University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heel Ties Power Draughn
November 4, 2008 | Football
Nov. 4, 2008
By Lauren Brownlow
As Shaun Draughn starred as a running back at Tarboro High School, former Tar Heel running back Kelvin Bryant was often there to observe him. The three-time 1,000-yard back and ACC legend paid Draughn the ultimate compliment--he saw himself in him. "Before I went to running back, my pops would see him around Tarboro and he would always say, `Your son needs to be playing running back. That's what he needs to be playing.' To have him in my corner, that's big," Draughn said.
But it has hardly been an easy road. At 6-0, 205 pounds, he doesn't have typical running back size. Plenty of high school running backs come to college and have to switch sides. As a redshirt freshman, he was buried on the depth chart at safety. He had to work up the nerve to approach Davis over the summer, high school highlight reel in hand, about returning to running back.
He got his chance, but he was still behind on the depth chart--No. 6, to be exact. His work in training camp impressed his coaches and teammates enough for him to move up to No. 3. In the season-opener against McNeese State, he got his validation with a 13-yard touchdown run.
"I think everybody was banking on me being a training camp wonder. So just having that moment, it was confirmed to me that I knew I could play with the big boys," Draughn said.
And he's been proving it ever since. He has 499 yards already, which are 100 more than last season's leading rusher, Johnny White. It was Carolina's lowest output by a leading rusher since 1966. Last season also marked the first time since 1944 that Carolina did not average at least 100 yards rushing. It didn't look much better this season as Carolina averaged 114.5 yards on the ground in the first four games and just 3.47 yards per carry.
When Draughn got in on the action, Carolina's average went up to 136.8 yards per game in the last four games and 3.67 yards per carry. Draughn's average has gone from 24.5 in the first four games to 100.5 in the last four, increasing his yards per carry from 3.89 to 4.79. In his first three games with extended action, he averaged 112.7 yards.
Facing a dominant Boston College defense line, he had just 30 yards on his first 12 carries. But his tough running led Raycom color analyst Rick "Doc" Walker to say, "Draughn is my kind of guy. He runs with purpose. He runs like his pants are on fire." That was after a standard five-yard run. Then in the fourth quarter he finally imposed his will, gaining 34 yards on six carries on a drive capped off by a Hakeem Nicks touchdown that put Carolina up 45-17.
But Draughn hardly makes any run look ordinary. It's almost as if he has a sixth sense--he is able to pop a big run when it's there (he has runs of 39, 20 and 18 yards), but he's also able to make something out of almost every run, with just ten yards lost this season. He can spin, bounce and dance his way around potential tacklers once he's through the hole.
"I feel like I'm elusive. Some people take too long to hit the hole. I feel like now, I learned coming from training camp that if the hole is there, you need to take it," Draughn said. "You can't wait for a bigger hole. In college football, that hole is going to close soon so if you see it, you'd better hit it. Most of all, it's instinct. You don't want to be holding the ball like, `Okay, I'm going to do this when he does that.'"
Virginia was Draughn's first start, but he had the bulk of the action against both Connecticut and Notre Dame, gaining a combined 300 yards on 36 carries. After that Notre Dame game, which he called his toughest so far, he remarked to Coach Davis how sore he was. "Welcome to being the guy," Davis responded.
"Just for him to say that, I know I have to put the team on my shoulders, so to speak, in some respects as far as the running game," Draughn said.
So against Virginia, he did his best to do that. He had a career-high 138 yards on 30 carries, the most by a Tar Heel tailback since 1997 (Jonathan Linton). That season was also the last time Carolina has had a 1,000-yard rusher. The most yards gained by a Tar Heel since were 796 (Chad Scott in 2004). It's unlikely that he'll reach the 1,000-yard mark this season. But he knows how important it would be to achieve that--not only for him, but for the program.
He has not only Bryant as a mentor but former Tar Heel Ronnie McGill, who he watched a redshirt freshman. McGill has left him text messages teasing him for not stiff-arming defenders while Bryant was on the sideline for the Boston College game, reminding Draughn to pick his knees up and keep his pads low.
Stories like Draughn's are the exception rather than the rule. But despite his success, he's not letting anything go to his head. His small-town upbringing in Tarboro under the careful watch of his two preacher parents wouldn't allow that to happen.
"I'll just be walking around the football center and I'll be like, `Man, I'm the starting running back at North Carolina.' That was a dream coming up and it's coming true," Draughn said. "Just having that down-home personality, I've brought that here. I never got big-headed. It's not hard for me to try to be humble because it's just in my blood. That's how I grew up and that's how I was taught."
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
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