University of North Carolina Athletics
Monday's Practice Notes
August 16, 2004 | Football
Aug. 16, 2004
By Adam Lucas Hurricane Charley has indirectly taken its toll on the North Carolina football roster. Although the storm did no damage to the Chapel Hill area, rainstorms associated with the hurricane have been in the Triangle for the past three days. That has forced the Tar Heels off their usual grass practice fields and onto the less forgiving Astroturf fields, both outdoors and at the indoor practice facility. After three days on those surfaces, including a two-a-day on Saturday, the injuries are starting to pile up. The list of players wearing red (injured) jerseys Monday morning was lengthy, including Larry Edwards, Skip Seagraves, Tommy Davis, Steven Bell, and Adarius Bowman. None of those injuries are considered serious, but it's those type of nicks that drive a coach crazy. Shelton Bynum and Joe Kedra are also still being held out of practice. Notes: The coaches met Sunday night for their first personnel meeting of the year, but John Bunting wasn't ready to reveal any earth-shattering decisions. "We talked about the freshmen and where they fit," he said. "We talked about making any changes. Basically, we're standing pat. We'll continue to watch a couple of positions, particularly the linebacker position. Jeff Longhany has been playing every position---Will, Mike, and Sam---in camp, and he'll continue to do that."...One of the freshmen who has made an early impression is linebacker Hilee Taylor. He's most likely to help on special teams as a rookie because of the difficulties true freshmen have playing linebacker. "If you were to ask me if there was one freshman who is going to play this year, it would be Hilee Taylor," Bunting said...Because of the continued wet conditions, Carolina was unable to scrimmage Monday morning. They'll try to get in at least some scrimmage work Monday evening, although it may only involve the second- and third-string... Although the emotion has been more positive so far than it was in 2003, the coaches are well aware that they can't build confidence through wins when no games are being played. For that reason, the emphasis during camp has been on details. "You build confidence by doing the right things over and over," Bunting said. "It's repetitions, the little things, not jumping offsides, not being on the ground."...Sadly, the blue paint in Leon Scroggins's ram-horn hairdo was gone Monday morning. His ram horn hair remains...The offensive line continues to perform well. "Instead of having one senior starting, we've got two or three this year," Bunting said. "We also have a mix of players who can alternate at the guard positions. There's a lot of competition at that position, including a couple of freshmen, Ben Lemming and Calvin Darity." 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.
