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WRALSportsFan

Butch Davis Happy After Busy Signing Day

By Samantha Newman

Feb 6, 2008

Butch Davis made sure there were extra fax machines in Kenan Football Center today—just in case there were any technical difficulties.

He talked on the phone until midnight, woke up at 5 a.m. this morning and drove to work where he paced the hallways.

And at 6 a.m., the wait began.

The early morning kicked off National Signing Day. North Carolina football staff members stayed on the lookout for letters of intent from players around the country to officially become Tar Heels.

The letters started coming after 7 a.m., and when the fax machine delivered the paper showing linebacker Zach Brown’s signature just before 3 p.m., UNC had signed 17 new players to the squad, reaching its NCAA limit of 85 team scholarships.

“Around the country everybody sits on pins and needles for the last 24, 48 hours,” Davis said. “I don’t know which is more stressful, being a division I football coach on the eve of signing day or being a commodities broker worrying about the pork bellies in the Asian market. I don’t know which one’s got a better chance of going crazy. But anyhow, it was a good day for us.”

Davis’ 2008 class boasts seven four-star players, and they all have one characteristic in common—speed.

This year’s collection of signees is skewed toward the defensive side of the field, with 11 new players on defense, including three defensive ends and four linebackers, compared to six on offense.

Last year, North Carolina struggled to rest some players like Bruce Carter, who became a starter and sometimes stayed in the game for extra snaps on special teams.

To solve the problem, Davis said there was an emphasis in building the ‘08 recruiting class around the ’07 Tar Heels to create a balance between the two groups. The coaching staff wanted to increase the number of players who would be able to help the special teams unit, specifically linebackers.

“A year ago it was kind of take an already dealt hand to you and how do you improve on that,” Davis said “Having a year with our football team, we had a greater understanding of our needs.”

He added that the linebackers North Carolina recruited are all tall, big athletic playmakers, ranging in height from Brown at 6-foot-2 to Kenneth Harris at 6-foot-4.

Brown also is ranked the No. 12 prep player in the country by Rivals.com.

With the graduation of Hilee Taylor and Kentwan Balmer from the defensive line, the Tar Heels also loaded up at the defensive end position, adding Quinton Coples, Michael McAdoo and Dion Guy. Coples hails from Kinston, N.C., but played at the Hargrave Military Academy and is rated the No. 6 defensive end in the nation by Rivals.com.

UNC will get a boost at runningback with the signing of Jamal Womble of Arizona. Womble, No. 14 at the position, started looking at schools on the East coast when his parents decided to move from Arizona as soon as his father returns from Iraq.

After coming into the recruiting game late last season, Davis credited his ’07 players with explaining what makes playing at North Carolina worthwhile and generating interest among possible Tar Heels.

“Last year recruits basically had to sign and come on faith,” he said. “This year, with a year with them, they did an awesome job about talking about the environment in the building and the chemistry within the coaching staff, the direction of the program and the vision.”

Davis said the most important part of the recruiting process is building relationships with people in the surrounding geographic area, and he’s still playing catchup. But he’s working hard to close that gap. Today may have been the 2008 National Signing Day, but the Tar Heels are already well underway looking into the class of 2009.