Virginia's best weapon for UNC: amnesia
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
October 20, 2005

Forget that Virginia shocked fourth-ranked Florida State last Saturday night. Yeah, that’s hard to do, but the best thing the Cavaliers can do heading into this weekend’s game in Chapel Hill is to get a quick case of amnesia.

If UVa can’t beat North Carolina on Saturday, then the win over FSU doesn’t mean diddly.

The Tar Heels are circling the wagons and putting their entire season on the line for the 110th meeting with Virginia in the South’s oldest rivalry. If Carolina doesn’t beat the Cavaliers, then the Heels’ season could be in jeopardy simply because they still have to play Miami, Boston College, Maryland and Virginia Tech.

A loss to UVa would sink Carolina to 2-4 overall, meaning two more defeats would end any chances of going bowling. So, believe it, the Tar Heels will put everything they have into beating the Cavaliers this weekend. They’re banking on it.

A checklist to forget

Forget that Louisville hung 69 points on Carolina two weekends ago, the most any team has ever scored against UNC.

Forget that Carolina hasn’t had any rushing attack to speak of thus far, and is ranked No. 110 out of 117 Division I-A teams in rushing offense (91 yards per game).

Forget that the Tar Heels are ranked 93rd in scoring defense, 90th in pass defense and 101st in turnover margin.

Forget that UVa scored 56 on Carolina last season in Scott Stadium.

None of that is going to matter at high noon in Kenan Stadium, where previous Virginia teams have struggled to maintain their focus.

Why?

The Tar Heels have had an extra week of preparation for Virginia. They are healed up physically, expecting the return of both veteran wide receiver Jarwarski Pollock (who needs six catches to break UNC’s career mark for receptions), and tailback Ronnie McGill. McGill actually made his season debut at Louisville but struggled in his return after suffering a torn chest muscle in June.

McGill could be the answer to Carolina’s anemic running attack.

Other reasons

But that isn’t the only reason. The Heels have also had time to lick their wounds after getting roughed up at Louisville and refocus on putting their season back together with an upset over Virginia.

UNC coach John Bunting believes such a win could ignite a new season for his team much like last season after the Heels were beaten badly at Utah. Carolina had an open date following that game, then came back and shocked undefeated Miami in Chapel Hill.

“I certainly do see some of the same things,” Bunting said in comparing that situation to this week’s UVa game. “I’ve got players who I think are more bought into the system. I’ve got players that are more mature. I’ve got players that are more experienced in playing tough, physical, emotional games.”

Carolina is counting on being at an emotional peak for Virginia and hoping that the Cavaliers will still be so giddy over beating Florida State that they will arrive in Chapel Hill unfocused, unmotivated and satisfied.

That’s the challenge for Virginia this week. Critics claim that the Cavaliers aren’t the same team on the road, that they don’t pack the same fire in their suitcases.

Good teams find ways to win on the road. Sometimes it’s all about heart.

The picks. Last week: 4-1. To date: 37-14. Tonight: Virginia Tech 30, Maryland 20.

 

Lyles is focused on football, White Sox
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
October 20, 2005

There are two magical words that can get Nate Lyles to smile in an instant.

You would probably guess Florida State. Right? That would seem like an obvious choice after Lyles and his Virginia teammates upset the Seminoles, 26-21, last weekend at Scott Stadium.

The words that Lyles can’t hear enough concern his hometown of Chicago. Ah, the White Sox.

The team that Lyles grew up following is just days away from playing in their first World Series since 1959. It has been even longer since the White Sox have won the fall classic.

And yet 88 years after winning a ring, Lyles claims he saw it coming.

“I told everybody we were going to the World Series and nobody believed me,” Lyles said. “Everybody told me I was crazy. They said they would choke in the postseason.”

Lyles played baseball for years, but gave it up for football and track when he reached Hubbard High, a school located 10 miles from U.S. Cellular Field, the home of his beloved White Sox.

And while his days as a centerfielder on the diamond are behind him, Lyles is playing the football equivalent now for the 23rd-ranked Cavaliers (4-2, 2-2 ACC). Virginia plays Saturday at North Carolina (2-3, 1-1) at noon.

As a safety, Lyles lines up in the deep center of Virginia’s 3-4 defense and roams the gridiron like a centerfielder, covering a lot of space, looking to create havoc.

Six games into his sophomore season, Lyles has been one of the mainstays. Only one defender on the team - linebacker Kai Parham - has logged more plays than the 412 Lyles has seen. He is also the third leading tackler (21 solo, 10 assisted), has recovered a fumble and has two of the team’s 10 interceptions.

Perhaps his greatest impact, however, comes by word of mouth.

Lyles has quickly gained the reputation of being one of the hardest hitting safeties in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Just ask Maryland wideout Jo Jo Walker.

Lyles laid a massive hit on Walker earlier this month that knocked the Terrapin’s helmet off his head. Fans at Maryland’s Byrd Stadium cringed at the play. His teammates raved about it. ESPN called it the “Play of the Day.”

The Illinois native has a different take.

“Basically, I was late on the play,” Lyles said. “I broke, but I broke late. I should have saw [the play] better so I could have knocked the ball out. He actually ended up catching it.”

Life at safety is truly a learning experience for Lyles and he knows it. Last year as a true freshman, he played in every game but was used primarily in the nickel package.

“Since I wasn’t starting last year, I didn’t have as much to prepare for,” Lyles said. “But, now I definitely do in terms of trying to prepare for different teams each week.”

Lyles, who picked UVa over offers from Notre Dame and Oregon, also said he is getting accustomed to his role on the field.

“It’s not that I am getting in a comfort level,” Lyles said, “but every game I am learning more and more, so I am getting better.”

And if a few big hits come along the way - that’s fine too.

“If you can slow receivers down or make them hesitant about catching balls over the middle, that’s something that can be in your corner for the whole year,” Lyles said.

 

Three men, one vision
Leitao's assistants seek to put UVa on basketball map
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
October 20, 2005

Rub-a-dub-dub. Three men in a tub.

If anyone can relate to the old nursery rhyme about a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker, it’s Gene Cross, Rob Lanier and Steve Seymour.

They are the assistant basketball coaches at the University of Virginia, hand-picked by Dave Leitao after he became the school’s new head coach. Together, they face a task that - at least for previous coaching staffs - has proved as befuddling as the rhyme: Putting UVa on the college basketball map.

Just last week, Leitao said the program was virtually non-existent in the consciousness of high school recruits.

Think the new assistants have their work cut out?

“It’s almost like a three-musketeers mentality, to make sure that the Virginia basketball program is where it needs to be,” Cross said, “and ultimately that Coach Leitao is successful. Coach Leitao has a vision and we all share that vision.”

Cross, 33, first met Leitao in a hotel lobby at a coach’s convention in 1997. Cross was an assistant coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago at the time. He knew exactly who Leitao was. Leitao, an assistant at the University of Connecticut, had no idea who he was.

“He saw me, and I didn’t know where I was going,” Cross recalled. “He said, ‘Follow me.’”

Cross has done just that. The former guard at the University of Illinois was an assistant on Leitao’s staff for the last three years at DePaul, helping lead the Blue Demons to postseason play every year. Leitao said bringing Cross to UVa with him was a “no-brainer.”

According to Cross, the Cavs’ assistant coaches have already developed a great chemistry.

“If there’s something that needs to be done, each one of us has the experience to take the bull by the horns and get it done,” said Cross, a Chicago native. “We’ve all been able to hit the ground running, especially in regard to recruiting.”

One reason for the quick assimilation: Lanier and Seymour both have head coaching experience. They’ve also previously worked together. Lanier was the head coach at Siena for four years. Seymour was an assistant on Lanier’s staff for three of those years.

“They think alike, which I think kind of creates a chemistry within the staff that spills over to the team,” Leitao said. “[As] former head coaches, they understand the things that are required from this seat right here. I think they play off of that, and it makes them better assistants as a result.”

Lanier, a former assistant at the University of Texas, led Siena to the NCAA Tournament in 2002, but was fired after last season. With three years left on his contract, he could have taken some time off before returning to the sidelines, but opted not to.

“When the year was over, I told my wife there would be two guys I would go and work for,” said Lanier, 37. “I said, ‘If Dave [Leitao] goes to Virginia, I’d consider it, and if Rick [Barnes] wants me to go back to Texas, I’d look at that. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure what direction I was going. [The Siena contract] was a little bit of a security blanket for me. I was only going to give it up for something I thought was special.”

The Virginia situation fell into the special category for Lanier because he had gotten to know Leitao on a personal level over the years. The two met while Lanier was an assistant at Rutgers.

“When I first got into the business, you see certain guys that stand out,” Lanier said, “and he was one of those guys. Everybody liked him and respected him, and he had a great reputation. Even before I got to know him, I wanted to know him.”

In the summer of 1999, Leitao and Lanier coached a college all-star team together in Greece.

“We found that there were a lot of things that we think a lot alike about,” Lanier said. “We hit it off.”

When Lanier was going through tough times at Sienna last season, Leitao lended his support during phone calls.

Making the move to UVa even more appealing for Lanier has been the chance to work with Seymour again. Seymour had been a key member of Lanier’s staff at Siena before taking an assistant’s job at LaSalle last season.

“It was tough when Steve left,” Lanier said. “I really missed him because he has a tremendous presence about him. He was sort of a pillar of my program. The success we achieved my first two years, he was a big part of that.”

Lanier remembers sitting in his Siena office with Seymour right before he left for LaSalle.

“A lot of times, just out of emotion you say [stuff],” Lanier said. “We said, ‘We’ll be working together one day.’ Just a little more than a year later, here we are.”

Seymour, like Cross and Lanier, jumped at the opportunity to join Leitao.

“LaSalle is a great place with great basketball tradition,” Seymour said. “It was kind of like a home away from home. We lived in Philadelphia for 10 years. It was a big decision to leave and come down here, but knowing Dave and Rob the way I did, there was a level of trust and commitment there that sort of made it [easy].”

Seymour, a Massachusetts native, had mingled in many of the same coaching circles as Leitao over the years. Seymour, 46, was the head coach at Drexel from 1999-2001. He believes the experience helps him as an assistant now because he knows what it’s like to walk in Leitao’s shoes.

“You can anticipate the way he’s thinking,” Seymour said. “Anything that’s coming down the pike, you’re prepared. When you see him deal with certain obstacles or instances that occur, you’re able to deflect them from him. It’s kind of like been there, done that. Your input is much more detailed.”

On some college basketball staffs, assistants have specific roles and job descriptions. But that’s not how it works at UVa. Seymour, Cross and Lanier contribute in all facets.

Seymour said that has created a nice flow of communication.

“We’re constantly on the phone with each other and in each other’s offices and talking about different [prospects],” Seymour said. “Obviously recruiting is the main role in helping get our program back to a competitive level.”

Leitao’s plan for rebuilding the program will involve several steps, according to Lanier.

“You can’t all of a sudden be where the top teams in the league are,” Lanier said. “What you have to do is be able to evaluate what the next step for Virginia is, and focus on making that step.

“If you look back at UConn and see who they first recruited, versus who they can recruit now - I think there’s a progression there. I don’t think Dave would have come here unless he thought a progression like that could be made over time, but not overnight.”

One thing comes across very clearly when talking to Cross, Lanier and Seymour: They all sound very determined - and very in sync.

“Everyone has grabbed an oar,” Seymour said, “and we’re just trying to row in the right direction.”

The tub has morphed into a boat.

 

Settling in at Carolina
Tar Heels quarterback Matt Baker was recruited by UVa out of high school.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

In the days and months that followed the 2000 football season, an unusually high number of ACC-area football programs changed coaches, a situation that was more than a little bit unsettling for recruits like Matt Baker.

"The year my class came out, I think there were 30 coaching changes -- something ridiculous like that," said Baker, from Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield, Mich. "You'd hear from one [set of coaches] and either they'd get fired or go to another school. Or an assistant coach or a coordinator who had recruited you would take a head-coaching job. It was wild."

Baker always thought there was a chance he would end up in the ACC, but not at North Carolina, where he committed shortly before the signing day, or at Virginia, another school to which he took a late visit.

"The school that was probably at the top of my list -- early -- was Clemson," Baker said. "I was about to pull the trigger and go to Clemson because of [then-Tigers' offensive coordinator] Rich Rodriguez.

"Obviously, they didn't have anybody assigned to recruit Michigan, so he took it upon himself to recruit me. I had a great relationship with him and was ready to go to Clemson; then, he went to West Virginia and I took a visit to West Virginia."

That didn't change Baker's impression of Rodriguez but he wasn't high on WVU.

Closer to home, Michigan was the school Baker had followed as a kid, but the Wolverines didn't take any quarterbacks in 2000. Baker had been to a one-day camp at Clemson that summer and was offered a scholarship on the spot.

By the time he heard back from the Tigers, they had taken a commitment from another quarterback.

"I wasn't going to go there anyway," Baker said. "The only reason I would have gone to Clemson was Rich Rodriguez."

Baker had sent tape to other schools, including Virginia, but he didn't hear back from the Cavaliers until Al Groh had replaced George Welsh as head coach.

When he took a visit to Virginia, Baker palled around with Brennan Schmidt, a defensive lineman from Maryland, who, like Baker, had not been recruited by the Welsh staff.

"We almost committed together," said Schmidt, a UVa defensive tackle who will be on the opposing side of the line from Baker this Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C. "We had a great time. It would have been fun if we'd gone to school together."

The same coach to whom Baker had sent tape at Virginia, Gary Tranquill, went to North Carolina as the offensive coordinator to new Tar Heels' coach John Bunting.

"They called me at halftime of the Super Bowl and asked me if I wanted to come down and take a visit," Baker said. "I hadn't heard from them."

In the end, Carolina offered a scholarship and the Cavaliers didn't.

"They didn't need a quarterback because the [Welsh] staff already had taken commitments from two other kids," Baker said. "They told me, 'We like you, but we have one kid, Marques Hagans, a smaller kid who is kind of undeveloped but has some potential. Then, we have, a big kid, Heath Miller.' "

Miller never played quarterback for the Cavaliers before moving to tight end and becoming a first-team All-American and first-round NFL Draft pick. However, there would have been ample competition in Matt Schaub, UVa's starter from 2002-2003, and now Hagans.

At Carolina, Baker bided his time behind Darian Durant, a short quarterback in the Hagans mold who set most of UNC's passing records.

Virginia coach Al Groh indicated he would have been more inclined to offer Baker if he had been a prospect at more that one position and professed nothing but admiration at Baker's play this season.

Baker has passed for 220 yards or more in four of five starts for the Tar Heels (2-3 overall, 1-1 ACC).

"He's done, I think, a remarkable job," said Groh, who has had two longtime back-ups, Christian Olsen and Kevin McCabe, waiting their turn behind Hagans. "It's caused me to think, if there's a comparison there, that I hope we can be as fortunate next year."

 

Pressure-filled -- yes, but what a great reward
Aaron
McFarling
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Maybe you were one of the lucky ones, Maybe you went to bed. Maybe you said, "Aww, this one's over," and slipped off to sleep.

You were spared the tumult.

Not so for the sold-out crowd here at Scott Stadium, which had danced and screamed and swayed for three quarters, lapping up the moment, only to spend Saturday's final hour groaning and cursing and wondering what in Al Groh's name was going on.

This night was all about pressure. Pressure on a quarterback, pressure on a coach, pressure on a program. And when it was over, when UVa had defeated No. 4 Florida State 26-21 for the biggest win of the Groh era, the collective sigh in this place could have registered a Category 3.

You need wins like this. For the sanity of the program, for the mental health of its fan base.

You need alumni to believe that if they come out in force on a Saturday night, bringing their loudest voices and their highest hopes, that they have a chance to be rewarded.

You need your players to have a reference point for unexpected success, encourage them to dream a little.

Dream on, Cavs. You earned it.

You won the first three quarters, and you won them soundly. Quarterback Marques Hagans logged the greatest performance of his fine career, passing for a personal-high 306 yards and two touchdowns.

Behind an offensive line that was missing senior tackle Brad Butler and was breaking a rusty D'Brickashaw Ferguson back into the lineup, Hagans caught all kinds of heat from the FSU front four. He couldn't have handled it any better.

He danced around sacks, lofted the ball over outstretched arms, found throwing lanes when it looked like there were none.

Dream on, Cavs. You won.

How big was this one? Consider: A loss threatened to drop the Cavaliers to .500 overall and an ugly 1-3 in the league, visions of a bowl bid looking optimistic at best. It would have sent them tumbling to 1-13 all-time against FSU, adding more stone to that mental wall.

And Groh, who so sorely needed victory over a top-five program. This one was as big for him as it was for anybody, and he deserves credit for getting it done.

Because this was no fluke. There were no wacky bounces, no phantom penalties that turned this game. UVa had command of this one from the start and, despite the late FSU surge, never trailed.

If anything, the score was closer than it should have been.

UVa defenders Tony Franklin and Chris Long both had potential interceptions right in their clutches and couldn't hang on. Ryan Best had two such opportunities -- one in the second quarter, another in the fourth.

Those missed chances appeared to be looming large when the Seminoles began their surge. UVa managed only one first down in the fourth quarter, and it came on a penalty. FSU cut a 16-point deficit to five, and still had 7:35 to make up the difference.

But when Franklin snagged an interception with less than a minute to play, it was finally over. Of course, if you were one of the lucky ones who'd gone to sleep, you knew that already.

You missed the tumult. But you also missed Hagans kneeling on the final play, then sprinting toward the student section and getting swallowed by the surging crowd. You missed the Seminoles trudging off the field, their perfect record destroyed.

You missed the band, the noise, the flash-bulbs popping.

Come to think of it, maybe you weren't so lucky after all.

 

Bunting: QB needs to protect football
KEN TYSIAC
Raleigh Bureau

North Carolina football coach John Bunting is turning up the heat on senior Matt Baker.

His quarterback leads the ACC with eight interceptions, and Bunting said Baker needs to do a better job protecting the football.

Bunting has heaped praise on Baker, a first-year starter, over the entire season. Though the statistics didn't reflect it early, Bunting had said Baker could be the top quarterback in the ACC by the end of the season.

"The quarterback has played extremely well at times," Bunting said Tuesday. "He would probably be the first to say he hasn't been as consistent as he needs to be."

Baker ranks third in the ACC with 245.8 passing yards per game, but is eighth in passing efficiency, primarily because of the interceptions and a .522 completion percentage. Bunting said Baker's interception on a screen pass at Louisville probably couldn't have been avoided, but added his habit of throwing late over the middle is dangerous.

"That's a foregone conclusion: that ball could be picked off," Bunting said. "We've got to avoid those things."

Pollock returns

Wide receiver Jarwarski Pollock is practicing and will play Saturday after missing the Oct. 8 loss at Louisville following surgery to repair cartilage in his left knee. Pollock needs five catches to match Na Brown's career receptions mark of 165."I'd say I'm 90 percent," Pollock said. " ... I'll just have to wear a knee brace to protect it."

QB chooses Heels

North Carolina has a commitment from T.J. Yates, a late-developing quarterback prospect at Pope High in Marietta, Ga.

Yates, 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, didn't play as a junior because he wanted to concentrate on basketball. As a senior, he has thrown for about 1,800 yards and 14 touchdowns in eight games, in a conference that includes Wake Forest commitment Zach MacDowall and Boston College commitment Ross Applegate at quarterback.

Pope coach Bob Swank said Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina began showing interest after Yates' fast start. Swank said Yates was awaiting a scholarship offer expected by the end of the week from Maryland when North Carolina's staff offered one Tuesday.

Swank described Yates as a big, mobile quarterback who can succeed as a pocket passer and a scrambler.

Notes

Bunting expects junior tailback Ronnie McGill's playing time to increase Saturday. McGill rushed 12 times for 29 yards and one touchdown against Louisville after missing the first four games with a torn chest muscle. ... Sophomore Trimane Goddard is listed as North Carolina's starting strong safety because senior Mahlon Carey is recovering from a shoulder injury.
 

Savvy, dedication breed success for UNC's Browning
By NOLAN HAYES : The Herald-Sun
nhayes@heraldsun.com
Oct 19, 2005 : 8:42 pm ET

CHAPEL HILL -- It wasn't what Ken Browning had in mind for his senior season.

Three games into it, he broke his left leg while playing on Northern High's defensive line. He was going to miss at least a month, but Northern's coaches knew he still could contribute to the football program.

After all, he knew his assignment on every play. Even better than that, he knew all of his teammates' assignments and could tell them what they were supposed to do when they forgot.

When his coaches asked him if he'd be willing to help coach the school's ninth-grade team, he jumped at the chance.

"It just kind of came naturally to me," Browning said. "I guess once I went through that, I just kind of felt like that was sort of like a calling for me. I just kind of knew that's what I was put here to do."

Browning's leg injury turned out to be a lucky break, not only for Browning, but also for hundreds of other players.

Browning ended up being the head coach at Northern for 18 years, leading the Knights to the 1993 state 4-A championship. He's been at UNC as an assistant for the last 12 seasons.

An assistant coach's job usually is only as safe as that of the head coach. But Carl Torbush and John Bunting both thought Browning was worth keeping around in Chapel Hill after Mack Brown hired him in 1994.

That makes Browning the longest-tenured coach on staff, something not many other defensive tackle coaches in the country can say.

"He's a good coach who can coach any position," Bunting said. "He's proven that."

Browning, a 59-year-old Guilford College graduate who played tight end and defensive end there, was UNC's defensive coordinator in 2000 when the Tar Heels set a school record with 53 sacks.

He moved to offense to coach tight ends when Bunting arrived. But he switched sides of the ball -- and his office switched sides of the hallway in the Kenan Football Center -- when Bunting put him back with defensive tackles this year.

The Tar Heels, who ranked no better than 108th out of 117 Division I-A teams in total defense the last three years, are 65th through five games in 2005. Yes, the team is more experienced and has more depth than in previous seasons. But Browning's return can't be ignored.

"He just gives us more confidence," senior defensive tackle Chase Page said. "He believes we can play, so we believe we can play."

Success speaks volumes

Browning is a natural teacher, drawing on his time at Northern when he had to show young players how to do everything.

College players are more advanced physically, but they often need the same kind of instruction.

One of the best places a UNC defensive tackle can be is under "the microscope." That's where Browning cues up a videotape and watches every movement the player makes. He gives tips about hand position and footwork, trying to build good habits.

And all the yelling and screaming associated with football coaches? Browning rarely goes that route.

He knows how he liked to be coached, and he treats his guys the same way. He is loud enough on the practice field for his players to hear everything he says. But observers 20 yards away will miss much of the instruction if there's any noise from traffic on Ridge Road.

"Coach Browning is different because he brings a broader mindstate to the game," said sophomore Kyndraus Guy, who leads UNC with three sacks. "He's more about, 'Understand what you're doing, and then do it fast,' instead of just, 'Do it fast, do it fast.' "

Browning's success rate has been staggering.

During his first stint on defense at UNC, he coached NFL first-round draft picks Vonnie Holliday, Marcus Jones and Ryan Sims and second-round picks Rick Terry and Russell Davis.

Those are the players UNC fans remember, but Browning doesn't discriminate based on talent.

One of his favorites, Anthony Perkins, never played a down in the NFL. Perkins arrived at UNC as a 6-2, 200-pound walk-on offensive lineman in 1997. He left as a 6-5, 275-pound contributor at defensive tackle.

Part of the credit goes to Perkins for his legendary work ethic -- players around UNC's program still know him as "Full Tilt." But Browning is the one who molded him after he tried to become a tight end and then a defensive end.

"He takes on the element of he's more than your coach," Perkins said. "He's teaching you to do something, and he shows you the reason why. And when you go out there and play football, whether it's practice or a game situation, it works -- period."

Home-grown values

As much as Perkins enjoyed playing for Browning, his favorite memory of him comes from the one year he didn't play for him.

Perkins injured his right knee during his senior year, when Browning was coaching tight ends, and needed to have surgery.

"If I could do anything and rewind the clock, I would," Browning told him.

Browning couldn't, of course, so he made a special trip to the hospital to visit Perkins after the surgery. Perkins had returned home early and wasn't there when Browning arrived, but the gesture was not forgotten.

"He was always there, even though he wasn't my position coach," Perkins said. "If I just needed somebody to talk to, he was always there. There was a certain level of comfort there."

It's a comfort Browning likes. It's why he didn't follow Brown to Texas in 1997 despite the prospect of more money.

Browning has been in the state of North Carolina all but two years -- when he coached high school football in Virginia after he graduated from college -- and that's where he wants to stay.

He grew up on a farm, half in Durham County and half in Orange County. Much of that land since has become Interstate 85, but the values Browning learned on it have remained.

And the lessons he learned on the farm have carried over to the gridiron, just as the knowledge his players gain on the field translates to their lives off of it.

"Everybody talks about how hard coaching is, and I kind of snicker under my breath a little bit, compared to how I grew up," Browning said. "That was a lot of 16-hour days and a lot more physical work than coaching. But you depend on the grace of God on both of them to help you through some of it. You can have a nice tobacco crop, and a hailstorm can wipe it out. You can have a good football team, and injuries can wipe it out."

Countless clinics

That's what Browning tells his players, and that's what he practices himself.

To that end, Browning has been to countless coaching clinics in an effort to improve himself. Offense, defense, whatever. If there's football, there's Browning.

UNC offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill can vouch for that.

Tranquill, who was part of Bunting's original staff, introduced his offense to his new team before the 2001 season. But as he went over his system with his fellow coaches on UNC's staff, Browning kept chiming in. He recognized all kinds of formations and plays, talking about them in terminology that Tranquill no longer even used.

As Browning made points and asked questions, Tranquill was puzzled. How did Browning know so much?

Browning had seen Tranquill speak at several coaching clinics through the years and had used many of Tranquill's ideas during his days at Northern. Browning even had a videotape of Tranquill running a practice drill at Navy back in the early 1980s.

"He remembered what I called something that I haven't called for 20 years," Tranquill said.

Browning's memory is part of what makes him such a good teacher. He still recalls the fishing lessons he got from his grandfather when he was a child. And he passed on some of the same words to his 3-year-old grandson, C.J., during a fishing trip this summer.

Not that Browning gets away often. The long hours of coaching prevented him from spending as much time as he would have liked with his wife, Susan, and his own boys -- Chuck, John and Joe. But he often carries C.J. with him when he returns to Kenan Stadium after practices.

C.J., just like UNC's defensive tackles, is in good hands.


 

Virginia QB uses time out of mind to succeed
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By Jeff Carlton
Staff Writer

The imagination can be a mighty powerful tool. Now Marques Hagans knows.

Virginia's senior quarterback was asked to play the Florida State game in his mind the night before the fourth-ranked Seminoles actually took the field Saturday night at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va.

When it was time to turn visualization into reality, the 5-foot-10 Hagans found that the usually fast-and-furious game of football seemed to slow down in his mind. That gave him time to recognize his options and make the right decisions.

It was almost just as he'd imagined it. Hagans, despite a slight hamstring pull in the first half, eluded the Seminoles' pass rush and left them stunned -- and beaten by Virginia for the first time in 10 years.

"I don't think I will be perfect like that every week," said Hagans, who completed 27 of 36 passes for 306 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. "But the way I was having stuff go in my head happened in the game."

North Carolina would not like to imagine a repeat performance Saturday at Kenan Stadium.

Hagans' outing against Florida State reminded Tar Heels coach John Bunting somewhat of Darian Durant, the Heels' playmaking former quarterback, and even more so of fleet-footed former Clemson QB Woody Dantzler.

"Except that Hagans throws the ball better," Bunting said. "He made so many incredible throws, upside down, sideways, going down, getting hit, getting smashed. He was absolutely phenomenal."

Hagans has had his share of detractors, and that's driven him to succeed since he was at Hampton (Va.) High School. They're the ones who believe quarterbacks are supposed to be 6-5 with rocket arms.

"It's not like it's not been out there," Hagans said.

But, he believes, Virginia's coaches never doubted him. Sure, they gave the nod to Matt Schaub as their starting QB in 2003. But that worked out pretty well. And they always found ways to get the dynamic Hagans on the field.

He returned punts -- one for a touchdown -- and caught passes as a Jarwarski Pollock-like slot receiver.

When Schaub left, Hagans complemented the nation's seventh-best running game pretty well his junior year, when he led the ACC in completion percentage and threw just five interceptions.

One of the few experienced quarterbacks in the league when this year started, Hagans had a shaky outing at Syracuse, but otherwise has been solid. And tough to bring down.

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden wanted to contain him in the pocket and make him peer over the offensive line.

"Then, when I looked at the film, half of his escapes were underneath contain," Bowden said. "In other words, he'd drop back, and we'd contain him and he'd go underneath that and break out in the flat. Whatever he needed to do, he did it."

The Seminoles even had a so-called spy assigned to track his every move.

"If they can't spy him," Bunting said, "I'm not sure we can."

The Heels want to bring a pass rush to make Hagans have to think -- and act -- fast.

Except he's thinking on his feet a lot faster these days.

"Hopefully he'll stay fast," Virginia coach Al Groh said, "but the game will look slow."

Contact Jeff Carlton at 373-7065 or jcarlton@news-record.com

 

Cavs back in ACC title contention
Two games back from leader Virginia Tech, Virginia's season has new life
Zach Rowen, Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

In a season that has had more twists than a box of pretzels, the Cavaliers find themselves in contention for the ACC crown. After two bad road losses to Maryland and Boston College, followed by an electrifying upset Saturday night against Florida State, the Cavs are just two games back of the current ACC leader, Virginia Tech.

"I don't think it necessarily saved the season," sophomore safety Nate Lyles said, in reference to Saturday night's upset. "But it definitely turned things around after two losses."

Now, the players as well as the Cavalier faithful have a vested interest on the outcome of other ACC showdowns.

The ACC standings will "be something we pay attention to," sophomore tight end Tom Santi said. "But at the same time, we can only control what we do."

Currently, the Cavaliers are 4-2 (2-2) with four conference games remaining, while the Hokies are 6-0 (3-0) in conference with five conference games left on the schedule. That is one reason why tonight's game between Virginia Tech and Maryland suddenly can have huge implications for the Cavaliers' position in the ACC standings. Though unlikely, a Maryland win would put the Cavaliers just one game behind the Hokies.

"I'll be watching that game," Lyles said.

If the Cavaliers manage to win the Coastal conference, then they will play the winner of the Atlantic conference for the ACC Championship game Dec. 3 in Jacksonville, Fla. Even though it is a long way away, the possibility of reaching the ACC championship has resurfaced in the back of many Cavalier minds.

"December third is the ultimate goal," junior wide receiver Fontel Mines said.

The Cavaliers, however, are also well aware that they can't look too far into the future and can't focus too much of their attention on the successes and failures of ACC foes. A loss to this Saturday's opponent, North Carolina, would put any chance of an ACC crown out of the question.

"We play one game at a time," Mines said. "We've got to stay humble and stay focused. This win is over, and we've got a new goal. Saturday we play North Carolina –- that's what's on everybody's mind right now."

Coach Al Groh has made it clear that relishing Saturday's victory can put the team at risk for future letdowns.

"Coach preached directly after the win: One game doesn't determine the entire season," Mines said. "We're well aware of what happened to Maryland (vs. FSU) and UNC (vs. Miami) after their big wins [last season]. We really need to focus this week in practice."

Although the common sentiment among players is that they need to take one game at a time and not worry about other ACC teams, there is a good chance that most will be watching the Virginia Tech-Maryland game tonight. Those that do watch, along with other Cavalier fans, will have their fingers crossed in anticipation of a Hokie loss.

"Oh, I'll definitely be watching," Mines said.

 

Pollock turns his focus from rehab to record pursuit
Heels senior nears receptions mark
Jarwarski Pollock says he's 'about 90 percent' after arthroscopic knee surgery.
By ROBBI PICKERAL, Staff Writer

CHAPEL HILL -- One of the keys to being in position to set the school record for career receptions, North Carolina senior Jarwarski Pollock said, is staying relatively injury-free.
Which is why it isn't much of a surprise that the senior, who had arthroscopic left knee surgery on Oct. 7, will be back in uniform on Saturday, fully prepared to make the six catches he needs to pass record-holder Na Brown.

"I'd say I'm about 90 percent and ready to go,'' Pollock said, noting the 10 percent he needs to recover includes his cutting ability and comfort level. "I just need to wear a knee brace."

Pollock, a 5-foot-8 mighty mite whose 160 career catches have come mostly by speeding across the middle and catching bone-jarring short passes, spent the past week rehabilitating the knee twice a day. The key was to strengthen his calf and quad muscles, he said, to help make the knee stronger. The team even special ordered a brace that fits his knee better.

Of the impending record, he said: "It's going to mean a lot, because it means with hard work, you can achieve everything you want to achieve."

GUY RELISHES TIME: Defensive lineman Kyndraus Guy cries sometimes before games. He has been known to scream after big tackles. And if he ever scores a touchdown,the 6-2, 275-pounder plans to do backflips.

After experiencing the death of a close friend last November, the UNC sophomore tries to enjoy every moment of football -- especially because he doesn't plan to play it after college.

"My thing is, football is inevitable -- it's going to end, no matter what you do,'' said Guy, who has been playing the game since he was 7. "You've got to find something to focus on for the rest of your life, and hopefully I'll live a long, long time."

Guy, a sociology major, thinks he might want to be a counselor after graduation, but he's still not sure. Lately, he's been doing plenty of spiritual reading -- everything from the Bible to, sometime soon, a book about Buddhism.

His focus is still firmly on football; hitting people on the field is one of his favorite things to do, which is why he is the team's co-leader in sacks, with three.

But unlike many of his teammates, he said his ambition is not the NFL, because "I see a lot of people hurt physically or hurt financially or emotionally, and sometimes, you don't recover from that."

So he's enjoying what he's doing now: "I feel like these are my better days that I'll have."

QB PICKS HEELS: When UNC decided it liked the way T.J. Yates played quarterback at Marietta (Ga.) Pope, it moved quickly. On Sunday night the Tar Heels received a commitment from Yates, a 6-4, 200-pound senior.

Yates didn't play high school football in 2004. But this season, he has a chance to set Georgia's all-time passing record, according to Pope coach Bob Swank.

"T.J. is a big-time basketball player and was devoting himself to basketball," Swank said.

He returned to football this fall and has passed for 1,800 yards on a 2-6 club.

"But he's the reason that we've been competitive and that we've won two games," Swank said. "He has had a great year.

"He's not an option quarterback, but he's mobile. He rushed for more than 100 yards the other night. He can really throw the ball."

Several ACC football programs had shown interest in him recently, but UNC visited him last week and made the scholarship offer Sunday.