University of North Carolina Athletics
Countdown to Camp: Freshmen Get Head Start
July 28, 2005 | Football
July 28, 2005
Welcome to the seventh installment of TarHeelBlue.com's "Countdown to Camp" series. Every Thursday between now and the opening of training camp (which opens August 11), we'll have a fresh story on the football Tar Heels. If there's an aspect of the team or player you want to see highlighted, just drop us an email.
Previous Countdown to Camp stories:
By Adam Lucas
When Jeff Connors gathered the incoming class of Carolina freshman football players earlier this summer, he gave them a simple message: "This is your developmental time."
"Very few of these guys have spent any time in development," Connors says. "That's because they've been playing sports, not working on strength and conditioning. Many of them have been 3-sport athletes. We tell them right away, `If you're fortunate enough to get a shot at the NFL, you'll have about two days to prove yourself.' So they won't develop there. They didn't develop in high school. This is the only developmental time they will have."
For the first time this summer, football players received an extra five weeks of development courtesy of the NCAA. Due to declining graduation rates in men's and women's basketball several years ago, scholarships in those sports were allowed to extend to include the second session of summer school in the summer before a player's freshman year. Hoopsters have been reaping the benefits ever since.
Football was added to that category for the first time by the NCAA in 2005, which means Carolina has the entire class of 22 freshmen on campus taking two classes each and working out with Connors and the rest of the football team. It's an even more valuable advantage in football than it is in basketball--in the past, football freshmen had to go through training camp, adapt to the first week or two of college classes, and then start playing Division I football games.
With the new rules, all the freshmen will already have six hours of class credit by the time fall semester classes open in August.
"It enables them to get on campus, get comfortable, and get involved with school," John Bunting says. "This is a much more comfortable setting for them. When camp opens, they'll be much more comfortable with everything we do in our program."
The head start is valuable on the football field, of course. But Carolina has also made an effort over the summer to do much of the orientation to college life usually done in August. Virtually every weekday evening is stacked with some type of activity, and players--to the delight of their upperclassman teammates--have also been given a curfew.
"We've filled up all their extra time," assistant athletic director for football operations Rick Steinbacher says. "Things like how to set up a bank account, how to adjust to college, study skills sessions, how to read a syllabus, you name it. They're able to learn those things in a much more relaxed environment than they'd otherwise have to do."
The environment doesn't always have to be the Kenan Football Center. Last week, Bunting had the entire freshman class over for dinner.
But most of their time is spent doing less pleasant activities--such as getting acquainted with the Kenan Football Center weight room.
"Probably 90 percent of them were in shock the first week," Connors says. "Our main thing is to make sure they don't try to lift too heavy too fast. We want to perfect their technique first and then progressively add weight to the bar. All these guys have a different background, and some are more advanced than others."
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Countdown to Camp: 14 Days
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To find out specifically which ones are more advanced, Connors required the rookies to meet the same concrete bag-tested conditioning requirements as the rest of the varsity. Four freshmen immediately made a positive impression after enduring the conditioning workouts.
"We have been extremely impressed with the offensive line guys--Garrett Reynolds, Andre Barbour, and Kyle Jolly," Connors says. "They have been making the same conditioning as the varsity. You can tell they've been running and they're all tough kids. The other one who has made the conditioning off the street is Kennedy Tinsley. Those four guys have shown us something immediately."
Beginning next week, it'll be maturity rather than toughness that is at a premium. Because of a quirk in the summer school and training camp schedules, players will have nearly two full weeks without strength and conditioning supervision before camp opens on August 11.
Although every coaching staff's preference is to redshirt the entire freshman class, Bunting said one of the freshman linemen may play this year and mentioned several other rookies--including Cooter Arnold, Jordan Hemby, Bryan Dixon and Richie Rich--as possibilities to work their way into the lineup on special teams. Both Arnold and Rich could also be candidates to earn playing time behind Barrington Edwards at tailback. Richard Quinn, who enrolled in January, should see some snaps at tight end and if Cameron Sexton continues to heal from a broken ankle suffered in spring practice, he could compete with Roger Heinz and Joey Bozich for the backup quarterback role.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. He is the coauthor of the official book of the 2005 championship season, Led By Their Dreams, and his book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about Going Home Again, click here.
