University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points Mailbag
November 24, 2006 | Football
Nov. 24, 2006
by Lee Pace, Extra Points
A very thoughtful note came into the mailbag over the weekend from a Cornelius woman responding to last Wednesday's Extra Points on "Staying Focused." Marcia and Phil Parsons have a daughter who is a freshman at Carolina, and the Parsons have taken an interest in following the fortunes of Carolina's athletic teams.
They know a little something about life in the fishbowl of big-time athletics and entertainment as Parsons raced from 1982 through 2001 on the NASCAR circuit, notching a ninth-place finish in 1988 in the Winston Cup Series points race and winning the Winston 500 that year. Marcia speaks of having every move critiqued in newspapers and TV and the odd feeling of having people avoiding eye contact in the grocery store after something negative has been written or spoken.
I'll let her take if from there:
"Through it all we were taught a very valuable lesson - People watch how you handle your situation. How you act, or react, can have a profound affect on people's lives. Some of our most encouraging moments came from people who were feeling a little beat-up or downtrodden who said that we had set a good example and that they wanted to handle their adversity with the grace and dignity that we had. It dawned on me at some point that THAT was success. Taking what God has given you and doing absolutely the best you can, never forgetting that even when things don't seem to be going so well, you can still have a very profound and positive influence on another person's life.
"There are a lot more people out there that will be faced with more hard times than good times - the tenacity, composure and grace that John Bunting has shown should make his family, his team and Carolina very proud."
Well spoken. Now, on to a few questions.
Connor Barth is having a great year. I was wondering if any kicker has ever had a perfect season converting field goals and extra points?
Vince Walton, Raleigh
Barth is 9-for-9 on field goals this year (hitting four from outside 45 yards). He has kicked-off 38 times, with 14 resulting in touchbacks. He is 18-for-20 on extra points, with the two misses being blocks at Notre Dame.
Five Tar Heel kickers have had perfect seasons kicking extra points (minimum 30 made): Jeff Hayes, 1979 (35 of 35); Brooks Barwick, 1982 (37 of 37); Josh McGee, 1998 (30 of 30); Jeff Reed, 2000 (30 of 30); and Dan Orner, 2003 (35 of 35). The highest percentage of field goals made (minimum of 15 attempts) has been Kenny Miller's 16-of-18 showing in 1984 for 88.9 percent.
"Besides those two blocks at Notre Dame, he's been absolutely perfect," Bunting says. "The ball has been really coming off his foot hard. That kick from 54 yards could have been good from 60 yards easily. He has really worked hard to get better. After last year, he's taken it upon himself to become more consistent, maintain his confidence and work on his conditioning and strength."
Barth was not the only outstanding element of the Tar Heel special teams against State. His kick-offs and the punts of David Wooldridge kept the ball away from Wolfpack return ace Darrell Blackman, who did not return a single kick.
"That was big for us," Bunting says. "We feel Blackman is the best we have seen this year in punt returns and kick-off returns. We talked about that all week long. We did a great job covering kick-offs and we did a terrific job with the punt team. David nailed one inside the five and his others were nice and high. He had a terrific day."
Who will be the Tar Heels' running backs next year?
Jeff Hamilton, Wilson
There will be a lot of opportunity at tailback, though fullback is in good hands with Nick Starcevic and Bobby Rome. Barrington Edwards will be a senior, but it remains to be seen how well he'll get along with the new coaching staff. Edwards has had a history of off-the-field issues, most recently being suspended for two games for violating team rules.
Richie Rich is the fastest and quickest of the underclassmen at tailback and has gotten some limited action this year. He was used in the red zone against Georgia Tech in a situation in which offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti knew the Tech middle linebacker would cover him out of the backfield. It was an easy mismatch for Rich, and he was coming open as he neared the end zone. All QB Joe Dailey had to do was place the ball six to nine yards deep in the end zone and the Tar Heels had a touchdown. Unfortunately, Dailey underthrew the pass and it was intercepted. Rich was also going to be used on a handful of plays against State as Cignetti believed he could get mismatches in the Wolfpack's man-to-man defensive scheme. But after Rich fumbled a first-quarter hand-off, Cignetti opted to use Edwards for those situations.
Johnny White and Anthony Elzy are freshmen being red-shirted this year and both have good potential as well.
"Richie Rich, Anthony Elzy and Johnny White, all those guys are exciting, quick scat-backs," says senior receiver Jesse Holley. "They are not traditional Ronnie McGill types who will break six or seven tackles in one run. They are guys who can get in the open field, and if they get a step on you, you'll not catch them."
UNC has given a pretty good defensive performance in three of the last four games. Why do you think it has taken until the second half of the year to play the kind of games we were expecting to see at the beginning of the year?
Glenn Bullock, Charlotte
The Tar Heel season took a devastating hit back on August 5th - the day safety Trimane Goddard re-injured his foot and was lost for the season. Goddard is a special player. He's smart, fast, tough, confident, a sure tackler and is good playing balls in the air. The Tar Heels have struggled all year getting consistent play from his replacements - senior D.J. Walker and sophomore Cooter Arnold. The latter appeared several games into the year to be the heir apparent to the position but was still having trouble mastering his assignments well into the season. The fact that Walker has remained healthy and has played well the last two weeks has been important to the Tar Heels.
They have also gotten improved play at linebacker. Larry Edwards returned to action after missing the Virginia, Wake Forest and Notre Dame games. Durell Mapp was a weak link early after a slow rehabilitation from spring and pre-season injuries. He has played lights-out the last month. Mark Paschal and Chase Rice started the Rutgers game and graded-out poorly, but both have contributed excellent snaps the last few games.
One key personnel move has helped, that being the insertion of red-shirt freshman Jermaine Strong into the lineup at right cornerback. He missed a couple of assignments in his first start against Wake Forest, but by the Notre Dame game you could see Strong had a level of athleticism and confidence a cut above anyone else.
The defensive line has remained healthy and has gotten better as the year has evolved. Newcomers Cam Thomas and E.J. Wilson have contributed to the foundation provided by six seniors and juniors. Put it all together, and you get a competent unit.
"The job's not done yet," defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders says. "I talked to the kids on Monday about the fact they haven't finished. They don't want to spoil those good feelings from Saturday by losing this week. It's important to continue to play well, to finish what you've started these last two weeks."
Send your questions about Tar Heel football to Lee Pace at leepace@nc.rr.com. Please include your first and last names and hometown. Individual replies are not possible because of volume of mail received, and names of recruiting prospects and commitments cannot be published on a school-sponsored site until the national signing day in February . The Q&A column will appear each Friday during the season.
