Loss for UNC before game
Tate to miss rest of season; three Cavaliers earn honors
Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008 - 12:07 AM

NORTH CAROLINA AT VIRGINIA

Saturday: 3:30 p.m., ABC
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Virginia's performance Saturday in its 35-20 win over East Carolina mightily impressed the ACC.

Three of the conference's six weekly awards for football went to U.Va. players yesterday. Senior tailback Cedric Peerman is the ACC's offensive back of the week, senior tackle Eugene Monroe is offensive lineman of the week and redshirt freshman defensive end Matt Conrath is rookie of the week.

The news wasn't as good for Virginia's next opponent. North Carolina learned that its most explosive player, wide receiver Brandon Tate, will miss the rest of the season.

Tate, a senior, tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee Saturday in the first quarter of Carolina's 29-24 victory over Notre Dame in Chapel Hill. He'll undergo surgery this week.

"Although it's tough for our football team and it's certainly tough on him -- he's such a great kid, and he's such a valuable, integral part of this football team -- the good news is that he'll be back and he'll recover from this," Tar Heels coach Butch Davis told reporters in Chapel Hill yesterday.

Tate is the NCAA's all-time leader in kickoff return yards with 3,523. He finished the season with 376 yards on receptions, 305 on kickoff returns, 158 on punt returns and 143 on rushes.

The loss of Tate will "put us in a situation to look for expanded roles for different guys on the team," Davis said. "We need somebody to step up and fill the different voids that certainly Brandon leaves us."

Coastal Division rivals Virginia (1-1, 3-3) and 18th-ranked UNC (1-1, 5-1) meet Saturday at Scott Stadium. ABC will televise the 3:30 p.m. game. The Tar Heels haven't won in Charlottesville since 1981, but they'll be favored Saturday.

Carolina is the "best team we've seen since Aug. 30," U.Va. coach Al Groh said, referring to his team's opener against Southern California. The Trojans beat the Cavaliers 52-7 at Scott Stadium that day.

The date with UNC will end a three-game homestand for Virginia, which plays Oct. 25 at Georgia Tech. That Coastal Division clash will start at 3:30 p.m. and be shown on ESPNU, the ACC announced yesterday. It will be the fifth U.Va. game broadcast this season on ESPNU, a network not widely available in this state.

Against East Carolina, Peerman became the first Cavalier since tailback Barry Word to have two runs of more than 50 yards in a game. Word had a 52-yard gain and a 79-yard touchdown run against Georgia Tech in 1985. Peerman scored on runs of 79 and 60 yards versus ECU and finished with 173 yards on 16 carries.

Monroe received a grade of 88 percent -- his highest of the season -- from U.Va. offensive line coach Dave Borbely after helping Virginia rush for a season-high 202 yards against the Pirates.

Conrath sacked quarterback Patrick Pinkney in the fourth quarter, forcing a fumble that U.Va. recovered at the ECU 24. He also broke up a Pinkney pass Saturday.

 

UNC loses Tate
Tar Heels' top playmaker is out for the season with torn knee ligaments
Robbi Pickeral, Staff Writer
Comment on this story

CHAPEL HILL - Even as doctors tended to his injured right knee in the training room Saturday, Brandon Tate was cheering as his North Carolina teammates rallied to beat Notre Dame.
"I was jumping around -- trying to anyway," he said.

Less than 24 hours after learning that the injury is a torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn medial collateral ligament, sidelining him for the rest of his senior season, the Tar Heels' top playmaker remained surprisingly upbeat Monday -- saying he will recover, he will play in the NFL, and he will be his football team's biggest cheerleader.

"This is just one little bump in the road,'' said Tate, one of the best receivers and return men in the country. "Am I going to overcome it, or am I going to let it get to me?"

It could be a roadblock for the Tar Heels, who lose the NCAA career leader in combined kickoff and punt returns (3,523 yards) and one of the leading contenders for ACC Player of the Year. Tate, who is from Burlington, was third in the nation in all-purpose yards entering the weekend and had scored five touchdowns for UNC. He returned kicks and punts, started at receiver, rushed and even completed his first career pass this season.

Carolina, ranked No. 18, had been in the beginning phases of a "Tate in '08" publicity blitz for All-America honors.

Now, coach Butch Davis said, it will take multiple players over multiple weeks to fill the player's void. But Tate, who will have surgery Wednesday and was using a crutch, said he has no doubt his team will succeed without him.

"We've got playmakers on the roster; you all will see Saturday at Virginia," he said, referring to the 5-1 Tar Heels' game against the Cavaliers (3-3).

Teammates say the 6-foot-1, 195-pound speedster has had a positive attitude since his injury.

"He's been the same old Brandon, smiling and saying, 'I'm going to be all right, we're going to be all right,' " said quarterback Cameron Sexton, who has started the past two games for another injured UNC playmaker, T.J. Yates.

Tate, though, admits that he was initially "heartbroken" that the injury was so significant, because until Sunday's 5 p.m. MRI exam, he had held out hope that it wasn't that bad.

He was returning a punt late in the first quarter against the Fighting Irish when "I made a quick move to the left, and I was going to the right, and at the last second I just saw a gold helmet coming, hitting my leg," he said. "... I kind of jumped back at the last second to help take some of the sting off of it, but he still got me pretty good.

"When I got up and ran off, I thought I got hit, and maybe there would be a bruise or something."

But it was a whole lot more.

In the training room, doctors told him they thought he might have sustained ligament damage, a frightening proposition for players who rely on healthy knees for quickness and cuts.

Tate prayed. His family prayed.

And after the initial devastation of Sunday night's news, he starting putting everything into perspective.

"My next personal goal is to get to the NFL; I've been striving for that since Day One," he said. "So I'm going to go into rehab and just work harder than I ever have before. Because I know this is it for me."

Tate said doctors haven't told him exactly how long his rehab will take.

"They said they'll just worry about the surgery right now, and they'll just handle all that whenever it comes up," he said.

But there is reason to believe he could still achieve his professional dream.

Davis told Tate that two of the best receivers he has ever coached -- Michael Irvin, at Miami and with the Dallas Cowboys, and Reggie Wayne, at Miami -- endured the same injury. They went on to star in the NFL.

"He will be back, and he will recover from this," Davis said.

And so will the Tar Heels, Tate said.

"Teammates have been upset about it, but I've been telling them, 'I'll be all right, don't worry about me. You guys have still got business to take care of,' " he said. "We've still got a long season ahead of us. Just look at it as a minor setback, and everybody just still focus in on the big goal."

 

Will injury derail UNC season?
Caulton Tudor, Staff Writer
Comment on this story

Injuries are football's cruel equalizer. Already this season, they've cut deeply into N.C. State's plans for a winning record and East Carolina's hopes for a big bowl run.
With Monday's news that Brandon Tate will be shelved for the season by a bum right knee, North Carolina (5-1) will be fortunate to avoid becoming the third regional casualty.

Until leaving Saturday's game against Notre Dame early, the versatile wide receiver probably had a comfortable midseason lead in the ACC player of the year jockeying.

On at least four fronts, Carolina fans shouldn't be deceived by the 29-24 win over the Irish.

For one thing, that game was played in Kenan Stadium. Even after Tate's injury, the rest of the team was able to feed on fan enthusiasm.

Of more importance is the fact that opponents, beginning with a game at Virginia (3-3) this week, will have time to adjust defensive strategies. Without Tate, fellow wideout Hakeem Nicks can expect to see a steady diet of double-teaming. Tate's replacement in the starting lineup, Brooks Foster, is capable of making big plays. But Nicks is in store for more coverage than a McCain-Obama debate.

Next, there's no way to accurately determine how much Tate's absence will hurt in offensive field position. He was averaging almost 30 yards on kickoff returns and close to 25 yards on punt returns. Those aren't just numbers, they're weapons -- the sort of weapons most teams can only dream about.

Finally, leadership. Having Tate around made it much easier for quarterback Cam Sexton to take over after previous starter T.J. Yates' injury against Virginia Tech on Sept. 20. Sexton has acknowledged as much all along. With a player of Tate's many abilities on the field, any quarterback would have a lighter burden. In Sexton's case, that was crucial.

There's still good news for Carolina. After Virginia, there will be only two more road games -- at Maryland on Nov. 15 and then at Duke on Nov. 29.

Carolina's toughest three remaining games -- Boston College (Oct. 25), Georgia Tech (Nov. 8) and State (Nov. 22) -- will be in Chapel Hill. And don't forget that Georgia Tech has been tagged as often by injuries to key players as any other team in the ACC except State.

The schedule was an asset from the start, and there's still a way to take advantage of it. But losing the most dynamic performer in the league will take a toll. Sexton will have to play even better -- if that's possible -- and the defense will face more pressure to hold foes out of the end zone.

But the impact of this injury hits on two fronts -- the team and the player. Tate, a senior from Burlington Cummings, had played himself into the first round of the NFL draft in April. Hopefully, that's still where he will wind up after the knee mends.