MrTarheel.com

The Words of Coach Butch Davis

Off To A Great Start
February 28, 2007

These are very positive times for the football program at the University of North Carolina. We completed an outstanding recruiting season earlier this month and now have assembled what I believe to be a terrific coaching staff. Now it’s on to spring practice in March and continuing to put the pieces in place of a championship program. We are thrilled with the progress we’ve made in recruiting. We made up a tremendous amount of ground in short amount of time. This is a foundation for things to come.

We’re excited about the dynamics this class. There are certainly some common threads throughout these 24 players. You will find they are charismatic, they have great personalities, they have speed. We were looking for guys with great playmaking ability, people with versatility. Most of them were multi-talented players and played both sides of the ball. They were impact players and played special teams. Almost every position group is represented. Beyond their athletic ability is their character and intangibles. They are fun to be around. We saw this in these guys when they came on their visits. What it showed us is they have a lot of personal self-confidence and a lot of self-esteem. That will translate to the football field, I have no doubt.

It’s an exhilarating feeling to wrap up a very good class just eight weeks into our program. It’s been fun to get back into the recruiting game. It’s something I really, truly love. I enjoy recruiting. It’s the lifeblood of a football program. This signing class represents building the future of this program, putting talented athletes with the talented athletes we already have in this building.

There was a lot of excitement the last day over some high-profile prospects who fortunately fell our way. Greg Little, the receiver from Durham, is an awesome offensive weapon. He has unbelievable skills. Marvin Austin is one of the best defensive line prospects in the country. He was an unbelievable pleasure to recruit. You will love getting to know this young man. He’s passionate and charismatic and very serious about getting an education. Dwight Jones, the receiver from Burlington, looked at some other schools but in the end came back to Carolina. He realized this was the same great place he originally visualized. It took a little while with the transition to feel comfortable with the decision. The 11th-hour fireworks tended to overshadow some of the players who had made early commitments and held strong in their resolve throughout the recruiting process. Mike Paulus is a tremendous prospect at quarterback and was unwavering in his commitment last fall to Carolina. He meant a great deal to this class. Linebacker Quan Sturdivant kept his commitment from last fall after wavering during the coaching transition and enrolled in January. Signing him was huge, but people forget about it because it happened two months ago. Then we signed tight end Zack Pianalto out of Arkansas in December after he had committed to Texas. He’s enrolled this spring as well. A guy decommits to Texas to come to North Carolina, and if that happens on signing day, that’s a huge news story. But on signing day, he was actually kind of an afterthought since it happened so long ago. But it doesn’t diminish the fact he is very important to this recruiting class.

I’m excited about building on this class in the future. Recruiting is a year-long process of building relationships. When you’re trying to play catch-up, when you can accomplish what we accomplished in a short period of time, I think it says volumes for what our coaches did. We are going to go after the absolute very best football players, not only in North Carolina, but across the nation. Every single year, we’re going to be in knock-out, drag-out battles for the very best.

Two guys who need a special mention in this recruiting effort are Tommy Thigpen and Kenny Browning, two coaches from the previous staff who I am delighted will be staying on. Their credibility as men and passion and love for University of North Carolina and this program meant volumes to this recruiting class. Our success wouldn’t have happened without them.

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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has won 37 team national championships in five different sports, 9th all-time, and 51 individual national championships. The UNC women's soccer team has won eighteen national championships since 1981; the men's soccer team won the championship in 2001; the women's basketball team in 1994; the UNC Tarheels basketball (men's) team in 1924, 1957, 1982, 1993, and 2005; the UNC men's lacrosse team in 1982, 1986, and 1991; the UNC women's field hockey team in 1985, 1995, 1996, and 1997; the women's team handball team won in 2004; and the men's team handball team has won the last three National Championships in 2004, 2005, and 2006. The Carolina men's crew team won the 2004 ECAC National Invitational Collegiate Regatta in the varsity eight category. The North Carolina Men's Baseball team is also a perennial power, and in 2006 made it to the Championship round of the College World Series.