University of North Carolina Athletics
Boys To Men
November 8, 2004 | Football
Nov. 8, 2004
by Lee Pace, Extra Points
Snippets and snapshots from five years of Darian Durant's career at Carolina:
August, 2000 -- Two freshman quarterbacks arrive in Chapel Hill. Durant comes from Florence, S.C., and Aaron Leak hails from Durham. Leak is two inches taller, has a gun for an arm, looks on the hoof to be the better athlete. Head coach Carl Torbush and QBs coach Mike O'Cain believe the future following the departure of Ronald Curry a year hence will be in Leak's hands.
August, 2001 -- The Tar Heel football team is waiting out a storm delay at an Oklahoma airport following the inaugural game of the John Bunting era, a 41-28 loss to the Sooners. A blow-out is averted when Durant subs for an ineffective Curry and throws for two second-half TDs. "Do we have a quarterback controversy on our hands?" Bunting wonders.
February, 2002 -- After finishing second to Florida State's Chris Rix in ACC Rookie of the Year voting and setting Carolina records for freshman production in passing yards, TD passes and total offense, Durant announces he's going to leave Chapel Hill and transfer to a school to be determined. "I will leave the door cracked," Bunting said. "I'm not sure this thing is over."
April, 2002 -- Durant realizes he's made a mistake and rejoins the team, 10 days into spring practice. "I know I have to earn my way back, I have to earn my teammates' trust and respect," Durant said.
November, 2002 -- Durant earns the starting position following Curry's graduation and lights up the skies the first six games of the year, including a killer game of 417 yards and five TDs at Arizona State. But he breaks his thumb at Virginia and is thought to be out for the year. The injury heals in time for Durant to reclaim his spot for the Duke game, and he completes 60 percent of his passes and sets up a winning field goal with a pass to Sam Aiken in the game's final minute.
"What a miraculous recovery," Bunting said.
"His leadership and charisma and the way he holds himself on the field were important to us," guard Jeb Terry added.
October, 2003 -- The Tar Heels need eight points late in the fourth quarter at Clemson, and Durant is slicing and cutting toward the goal line when a second-down pass breaks down. A scrambling Durant lunges for the goal when he's hit by Jamaal Fudge, the ball popping loose and, after a scramble and extended review by the officials, the ball is ruled to belong to Clemson.
"It was a matter of inches before the ball got poked out," a crestfallen Durant said. "I don't know how it came loose."
October, 2004 -- Durant has now had some big wins in his Tar Heel career to salve the wounds of setting so many records in a losing cause. Carolina's beaten Georgia Tech and N.C. State. And now Durant engineers a two-minute drill to get the Heels into position to beat No. 3 ranked Miami with a last-second field goal.
"I'll always remember that drive," he says. "It's the first time I've played that big a role in such a big win."
November, 2004 -- Israel Durant is waiting for his son as the shadows lengthen in Kenan Stadium. Darian has just played his last home game as a Tar Heel, his final pass attempt shuttered by a Virginia Tech sack.
"He's had a great career," the elder Durant says. "My only regret is he didn't have the kind of defense to give him more opportunities. When you look at the struggles they've had on defense, it makes what he's done even more remarkable."
Israel looks back on the early days, the recanted decision to leave Chapel Hill, the big games, the records, the precious wins in 2004, the off-the-field triumphs like winning Academic All-ACC accolades.
"I talk to him like a man now," he says. "I don't talk to him a like a kid any more."
