Sports
Email
Print
Davis: QB job up for grabs
Yates to vie with Sexton for chance to start for Heels against Wolfpack
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: November 18, 2008
CHAPEL HILL
Coach Butch Davis has reversed his thinking on North Carolina's quarterbacks and will open competition at the position before Saturday's game against N.C. State.
Davis now wants to watch a week of practice by Cameron Sexton and T.J. Yates before choosing a starter for the noon game at Kenan Stadium in UNC's home finale. Sexton is the current starter but Yates, the starter for the first three games, has returned from a broken left ankle suffered on Sept. 20.
"We're going to take a look at and see who gives us the best chance this week," Davis said. "We're going to take this week and watch them both practice and put them in situations and see how the week unfolds before we decide who might be the quarterback."
Less than 24 hours earlier Davis said that no change would be made at the position and that Sexton would remain the starter for the seventh consecutive game. Neither quarterback will be available to media members until after Saturday's game.
Davis changed his mind after watching Yates' maneuverability in Sunday's light practice and after conferring with his coaching staff twice, first Sunday night and again yesterday morning. He was to have informed Sexton and Yates of the change yesterday afternoon in a meeting that also was to have included John Shoop, the offensive coordinator.
"We're going to sit down and talk to them and say, ‘Both of you need to be prepared and we'll try to make a decision at some point later in the week,'" Davis said.
Sexton has led UNC to a 5-2 record since Yates' injury by passing for 1,230 yards and nine touchdowns and completing 55.6 percent of his passes. He is coming off a poor performance in a 17-15 loss at Maryland last Saturday in which he completed 10 of 24 passes.
Sexton said that the performance was the worst of his season. Davis said his decision to open the competition is not a slap at Sexton or his ability to lead the offense the rest of the season, including the regular-season finale at Duke on Nov. 29.
Davis said that Sexton could be named the starter by week's end, when the decision is made, and retain the job that he has held since Oct. 4.
"It's no disrespect to Cam," Davis said. "Cam's done an outstanding job for the most part. He's come in and won games. He's performed well. He's made some good decisions."
Yates has made enough progress since returning to practice in UNC's off week starting Oct. 27 to make Davis and Shoop at least curious about his ability to return full time. He has played one series since being cleared by team trainers to return, UNC's last series in a win against Georgia Tech, but has had two full weeks of practice.
Davis said that one of the most critical factors that he and Shoop had to consider was at which point Yates would be ready to compete for his old job. He had 623 yards passing and six touchdowns before being hurt six minutes into the third quarter of the third game.
Yates passed for a school record 2,655 yards and 14 touchdowns as last season's starter.
Davis said that Yates does have a certain amount of rust to shake off after six weeks of near inactivity while recovering. Sexton took 70 percent of last week's practice plays with the first offense and Yates had the other 30 percent.
"He practiced last night and moved around and we got a chance to kind of see him and see what our options are as we move forward," Davis said.
Cooter Arnold, a receiver, said that the receivers will not be affected if UNC makes a change and Yates replaces Sexton. The receivers had little trouble adjusting after Sexton took over for Mike Paulus on UNC's third offensive series at Miami.
Bobby Rome, UNC's fullback, was not surprised that Yates has forced the coaching staff to re-evaluate its quarterback plans.
"Both of those guys are great quarterbacks," Rome said. "When you've got a talented guy like T.J., you can't hide that talent sitting on the sideline. It's the same thing with Cam. One thing my parents always told me growing up was you can't hide talent regardless of where it's at."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
Email
Print
