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Welcome Break: Davis gives Tar Heels a day at the lanes
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Published: August 14, 2008
CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina's football team took the morning off yesterday, but the Tar Heels were still left grunting and sweating.
Coach Butch Davis took his team bowling.
Davis said he is so pleased with the progress that the Tar Heels have made in 14 practice sessions over 11 days that they had earned a break.
The time off was welcomed by Chase Rice, a senior linebacker.
"Especially right now it's a big deal because we've been grinding for a couple of weeks," Rice said. "Just getting a chance to go with the guys and do something other than football was a lot of fun, especially the competition between the offense and the defense.
"That was a great time. We were all just cheering each other on and trying to distract the other guys. I think there were almost a couple of fights at the end, but it was fun."
Davis did something similar last year, taking his team swimming after about 10 practices.
He still surprised the players, said Trimane Goddard, a senior safety.
"We had a team meeting at 8 o'clock, but no one knew what it was about," Goddard said. "We were kind of nervous. He talked for a while and then he told us, ‘We're going bowling and we're going to have a playoff format.'"
Davis said that none of UNC's players is a threat to quit football and take up bowling professionally, but Cooter Arnold of Mocksville and Brooks Foster, both receivers, and Rice had good scores to help their teams. The defense defeated the offense 93-88.
"So that tells you how good the bowling was," Davis said with a smile.
The worst bowler was the player considered the best all-around athlete in the program. Greg Little, a sophomore tailback, rolled a 24, according to Davis.
"That's bad; that's really bad," Rice said, breaking into a big smile. "I'm sure he had a lot of gutter balls. I guess he's just that bad of a bowler. Thank god I didn't get a chance to see it because that would have been rough to watch."
Davis did not bowl. He said that he took the role of designated cheerleader. Everett Withers, UNC's first-year defensive coordinator, was the only member of the coaching staff to bowl and showed a nice touch, according to Davis.
The Tar Heels went back to the practice field last night. Davis still has numerous concerns that UNC must work on before its Aug. 30 opener against McNeese State at home.
Davis is confident that the offense and defense are more efficient than at the same point last year. Cam Sexton and Mike Paulus are locked in a tight battle for the backup quarterback position, and Davis believes their play is producing better execution out of T.J. Yates, the starter.
UNC has made some strides in finding a successor to place-kicker Connor Barth, but Davis would have liked more improvement by this point. Davis said that at least one-third of the next three practices would be devoted to special-teams play.
Among Davis' chief concerns is what he calls the "small nuances" of special-teams play. Detailed work will include onside kicks, defending "Hail Marys" and ending a game by running out the clock.
"There's some little-bitty things that we've got to cover," Davis said. "You can't just tokenly pay attention to it one time and say, ‘I'm sure we've got that and if it happens in the first ballgame we'll be able to handle it.'
"The team's moving along, but we're still a long ways away from where we need to be on opening day."
Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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