Titans' Thornton joins UNC's football staff

Former All-ACC selection David Thornton, who recently retired from the NFL's Tennessee Titans, has officially returned to the UNC football team as a member of the player development staff.

According to a team spokesman, that means he can splice and analyze UNC or opponent video, attend meetings and work with athletes in football-specific strength and conditioning drills -- but he cannot coach or provide instruction to the athletes.

"Here's a guy that's been around this program," UNC interim head coach Everett Withers said today. "He played here, came here as a walk-on, earned a scholarship, struggled academically early, got his academic situation in hand, was drafted and played in the NFL. So he's done what all of these guys are trying to do.

"We're going to use him in ways with player development with being a mentor to some of these guys that have that same path working for them. We'll use David in a lot of different ways."

-- Robbi Pickeral