University of North Carolina Athletics
Wednesday Practice Notes (p.m.)
August 17, 2005 | Football
Aug. 17, 2005
By Adam Lucas
As loyal practice notes readers will recall, the plan for all evening practices during two-a-days is to field a few reader questions in addition to some quick notes from the practice session.
Reader question: Will Jacoby Watkins be ready in time for Sept. 10?
As Carolina basketball fans learned last spring, viruses are pesky things. No official timeline has been announced for the return of one of Carolina's best cornerbacks, but he of course wants to be in uniform against the Yellow Jackets. We always hesitate to get into too much detail on injury reports because of the HIPAA regulations and simple personal privacy concerns. Rest assured that when his practice status changes, you'll read it here.
His absence has meant a big opportunity for Bryan Bethea, who showed an aggressive attitude on special teams last year. "Bryan Bethea plays hard every single day," John Bunting said. "He is very physical. He has the mental and physical toughness. He's a corner who will play a lot of football for us." Quinton Person is also getting some first-team snaps at cornerback...
Reader question: How has the defensive line looked?
The best way to judge this is by listening to what the players say about each other, and we hear a lot of offensive linemen talking about Kyndraus Guy. The Hope Mills native will be featured prominently in an upcoming website story on the very best 1-on-1 practice battles, and he'll join Chase Page and Ken Browning on the next Tar Heel Monthly cover, which will have an extensive feature on the defensive tackles and Browning's return to coaching that position.
Reader question: How are the running backs picking up the blocking schemes?
This is Barrington Edwards's biggest task between now and Sept. 10, especially with Jon Tenuta's blitz-happy defense set to harass Matt Baker. "My biggest thing between now and then is getting deep in the playbook," Edwards says. "I've got some small things with blocking that just need some repetition." At fullback, Rikki Cook has made significant progress as a blocker since arriving at Carolina as someone mainly used to carrying the ball rather than blocking for the ballcarrier.
Reader question: What position are White, Coleman, Strong, and Dixon playing?
Keep in mind that the position someone plays during the first week of training camp bears almost no relevance to where they'll be later in their careers, or maybe even next week. One of the great things about better depth is the opportunity to try freshmen at a handful of different positions during their redshirt year.
That being said, White worked out Wednesday night at linebacker, Coleman and Strong at cornerback, and Dixon at safety.
In an informal poll of most of the secondary, Mahlon Carey, Bethea, and Kareen Taylor all garnered votes as the hardest hitter of the group...Tailback Barrington Edwards says he has a kindred spirit on the offense. "I look at my situation and Matt Baker's situation as very similar," Edwards said. "He's been waiting for a long time to get out there and I have too. Now they're getting ready to let us go. I'm fully confident in him and I know he's going to get it done."...The Tar Heels will continue their recent tradition of having some confusing duplicate-number combinations (NCAA rules permit duplicate numbers as long as the players in question are on different units). Larry Edwards and Barrington Edwards will both wear number-32, so expect a television announcer to try and tell you at least once that Larry Edwards has been moved to tailback. Among the other most confusing combinations: Jesse Holley and Quinton Person both still wear number-9, Roger Heinz and Tommy Richardson share jersey 8, Del Roberts and John Choate split number-17, Cooter Arnold and special teamer Tom O'Leary both wear number-20, Trey Brenner and Justin Phillips are both wearing 47, and Shelton Bynum and Skip Seagraves both wear 75...Durell Mapp and Linwood Williams posted back-to-back interceptions during seven-on-seven
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.
