Just the fax: Tate leaves UNC wondering

CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina coach Butch Davis didn't have many tense moments agonizing beside the fax machine during Wednesday's Signing Day.

Except for waiting for the paperwork from incoming quarterback/baseball player Donavan Tate.

Tate had told UNC's coaches he would send his signed letter of intent by 7:30 a.m.

"At 7:30, no fax; 8 o'clock, no fax; 8:45, no fax; 9 o'clock, no fax; 9:45, no fax,'' Davis said. "...We're burning up the cell phone lines, calling his mom, calling his high school coach, his baseball coach, football coach, everybody. We've got bloodhounds and the FBI and the CIA, and finally he calls back and says, 'I'm in class, what's up? I'm between classes; what's the matter?" [We asked] 'Where's the fax?'"

It ends up that Tate had signed his paperwork at 7:30 a.m. and given it to his mother — who couldn't find a place to fax it.

"She was driving around, going to work, and we were like, 'Did he get kidnapped? Did he get highjacked? Do we need to get a ransom out? ... Did George Steinbrenner find him?"

Speaking of Steinbrenner, the former owner of the Yankees, Davis said he does expect the outfielder to play football and baseball at UNC, rather than head straight to the MLB.

"I think he's going to play at Carolina,'' Davis said. "I think he loves the idea of coming in and being a multi-sport athlete; he cherishes the idea of going to college.

"Can money change an 18-year-old kid's mind? Absolutely it can. But I know that talking to his mom, that she and Donavan both love the fact that this University provided them with just about everything that they dreamed about: a great football opportunity, a great baseball opportunity, a great education, close to home. It was just about a home run with everything that we were able to present to him ... as to why Carolina, as opposed to the other opportunity."

- Robbi Pickeral