Lawrence, North Carolina (1977-1980)
Don McCauley, North Carolina (1968-1970)
Julius Peppers, North Carolina (1999-2001)
Holds the ACC all-time record with 20 interceptions ... only player in ACC history to earn first-team All-America honors on three occasions ... first freshman to earn consensus first-team All-America honors in ACC history ... became just the fifth freshman in NCAA history to be named to the AP All-America first team ... was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award as the National Defensive Back of the Year in 1996 ... earned ACC first-team honors and was the league's Rookie of the Year in 1996 ... led the nation in interceptions and interceptions per game as a freshman in 1996 with 11.
A three-time first-team All-ACC tailback ... ranks fourth at UNC with 3,267 rushing yards ... had three consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons from 1980-82 ... despite injuries, had 1,015 yards in seven games in 1981 ... Rushed for more than 100 yards in a game on 19 occasions ... scored six touchdowns in a game against East Carolina in 1981 ... holds the NCAA record for most touchdowns scored in two and three consecutive games (11 and 15, respectively) ... played eight years of professional football.
Consensus All-America as a senior in 1983 ... Also earned first-team All-America honors as a junior ... Was the only unanimous choice on the 1983 All-ACC team and is one of just three defensive linemen ever to make All-ACC for three straight years ... Holds the UNC record with 57 tackles for loss and is fifth in UNC history with 20 career sacks ... Had 22 tackles for loss in 1981 and 1983 ... Played two years in the USFL and 13 in the NFL ... Ranks among the NFL's Top 20 in career sacks.
The only ACC player and one of only four players in college football history to rush for 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons ... holds the UNC career record and is second in ACC history with 4,391 yards rushing ... rushed for more than 100 yards in a game on 25 occasions ... his 286 yards rushing vs. Virginia in 1977 was NCAA freshman rushing record at the time ... named the co-MVP in the 1979 Gator Bowl and was the MVP of the 1980 Bluebonnet Bowl.
Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001 ... shattered the Carolina and the ACC record books with a dazzling senior season in 1970, rushing for 1,720 yards and scoring 21 touchdowns ... his 1,720 yards was an all-time collegiate high at the time, breaking O.J. Simpson's NCAA record ... McCauley led the nation in all-purpose running and total points that season ... his 120 points in 1970 is still an ACC single-season record ... twice the ACC Player of the Year and still ranks fifth in career rushing at UNC ... had a lengthy professional career with the Baltimore Colts.
A unanimous All-America selection in 2001 ... won the 2001 Lombardi Award as the nation's top lineman ... also won the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation's top overall defensive player ... earned All-America honors in 2000 and was a two-time first-team All-ACC selection ... ranks second at UNC and sixth in the ACC in career sacks, despite playing just three seasons ... led the nation with 15 sacks as a junior ... one of the top two-sport athletes in ACC history, Peppers was a forward on UNC's basketball team ... helped Carolina advance to the 2000 Final Four and earn a share of the 2001 ACC regular-season title.
