University of North Carolina Athletics
Ralph Moves Into Starting Role
March 22, 2004 | Football
March 22, 2004
By Adam Lucas
You don't have to look at the depth chart to know that Kyle Ralph is moving up in the world.
The junior from Cincinnati is listed as the first-team left guard in spring practice, but he's made strides in less obvious ways as well. During his freshman season, when he started the final five games of the year after not seeing any action in the first seven, offensive line coach Hal Hunter rarely referred to him as anything other than "Cincinnati." As a junior, however, he's graduated to being called by his name, and Cincinnati has long since become "Kyle" or "Ralph."
Whatever Hunter calls him, the Tar Heels are expecting him to be an important part of the offense in 2004. Three seniors--Willie McNeill, Jason Brown, and Skip Seagraves--return on the offensive line, and Ralph is listed as the starter at the left guard position. Steven Bell and Charlston Gray, a redshirt freshman who has been very impressive, are battling for the right guard slot.
"I know a world more than I did as a freshman," Ralph says. "In that first game that I started, my head was spinning."
Ralph beat out Jupiter Wilson for the starting spot in the last half of 2002, but Wilson won the position back in preseason camp last August and never relinquished it. That left Ralph in a backup role, where he averaged 39 snaps per game and was sixth among linemen with 472 total snaps in 2003.
He played a major part on a line that turned into a team strength after years of porous play. The Tar Heels averaged 150.4 yards per game on the ground, a nearly 50 percent improvement over their dismal 102.5/game figure in 2002. Running behind that line, true freshman tailback Ronnie McGill had a breakout campaign, averaging 5.1 yards per carry and gaining 654 yards on the ground.
Many of those yards were gained with Ralph in the game. His usual routine was to watch the first couple of drives from the sideline before being inserted in a relief role. Being a starter requires a different mindset.
"As a starter, you have to be ready to go right away," Ralph says. "You have to be ready to set the tempo. There's no waiting around for the second drive. You've got to score right off on that first possession."
To help accomplish that goal, he spent the offseason working on his quickness, assignments, and footwork, the areas where Wilson had an advantage over him last season. His improvement, and that of the rest of the line, has already impressed John Bunting after just one week of spring practice.
"Our pass protection today in one-on-one drills was about as good as it gets," Bunting said after Monday evening's practice.
There will be an easy way for Ralph to tell if he's continuing to meet the goals set for him by Hunter--just listen for what his position coach calls him.
"I think I've graduated to 'Kyle' or 'Ralph,'" the 6-foot-4, 293-pound junior says. "I haven't been called Cincinnati in a long time. That's probably a good goal, to make sure I don't go back to that."
SPRING NOTES--Jesse Holley joined the team briefly for practice Monday. Bunting hopes to have him participate in Saturday's scrimmage on a limited basis...Kyndraus Guy and Cedrick Holt remain in green no-contact jerseys. Holt is coming back from a broken ankle and Guy is recovering from shoulder surgery...It's still early, but Jocques Dumas has been impressive at his new tight end position. "He may have found a home," Bunting said. "It's still early but he is powerful blocking people. He gets those long arms on people and knocks them around."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com.
