University of North Carolina Athletics
One Word
December 6, 2013 | Football, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Dec. 3 issue of CAROLINA, the official magazine of Tar Heel athletics.
On the eve of the season finale with Duke, Larry Fedora gave his seniors an opportunity to address their teammates on what it means to be a Tar Heel football player.
The senior class had endured much in their time in Chapel Hill: an NCAA investigation, a bowl ban, three head coaches and the inability to play for a conference championship despite having the record to do so. But they'd also achieved, with three bowl appearances in four seasons and winning the ACC's Coastal Division in 2012, recognized or not.
The seniors' leadership was instrumental in helping the Tar Heels climb out of a 1-5 hole for bowl eligibility in 2013. So these players would have a lot to talk about. There was a catch, however.
The seniors were allowed to say one word, a single word within which to encapsulate their Tar Heel experience. Here's what they had to say:
Nick Appel: resilient
A.J. Blue: opportunity
Tre Boston: blessed — “Where I'm from, nobody expects to come this far. It's my senior year, I'll be graduating in two weeks. I just feel like God has been with me this whole way and really led me to where He wanted me to go. I've been through tons of changes and so much adversity. I could have pulled out any time, and I really feel like God blessed me and put me in this situation for not only now, but my future. To become a businessman or in the NFL, if I go through coaches, or if I have to change teams, it's one of those things I've done already and I just feel blessed to be here.”
Josh Broach: tradition
David Collins: passion
James Hurst: pertinacious — “I wanted 'perserverance,' but Kareem called dibs on it first. So, I had to look up a word that I thought had a similar meaning to perserverance and I thought that was a good one. It was 'holding true to one objective.' I feel like we've had a lot of obstacles since I've been here and we were able to always make something good happen, so that was kind of how I felt, how my career's gone, how our career's gone, us seniors. I'm proud to be with those guys . . . I think absolutely no one knew what it meant, so they were excited that they could know what it meant, finally. I was kind of prepared for it, so I had to go in knowing the definition and be able to try to explain it really quickly.”
Tim Jackson: fighter
Cody Johnson: tenacious
Mack Lloyd: relentless
Kareem Martin: perseverance — “I've just had to bounce back and fight through everything, from investigation when I got here, being thrown in the fire, losing all these coaches, my father passed away when I was here . . . I've just been through so much and I've had to persevere through each day here. Luckily, I've had my family back at home and my family here to get through these tough times.”
Darien McNeill: devotion
Alec Petrocelli: endurance
Jabari Price: zealous
Terry Shankle: thank you
Sean Tapley: brotherhood
