University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Look Ahead To 2004
December 3, 2003 | Football
Dec. 3, 2003
by Adam Lucas, Tar Heel Monthly
Across the country, some college football teams are spending this week busily preparing for the final games of their 2003 seasons. In Chapel Hill, however, the focus has already turned to 2004.
The returning Tar Heels began conditioning workouts last Monday and Tuesday and after breaking for the Thanksgiving holiday, resumed work on Monday of this week.
"There's no time to waste," Darian Durant said as several freshmen, including Adarius Bowman, Donnell Livingston and Scott Lenahan conducted an agility drill nearby. "There are teams in our conference playing in bowl games and practicing right now, so we've got to stay active."
After missing out on the postseason for a second straight year and putting together a 2-10 campaign that included a disheartening loss to Duke in the season finale, much of the postseason talk outside the Kenan Football Center has been negative.
Inside it, however, the mood is upbeat and optimistic. A solid group of 2003 juniors are ascending into leadership positions on next year's squad, and they have been instrumental in helping the returning Tar Heels look forward rather than back.
The statistical leader, of course, is Durant, the record-setting quarterback who will leave Carolina owning virtually every passing record. As a senior, though, he will be counted on for more than just touchdowns and yards per completion. The South Carolina native will have to initiate leadership and will have to make sure that all the 2004 Tar Heels are focused primarily on winning football games. The steps for that process have already begun.
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"There's an opportunity to come in here and play. This is a great school. It sells itself. When I came here I didn't even know what Carolina's record was. I just loved the school and loved the players."
DE Chase Page
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"After this year, there's no more college ball for me," he said. "So I feel I have to do everything I didn't do in previous years to get ready for this year. I'm dedicating myself 100 percent to this program, to this team, to strength and conditioning, and to my teammates especially."
Durant, who lives off campus, is planning to spend more time on campus this winter in order to get better acquainted with his teammates and keep tabs on their offseason progress.
The quarterback and his teammates realize that they haven't given their supporters much to cheer about over the past two seasons, which have included just five wins and one home victory. But while history is discouraging to some fans, the mood is distinctly different within the program.
"We know that everybody is feeling real negative right now outside the football program," said defensive lineman Chase Page, who said he hopes to stay at defensive end next season. "But Coach Connors and his staff and Coach Bunting and his staff and all of us are the exact opposite. We're ready to go.
"What I've always thought, and I've heard Bobby Bowden say this, is that first you lose big, then you lose small, then you win small, and then you win big. That's why this season was so hard, because we were losing little, losing on the last play of the game and hanging in there with teams and then losing. But it also gives you optimism."
The optimism is boosted by a true freshman class that was one of the most productive in Carolina football history. Several players-including Ronnie McGill and Mike Mason-emerged as playmakers on offense, and a late-season surge by defenders like Larry Edwards, Puff Thomas, and Shelton Bynum provided a sliver of hope for a defense that simply wasn't good enough to stop opponents in 2003.
Many of those freshmen were persuaded to enroll at Carolina after taking campus visits around this same time last year. After attending the ACC awards banquet Monday night in Atlanta, John Bunting will spend most of this week recruiting and hopes to be back in Chapel Hill in time to attend many of the player workouts on Friday. As the recruiting process heats up, he'll be asking many of this year's upperclassmen to host recruits, just as Dexter Reid and Jeb Terry did last season.
"I want to have the opportunity to help bring players in here," rising senior Skip Seagraves said. "It's really important to get these great recruits. I enjoy doing it because I like getting kids interested in North Carolina."
"There's an opportunity to come in here and play," Page said. "This is a great school. It sells itself. When I came here I didn't even know what Carolina's record was. I just loved the school and loved the players."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.
