University of North Carolina Athletics
Little A Man Of Many Talents
October 11, 2007 | Football
Oct. 11, 2007
By Turner Walston
Greg Little knows his way around a football field. He played eight positions at Hillside High School: wide receiver (his position at Carolina), running back, quarterback, defensive end, outside and inside linebacker, safety and cornerback. He also knows his way around a chessboard. He's played the ancient game since about sixth grade, he tells me. "Probably earlier than that," he says Monday when we meet in Kenan Football Center. "I haven't played in a while, though."
He's selling himself short to make me feel good. Little knew he was meeting me for an interview, but he didn't expect me to pull out my board and pieces. I'm here to talk to him about ESPNU Summer House, the reality show he filmed this summer, and his upcoming matchup with costar Brian Maddox, a running back for the University of South Carolina. On the show, Little outlasted his roommates in a match with former NFL star LaVar Arrington, so naturally I wanted to challenge him.
Little enjoyed playing so many positions in high school. "It kind of put the game in my hands, a little bit, and Coach (Ray Harrison) put me in a position where I could take control if it, so I liked that a whole lot."
It worked. The year before Little began high school, the Hornets went 0-13. The team's record his senior year? 10-3. "I like turning programs around," he says.
Little chooses White, so he moves first. He opens confidently, with the king's pawn moving two spaces forward.
The confident Greg Little was tested last fall. A year ago this week, he called a press conference at Hillside to announce that his decision to play for . . . either Notre Dame or North Carolina. "I was supposed to pick on that one day, I just couldn't," he says.
Little verbally committed to Notre Dame on November 9 after being selected to the U.S. Army All-American game. It seemed like a natural decision for a highly-regarded football recruit: Notre Dame was 8-1 in Charlie Weis's second season. Little had been on Irish sideline in South Bend when they'd beaten the Tar Heels just five days earlier.
Still, he had Carolina on his mind. "I kept in contact with Coach (Tommy) Thigpen and just built a great relationship with him, and then when Coach Blake came on, that was another guy that I could talk to about recruiting and just about anything."
I castle kingside, and Little responds by doing the same. It's a move to protect the king behind a rank of pawns.
He also attended several Carolina basketball games. "It was just giving me a chance to meet the different guys on the team," he says. "I just kept coming over just wondering if it was my style of play, just guys that I could be around."
Butch Davis didn't know until the night before signing day that Little had changed his mind. "I talked to Marvin Austin, and he told me he was coming that night, and he was asking me what I was going to do," he says. "I didn't know yet. I just kept thinking about it and talking to my high school coach." Harrison told Little to go with his heart. "Right after that, I called Coach Thigpen up and told him I was coming, and he called Coach Davis and I told him. It was like 12 o'clock that night."
He just took one of my bishops. I'd moved to attack and left it unprotected, so his knight took advantage of my mental lapse.
"That was just a big burden off my back," Little says of finalizing his decision. It allowed him to finish his high school basketball career without all the media attention that had preceded his commitment. But the media wasn't finished with Greg Little.
While at Durham Hillside High School, Little and his teammates often joked about having their own reality show, like MTV's Two-A-Days. Then ESPN called. "Just to have it actually happen to me was a dream come true," he says.
Little joined five other incoming freshmen in Summer House. Over the course of ten days, the Summer House inhabitants participated in a series of challenges. Joining Little in a Jersey City townhouse were Richetti Jones of Oklahoma State, Chris Galippo of Southern California, Danny Collins of Towson, Taylor Skaufel of Stanford, and Brian Maddox of South Carolina. The house `dad' was former Ohio State standout and NFL All-Pro Chris Spielman. Little placed second in the competition after a last-minute comeback from Jones.
Little is distracted by passerby Mike Paulus, who taunts him, "Greg Little, you don't know how to play chess!" But Paulus is wrong. Little does know, and we've exchanged "checks" a few times now. The action is heating up.
The reality TV star was just another incoming freshman at training camp. According to the UNC media guide, Little was called "the most versatile player in the country." But he won't be handed anything. "I know at the wide receiver spot, it's going to get competitive these next couple of years," he says. Rashad Mason, currently redshirting, and Dwight Jones, prepping at Hargrave Military Academy will join Little, Kenton Thornton, Brooks Foster, Brandon Tate and Hakeem Nicks at the position in 2008. "It's going to be competition, and it's going to make all of us good," Little says.
He's taken several of my pawns, a queen and a bishop. I've got a knight and a bishop of his, and four pawns. We're 20 minutes in.
As the season has progressed, Little and his young teammates have seen more playing time. Last week, Little had a carry for nine yards and first down. He says the hard work by the freshman class is paying off, now and for the future.
"We all came in wanting to play early," he says. "We put in the time and dedication to do so, and this really is a young team and the things that we can be capable of, the sky's really the limit for us. I can just imagine when we're all juniors and seniors, what we can be capable of."
If his chess play is any indication, Little's going to surprise some people himself. I've had to be on my toes as he plans his attacks. I've left my queen unprotected, and Little slyly smiles as he pounces upon it with a rook.
The competition and camaraderie among the roommates of Summer House led to the forging of friendships. On Saturday, one of those friendships will be tested, as Maddox and the Gamecocks come to Kenan Stadium.
Little says he and Maddox got the talk started during their time in Summer House. "We were just talking about who was better, and who was going to beat each other this year." It will be fun to finally meet on the field, Little says. "He's a good running back. He's a hard worker, and we'll see what comes up."
The Gamecocks come into Kenan Stadium ranked 7th in the Associated Press poll, but recent history may be on Little's side. In another matchup of Summer House roommates, Skaufel's Stanford Cardinal knocked off Galippo's #1 U.S.C. Trojans last weekend. "If we can just pull of this win, who knows what's next?" Little says. "The sky's the limit for us."
And what will he say to Maddox on Saturday? "Before the game, I'll be concentrating on their defense and the tendencies of the DBs, but after the game, I'll say something."
"Checkmate." And that's that. Greg used his rook and queen to pin me in. "Good game," he says, a gracious winner.
