University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Three Untold Stories
August 25, 2004 | Football
Aug. 25, 2004
By Adam Lucas 105 players have been practicing with the Tar Heels since freshmen reported on Sunday, August 8. All have sweated through the same two-a-days, battled through the same drills, pored over the same practice films. But of those 105, it's a safe bet that over half of their names will never cross the lips of the average fan. They'll wear the shiny new jersey on gameday, run through the tunnel on Sept. 4 against William & Mary, and remain completely anonymous on the Tar Heel sideline. Sometimes, though, you find the most unique stories in the most unlikely places. What follows are three of the best--and least-known--stories on the Carolina football squad. Greg Warren, deep snapper: One of the Heels' best senior NFL prospects measures his life in fractions of a second. Pro-caliber deep snappers fire the ball to the punter in approximately 0.8 seconds. Warren is in the low 0.7 range, and dropping. He's handled all Carolina's deep-snapping duties after walking on to the team in 2000, and those three years have included just one bad snap, on a punt against Florida State in 2001. That one occasion might have been the only time any of the Kenan Stadium fans took the time to learn his name. Long snappers are expected to do their jobs anonymously, with their only notoriety coming from their mistakes. "Outside of our fieldhouse it's a thankless job," Warren says. "But inside the fieldhouse Coach Bunting and Coach Powell and Coach Webster all make a big deal about it. Our coaches and players appreciate me." They should, as he's one of the best in the country. The Tar Heels already have one alum performing deep snapping duties in the NFL, as Ethan Albright is a fixture for the Washington Redskins, having played in all 16 regular-season games for the past eight years (five for Buffalo and three for the `Skins). Bunting, who spent many years in the pros, is well aware of the value of a good long snapper. "Those guys can make lots of money for lots of years," he said. "In most NFL camps when they put up the punt returns they don't even account for the snapper, because if your punt returner can't beat the snapper they shouldn't be back there. So all those guys have to do is snap." That's all Warren, the son of a high school coach, will do in the coming days, as once the team starts pointing toward game week he'll snap upwards of 100 balls per day. He says he's reached the point that he's able to snap the ball almost without thinking, and he's advanced past the basic mechanics of the action to perfecting some of the nuances--making sure the holder gets the ball with the laces facing out, for example. The Mt. Olive native graduated in four years and after loading up on four biology classes last spring, graduated with a double major in exercise and sports science and biology. He's currently in graduate school pursuing a master's degree in secondary education teaching science. He's hopeful, though, that that degree won't be put to use for several years. "I would really love to play in the NFL and give it a shot," he says. "If it doesn't happen, I'll have my degree, and I'm really proud about that." Andrew Wasserman, wide receiver: Wasserman played club football his first year at Carolina and, having never played organized football, didn't catch a single pass. In fact, his team never even threw him the ball once. Two years later, he's a walk-on wide receiver on the varsity football team. The Couer d'Alane, Idaho, native was a National Merit Scholar and valedictorian at Coeur d'Alene High, which earned him acceptance to Carolina as an out-of-state student. His high school athletic record, which included a spot on the soccer and tennis teams, didn't earn him even a sniff from the Tar Heel football coaches. After he followed his unimpressive club football debut with a stellar sophomore campaign, he decided to give the varsity a shot. Assistant athletic director Rick Steinbacher told Wasserman he needed two things to try out for the team: a letter of recommendation and a highlight tape. The letter of recommendation was easy. The highlight tape was a little more problematic. "When he told me I needed a high school highlight tape, I told him, `I've got nothing,'" Wasserman says. "I talked to my club coach about it and it turned out someone was taping our club games." That's how Wasserman became the first player ever to submit a club highlight tape for review by the Carolina coaches. "That was a first," receivers coach Gunter Brewer says. "I was expecting what anybody would expect, but then I looked at it and saw this guy has some skills. He catches the ball and runs good routes." At 6-foot-2, he's got good size for a college receiver, and his soft hands have impressed even his teammates. During one preseason drill, after Wasserman snagged a particularly difficult pass, fellow receiver Adarius Bowman turned to the sideline and said, "Hey, this guy can play!" Of course, at one of the deepest positions on the team, he's unlikely to see the field in 2004. After coming so far, though, he's no longer sure what constitutes a reasonable expectation. "Our receiving corps is crazy good," he says. "For me to expect to play is pretty unreasonable. At the same time, if you'd asked me two years ago if I would be here now, I'd have said there was no way. So you never know." Tyson Graham, outside linebacker: The release of the post-spring depth chart caused a stir this year. Most of the usual suspects were present--Darian Durant was the quarterback, Jason Brown the center, Chase Page a starter on the defensive line. At weakside linebacker, however, there was a word that didn't seem to make sense: "OR." It's the way coaches designate a dead heat at a position. It's also something no one outside of the team expected to see at the Will linebacker position, not when Larry Edwards was coming off a freshman season that saw him make 89 tackles and earn ACC Rookie of the Week honors in his third start. But there it was, in big bold letters: "Larry Edwards OR Tyson Graham." Edwards exploded on the Carolina football scene. Graham, meanwhile, eased onto it. Coming out of North Gaston High in 2001, he signed to play at Ohio University. But then the Florida Marlins drafted him in the 40th round, and he spent two seasons playing for their low-A affiliates in Melbourne, FL, and Jupiter, FL. "It was a great opportunity," he says. "You may only get one chance to play in a professional league." A corner outfielder, he hit .172 in 93 at-bats in 2001 and was hitting .350 in six games in 2002 before deciding he wanted to change sports. His high school coach, Bruce Clark, sent film to a variety of schools. With Carolina in search of linebacker depth, the Tar Heel coaches were interested, and they offered him a walk-on slot before the 2003 season. Since then, he's been a constant presence on the linebacker radar, where he's currently earning snaps as a backup. "It's been kind of frustrating so far," he says of his preseason. "I might have come in too heavy. But we'll keep working and things will work out." 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.
