UNC's Foster ready to step it up

CHAPEL HILL — Brooks Foster knows that many consider him North Carolina's third receiver, behind play-maker Hakeem Nicks and speedster Brandon Tate.
But after a summer of building his leg strength to try to ward off injury, he's determined to surprise some people.

"I definitely have a lot of personal goals ... I really want 1,000 yards,'' said Foster, who wants to play in the NFL after this season. "It's going to be hard to distribute the ball. ... But this is my last year, so I've got to step it up, do what I can to get the ball."

Last season, a lingering quad injury helped limit his receptions, although he finished with 29 catches for 417 yards and two touchdowns. After missing the Miami game with the injury, he returned to the field, telling the coaches he was 100 percent. But he wasn't really, and he said it showed particularly when he tried to run routes over the middle.

"I lost my confidence, wasn't getting open as much,'' he said. "It kind of made me look bad, kinda-sorta."

He was close to 100 percent the last two games of the season, he said, and spent the off-season in the weight room.

If opponents really do consider him the "third receiver," he wants to be healthy and strong enough to take advantage of the double-teams they might throw at Nicks (who has said he wants to get 1,200 yards) and Tate (who is 539 yards shy of the NCAA record for kickoff return yards).

"I feel like if I'm strong, you don't fatigue as fast, your legs don't break down on you,'' he said.

BRIEFLY: Freshman linebacker Kevin Reddick reported to camp and practiced for the first time Monday. He still hasn’t been cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse, a team spokesman said, but the Clearinghouse allows players a 14-day window to practice as both sides try to clear up academic issues.

-- Robbi Pickeral (Raleight) News & Observer

Wolfpack kicker confident, coach optimistic

Josh Czajkowski doesn’t seem worried about making his first start as N.C. State’s kicker.

Czajkowski, a sophomore, has yet to kick in a game and will make his debut Aug. 28 at South Carolina.

“I’m really confident,” Czajkowski said. “Our specialists are looking really good, consistently. We’ve been working together for a long time.”

Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien also sounds optimistic about the kicking game. Czajkowski didn’t miss a field goal from inside 40 yards during the spring. Punter Bradley Pierson returns after averaging 37.2 yards per kick last season.

Both have looked good in the first few practices, though they will be tested more this week as N.C. State begins working out in full pads.

“We kicked field goals (Sunday), and Josh kicked the ball fine,” O’Brien said. “Solid, high, long, true. So that’s positive. And Pierson’s punted the ball well most of the time. So I think they’re on track.”

- O’Brien also has been impressed with the early work of his five quarterbacks.

Daniel Evans, Russell Wilson, Harrison Beck, Justin Burke and Mike Glennon are competing for the starting job. O’Brien said all five seem to understand what’s expected of them.

“We’re much more advanced at that position than we were (a year ago) from a knowledge standpoint, getting out of the huddle, getting everybody headed the right direction, getting the ball where it’s supposed to go,” O’Brien said. “Now it’s a matter of decision making and execution.”


- Senior Antoine Holmes, who moved from defensive end to defensive tackle last season, still is getting used to playing at a heavier weight.

He said he played at 275 pounds last season but is up to 285.

“At first it was a load to pull, but I’m feeling better right now,” Holmes said.

The biggest tactical adjustment at tackle is getting accustomed to the idea that extra blockers can come from different directions. At end, double teams usually came from only one side.“You’ve got to keep your head on a swivel (at tackle),” Holmes said.


- Ken Tysiac

QB Yates more familiar with offense ...

Here's a scene you would have never witnessed during the second day of North Carolina's training camp last season: a play being signaled in from the sideline, and quarterback T.J. Yates interpreting it, communicating it, and running it.
"We've come so far from last year,'' Yates said Saturday. "We're trying to do new things, tweak the offense a little bit, trying to get the best play out there on the field. And sometimes that might mean calling the play from the sideline, checking off."
Last year, with a new head coach (Butch Davis) and offensive coordinator (John Shoop), UNC was most concerned with installing an offense and finding its starting quarterback. Now that it has done both, the next step is to fine-tune it.
And it helps that Yates, who had surgery on his right (throwing shoulder) in December, said "I feel good" after his first two practices.
"I was actually a little bit (more sore) yesterday than today,'' the sophomore from Georgia said Saturday.
Yates, last year's runner up for ACC Rookie of the Year, has yet to get hit, or even throw in shoulder pads. But just getting back into a familiar stance behind center during his first practice in roughly eight months was a relief.
"It was good to get back out there, go through the team aspect of it,'' he said. "You can only do so many drills, so many simulations. But when you actually get out there with the offensive and defensive lines, it's different -- and definitely something I have to get used to again, since I haven't done it since the last game of (last) season. It's going to take a little more time than I thought to get used to."
Unlike this time last August, though, he's done it before.

ROBBI PICKERAL

UNC looking for special players on special teams

While there will be plenty of folks watching the kicking contest to replace Connor Barth during UNC's training camp, two other key position battles resumed on special teams during the Tar Heels' second day of practice on Saturday: at deep snapper and holder.
With Michael Murphy (last year's deep snapper on extra points and field goals) and Ryan Baucom (holder, and deep snapper on punts) both gone, Tar Heel coaches must find new players to fill the underappreciated positions.
"I think a lot of people think they can kick and hold and snap, do the things that we do -- and they probably could, but it's a tough job, and there's a lot of pressure,'' said punter Terrence Brown. "And it's definitely something you have to work at -- and put time in ... especially to perfect the snap."
Brown worked all summer on long snaps with Trevor Stuart, a sophomore from Sugar Land, Texas. Nolan Fry, a freshman walk-on from Raleigh, joined in during second summer session. And Mark House, a walk-on from Wilmington, was working out with the special teams snappers on Saturday.
Brown and Trase Jones, a walk-on kicker/punter, were holding for field goals and extra points during the early part of Saturday's practice.
As for the place-kicking battle, Brown said he has been impressed by all of those competing, including redshirt freshman Jay Wooten (who he lived with over the summer) and walk-on Casey Barth, Connor's younger brother (who he is rooming with during training camp).
"Everyone has the physical ability to kick, it's whether or not that have that mental toughness to be able to kick in front of 65, 75 thousand people,'' Brown said. "...It's the mental aspect that's going to be big, and we're going to find out in camp who can do it."

ROBBI PICKERAL

Mountaineers loaded again, reflect on ESPY experience

Three-time defending champion Appalachian State had its football media day Saturday, and it quickly became apparent that despite the loss of a number of key seniors including wide receiver Dexter Jackson and defensive back Corey Lynch, the Mountaineers will be loaded again.
This was a relaxed day, though, and longtime coach Jerry Moore got to talking about the Appalachian State party’s recent trip to the ESPY Awards, where the Mountaineers were up for biggest upset of the year.
“First of all, I saw more little black dresses than I’ve ever seen in my life,” Moore said as laughter rippled through the room. “For a guy from a little town in east Texas, it was earth-shattering.”
Moore said he had a feeling the New York Giants would win the award for their Super Bowl upset when he saw “about 16 Giants in the audience.” And New York did win. “New York out-voted Boone.”
The TV suits had told the Mountaineers that dress for the event would be “California chic.”
“I took two suits, a tux…and went to buy another coat when I got there,” Moore said. “California chic; I didn’t know what that meant exactly. What it really amounts to is, you don’t button your shirt.”
Then Moore got serious.
“It was a great experience, it was a first-class presentation and a lot of fun,” he said. “I wish our whole football team—120 guys—could have walked down that red carpet with us.”

STAN OLSON

Long throws, weight loss and Dopplegangers: DAY 1 at UNC

North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates said he knew his shoulder was recovering well from offseason surgery this summer when he overthrew wide receiver Hakeem Nicks — 65 yards down the field. Yates didn't attempt to throw one that far during the hour that reporters were allowed to watch UNC's first practice on Friday. But he did compete at least one 45-yarder, to freshman wideout Todd Harrelson.
No wonder coach Butch Davis said Yates is the definitive No. 1 QB.

Other notes from practice:

* It would have been hard to recognize sophomore tailback Ryan Houston if it weren't for his jersey number and dreadlocks. Running backs coach Kenny Browning said Houston, currently penciled in as the No. 2 tailback on the depth chart, has lost between 25-30 pounds since the beginning of last season.
"I've just got a feeling he's going to be a significantly better player, not just because of the weight, but because the work ethic is one of the things I wanted him to get better at,'' Browning said. "I'm really excited about seeing him at 240 as opposed to 268 ... He'll be able to play lower because of it. And if he plays with great pad level, he is a hard man to tackle. He is a powerful human being."

* You couldn't help but do a double-take when walk-on kicker Casey Barth took the field. His hair is a bit redder, and he's wearing jersey number 11 instead of 10, but he is the spittin' image of older brother Connor, who set the school record last season for career field goals made — and is now trying to make an NFL roster. Casey is competing with redshirt freshman Jay Wooten for the kicking job.

* Offensive guard Kevin Bryant, who broke his wrist in the spring, and linebacker Linwan Euwell, who suffered a left knee injury last season, are further ahead in their recoveries than expected, Davis said.
"We're going to keep them on the watch list,'' he added. "They're going to practice, they're going to go out and we may limit some of the reps and some of the drills that they're going to do, because we're going to ... build their confidence up to where they're full go, and we'll turn them loose."

ROBBI PICKERAL

UNC's Little now a one-sport guy

UNC sophomore Greg Little hopes to apply a lot of what he learned while playing for the basketball Tar Heels to the football field this year.
And when he returns to the Smith Center next season, it will be as a spectator, not a player.
"(Football coach Butch Davis) looks at me as a pretty smart guy, and me being his featured back, I don't think he wants me on the court,'' Little, UNC's starting tailback, said Friday. "That's what I understand, and that's what I understood going into it last year — if I couldn't get the majority of the the (playing) time or be a heavy contributor, this is where I was going to be."
Little played in 10 games with the basketball team, scoring five points. And he appreciated the experience.
"I learned a lot from those guys, how they go about winning and their tradition,'' he said. "And hopefully, I can bring that back over here."
Specifically?
"There's never a doubt going into the game whether you can win or not, and that's that chip you have to have on your shoulder — that fine line between cocky and confident, that you know you're going on that field (or court) every time to win,'' Little said.
UNC's football team hasn't finished a season above .500 since 2001. By staying with one sport, Little hopes to change that.

ROBBI PICKERAL

UNC missing 2 players for first practice

North Carolina was missing two players at it prepared for its first training camp practice on Friday: freshman linebacker Kevin Reddick, and defensive end Joseph Townsend, a junior college transfer.
Reddick, from New Bern, attended summer school classes but was not allowed to report because of an NCAA Clearinghouse issue, UNC coach Butch Davis said.
"Hopefully it will resolve itself in the very near future,'' he added.
Townsend, who played at Los Altos Hills (Calif.) Community College, has to take care of some academic work before he can enroll in the fall, a team spokesman said.

ROBBI PICKERAL

N.C. State's logjam at quarterback not 'ideal'

N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien has never been in this situation before.

A college football team typically enters a preseason with two or three players, at most, competing for a starting quarterback position.

N.C. State has five.

That would seem to be a good situation, until you try to figure out how to divide the repetitions during practice.

After Thursday’s opening practice, it appeared that O’Brien will try to give all five – Daniel Evans, Russell Wilson, Harrison Beck, Justin Burke and Mike Glennon – a legitimate look during workouts.

“It’s not an ideal situation,” O’Brien said, “but it’s where we are. It’s more important to make the right decision than just make a decision.”

With such a logjam at the game’s most important position, O’Brien was peppered with questions about the quarterbacks by the media:

Q: How important is it for one of those guys to step forward?
A: “It would be really important. I think the quarterback is the leader of your offense. He’s the only guy other than your center who touches the ball every play. He needs to make decisions and do things with it. So the faster we can get to that point, the better off we’ll be. But I don’t know when that’s going to be.

Q: Is there a time, maybe 10 days before the game or eight days before the game, that you want a starter?
A: “No. We scrimmage about 10 days before the first game. So after that’s done, we’ll take some time and take a couple days. Whenever we’ve had this situation generally it’s been two guys, not five guys. We’ll figure it out and spend a couple days and mull it over.”

Q: Is there anything more grating than answering quarterback questions for an entire fall camp? A: “No. But I’m not going to answer them every day.”

With five quarterbacks in camp, the separation might come so gradually that there won’t be news to report every day. But with so much attention on this unusual race, O’Brien might have to sneak away from reporters at the end of practice to avoid the questions.

– Ken Tysiac

Top 25 rankings show strength of SEC

We didn’t exactly need evidence that the SEC rules college football.

The past two national champions (Florida and LSU) have come from the SEC. LSU and Georgia both won blowouts in BCS bowl games last season.

USA Today’s Top 25 rankings, released Friday morning, demonstrated that the coaches voting in the poll expect the SEC’s domination to continue.

Georgia is the preseason No. 1. Florida (No. 5) and LSU (No. 6) are in the top 10. The Big 12 also has three top-10 teams, but the SEC has Auburn checking in at No. 11.

The ACC, Big East, Big Ten and Pac-10 each have one representative in the top 10.

It’s unusual for the coaches to agree with the media on anything, but both groups chose the same ACC favorite. Clemson, picked as champion in the ACC preseason media poll last month, is the coaches’ top ACC team at No. 9.

Coastal Division favorite Virginia Tech is at No. 15, and Wake Forest (No. 23) is ranked in a preseason poll for the first time.

The poll wasn’t terrible news for the ACC as a whole, but it didn’t place the ACC among the top conferences. The SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 all have five teams in the top 25. The ACC and Pac-10 have three apiece, and the Big East has two.

- Ken Tysiac

You can see the full rankings here: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm