University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Freshman Orientation
July 25, 2006 | Football
July 25, 2006
By Adam Lucas
John Bunting uses a variety of sources to get reports on his football team. Game tape, assistant coaches, academic advisors...and sometimes even caterers.
"I had the entire freshman class over to my house for dinner last week," the Carolina head coach says. "The people who catered the dinner have done it for the past three years and they all had one response: `Wow.'"
That's exactly the reaction Bunting got from analysts when the Tar Heels announced their 2006 recruiting haul on signing day. But as soon as they inked their name on the letter of intent, everything started over for the highly touted group. High school exploits ceased to matter. They went from big man on campus to unpolished rookies.
It's striking to walk through the Kenan Football Center in late June and early July and see the physical differences between the new arrivals and the veteran players. NCAA rules allow freshmen to enroll for the second session of summer school and participate in team activities, a jump start that helps both on and off the field.
Academically, they get a chance to do college-level work without the pressure of a full fall semester class load. Socially, they get to ease into the college nirvana that is Chapel Hill with a significantly less overwhelming school population.
And as for the football, well, it can be a jarring experience.
"To a man, it has been a jolt for them," Bunting says. "Some had more of an expectation of what would be required because they were around more often but all of them know what they need to do."
What they needed to do during the summer was get well acquainted with strength and conditioning coach Jeff Connors. A handful of rookies have already passed the rigorous conditioning test Connors administers at the end of the second session, an impressive feat for players who haven't spent the past year in a college workout environment.
The raw numbers don't provide a definitive window into their on-field football abilities, but they do showcase the players who arrived with the best pure physical tools. Tavares Brown, who has gained 20 pounds since arriving at Carolina and is up to 285, has already bench-pressed 375 pounds, while tailback Johnny White has benched 335. Other rookies that have earned praise from Connors: Logan Buchanan, Anthony Elzy, Mike Ingersoll, Darius Powell, and Darrius Massenburg.
One position group--perhaps the most important position group, given the 2006 Tar Heel needs--has been the most impressive.
"The freshman class has been impressive overall," Connors says. "But we have really seen maturity with the conditioning and strength levels, along with the readiness and athleticism, of the wide receivers. We have really been impressed with those guys."
Denuta Williams turned in a 37.5-inch vertical jump, while Hakeem Nicks jumped 36.5 inches. Nicks, Williams, and Ryan Taylor all passed the conditioning test.
But the freshmen don't do all their work in the hot sun or in the weight room. Some of it takes place in a darkened meeting room on the upstairs levels of the Kenan Football Center.
That's where upperclassmen have been running regular film sessions. Initial film showings focused primarily on reviewing key Tar Heel base principles. More recent meetings have included some film of season-opening opponent Rutgers.
The film breakdowns can be mind-numbing, with new terms and concepts flowing as fast as the freshmen can handle them. The veterans organizing the sessions encourage participation to help the core of the team, of course, but they also serve as good review sessions.
"They have really been good for me not only from a leadership perspective but in helping understand the offense," says quarterback Cam Sexton, who is just a redshirt freshman but has already been through a pair of spring practice periods. "When you're trying to teach the new guys, you realize you don't know as much as you think you do. It's helped me understand the offense better and reinforced what I need to study."
Much of the freshman class will follow Sexton's path and redshirt (Bunting expects 10 to 12 true freshmen could play, especially players who can contribute on special teams) in 2006. That gives them a full year of tutelage from Connors, which can be an explosive growth period. But if the reports from various Tar Heel football personnel--and a few cagey caterers--can be believed, the freshmen have already exhibited significant maturity.
"This class appears to be head and shoulders above any class we've had in terms of guys who are very levelheaded," Bunting says. "This class is capable of doing the little things. It seems like a really clean, athletic, extraordinarily motivated group of players."
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.
