Lucas: Tar Heel Born

Editor's note: The original version of this story ran in Born & Bred, the official publication of The Rams Club.

By Adam Lucas

As he was growing up across the highly competitive youth baseball fields of Salisbury, N.C., Vance Honeycutt was always very aware that his father, Bobby Honeycutt, had played college baseball.

But this isn't one of those horror stories when the high-achieving father stands behind the batting cage shouting instructions to his son, or forces him to listen yet again to stories about the 1989 Tar Heel baseball team that went to the College World Series, a squad on which the elder Honeycutt was a member.

Instead, Vance understood his dad's connection to the game because of a very different—and very welcome—reason.

"It's not like he talked about it all the time," Vance says. "But I always knew he had a different way of going about the game of baseball as opposed to some of the other parents of guys I played with. Starting in Little League and as I got older, his advice was always different.

"The difference was that he always understood that the game is hard. He knows hitting is hard and if you fail seven out of ten times, you're in the Hall of Fame. He instilled that into me at a young age."

Of course, Honeycutt has spent most of his Carolina career making the game look deceptively easy. He was one of the most exciting freshmen in the game in 2022, a third-team All-America pick and consensus Freshman All-America. Considering the circumstances, he made one of the best catches in Boshamer Stadium history in the ninth inning of a one-run elimination regional game, robbing Georgia of a game-tying home run by leaping to grab a ball that was soaring over the center field fence.

Those types of dazzling catches were a regular feature of his last two seasons, which resulted in back to back ACC Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2023 and 2024. Offensively, he's Carolina's all-time home run leader, a mark that had stood for almost 40 years. And as Boshamer regulars know, even if you completely ignore the raw numbers, he's simply one of the most fun players to watch in the Tar Heels' star-studded history.

Making those types of highlight reel plays is the fulfillment of a childhood dream for the younger Honeycutt. Bobby and his wife, former Tar Heel track athlete Leah Ann, brought their family—Vance has two older sisters, Kayla and Julia—to Chapel Hill at every opportunity. Family and friends had Carolina football parking passes in the RV Lot across from the Smith Center; Vance spent many Saturday afternoons tossing a football around the tailgate parties (and later become a state championship-winning quarterback at Salisbury High).

Eventually, he would take his fandom up Ridge Rd. to Boshamer Stadium, where he attended numerous Carolina baseball games with his father. "We were always on campus," Bobby says. "All our kids, including Vance, knew we were a Carolina family."

It wasn't unusual for those trips to Chapel Hill to include hanging out with some of Bobby Honeycutt's former Tar Heel teammates. As so often happens, a winning team—the 1989 Tar Heels were Carolina's only Omaha entrant for almost 30 years—has a way of staying in touch, and Honeycutt still counts a half-dozen members of that squad as some of his closest friends.

But while Bobby Honeycutt was very clear with his son that cheering for the Tar Heels was non-negotiable, he was more open-minded when it came to Vance actually playing sports.

"It was important for me as a dad not to pigeonhole him into one sport," Bobby says. "I made a promise to myself that if he was interested in other sports, we'd give him the opportunity to be exposed to those sports."

So while other middle schoolers were playing on multiple school and travel baseball teams, the future Carolina center fielder was playing rec baseball so he'd have time to play other sports. As a result, even in his initial high school years, Vance wasn't a part of the elite travel baseball circuit that—until recent recruiting calendar adjustments—sometimes saw players commit to a college before they had played a high school game.

But Salisbury is a town with deep baseball roots. So as Vance hit a growth spurt in his sophomore year, his high school coach, Mike Herndon, connected the family with the South Charlotte Panthers, one of the most prestigious and competitive travel programs in the Eastern part of the country.

It wasn't always easy. Vance wasn't as big as some of his teammates, many of whom had already committed to play college baseball. But his athleticism and skill level were indisputable. And eventually, a growth spurt began to put his size on par with his talent. Bobby Honeycutt remembers one afternoon standing around the batting cage at a travel tournament, watching the Panthers take some pregame hacks. His son was creating some of the loudest swings of the day, and the implications were clear. South Charlotte owner Don Hutchens approached him. "See," Hutchens said, "I told you he was going to get bigger."

Prospect camps are a legitimate recruiting tool in college baseball. Honeycutt attended two—one at the College of Charleston, where the Cougars are coached by Bobby Honeycutt's former Tar Heel teammate, Chad Holbrook. And the other at Carolina.

Vance Honeycutt, Bobby Honeycutt

There were other players on hand in Chapel Hill with bigger reputations according to the national scouting services. But none made a bigger impression than Honeycutt, who caught the eye of former Carolina head coach Mike Fox with his unique blend of ability and potential.

"After that camp, Coach Fox motioned us into the lobby area at Boshamer Stadium and started talking to us," Bobby says. "His comments about Vance way exceeded our expectations. I remember getting in the car after that, and it was a really good father-son moment. We looked at each other and said, 'I can't believe that just happened.'"

"We got in the car and I was super pumped up," Vance says. "I was smiling the entire car ride home."

After that, Vance's career path accelerated. He soon received an official scholarship offer from Carolina, which he of course accepted. His success on the field led to attention from pro teams. Bobby handled most of the discussions with scouts as his son finished his high school career, and the family made it clear that Vance wanted to be a Tar Heel. Still, the San Francisco Giants picked him in the 20th round. It was a futile selection; Vance wanted to spend his 18-to-21 year-old years improving while enjoying campus, not while riding a bus in the minor leagues.

His time in Chapel Hill has resulted in a series of incredible plays--including Saturday's do-everything performance in the 2-1 win over West Virginia. Of all the highlight reels he has filled during his Tar Heel career, his favorites remain team accomplishments—winning the 2022 ACC Tournament, winning the 2022 Chapel Hill regional, and now, advancing to the 2024 College World Series.

The ultimate team achievement is this year's success of making it to Omaha as a Tar Heel. And as his father well knows, the calendar just happens to fall such that earning one of the eight slots in the College World Series almost always coincides with Father's Day.

"Quietly, I have thought about it," Bobby says. "My former teammates and I have talked about it amongst ourselves of how cool it would be for all of us to go back to Omaha. I haven't been back on any of Carolina's other trips."

Now, he'll get the chance to go back--and watch another Honeycutt try to lead the Tar Heels to a national championship.

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