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UNC getting a lift from Draughn
AP File Photo
North Carilina’s Shaun Draughn (20) scores on a 39-yard run against Connecticut.
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Published: October 9, 2008
CHAPEL HILL - Shaun Draughn was reluctant to ask Coach Butch Davis for the favor of changing positions.
He found the courage to make the request, however, and his move from safety to tailback is becoming more important for North Carolina every week.
Draughn, a 6-0, 205-pound sophomore, has helped provide a running game for UNC, which is 4-1 heading into Saturday's home game against Notre Dame.
"Coach Davis said I was probably as happy as a kid at Christmastime, and I really feel like that," Draughn said. "Football is a passion that I love doing. I love playing."
Draughn has taken over as the No. 2 tailback after moving up four positions on the depth chart since the start of practice. Last week, he rushed for 109 yards -- the only 100-yard game by a UNC back this season -- and scored a touchdown in a 38-12 win over Connecticut.
He seems to improve every game, which has helped lessen the burden on struggling Greg Little.
"Confidence wasn't the (issue); it was a matter of when I was going to get into a game and get a chance to do what I can do," Draughn said.
"In training camp I was rusty and fumbled handoffs. I was trying to get back into a groove. This last game felt like high school again. I got loose and got the chance to get more carries, and I got comfortable."
Draughn asked for the change in early summer, with the backing of his parents, who are both ministers. He wasn't unhappy at safety but wanted to return to tailback, one of several positions he had played at Tarboro High School.
Draughn rushed for 1,452 yards and scored 21 touchdowns as a high-school senior, and one of those watching from the stands was Kelvin Bryant, one of the top tailbacks in UNC history and a Tarboro native.
"He was a big push for me to ask Coach Davis about playing running back," Draughn said. "He watched me when I was in high school. He said, ‘You remind me of me.'"
Davis didn't think about moving Draughn last season, because he had Anthony Elzy, Ryan Houston and Johnny White -- freshmen or redshirt freshmen -- at tailback. But things changed.
Elzy moved to fullback in the spring. White went to the secondary. Houston was told to lose weight. Little permanently moved to tailback after playing the last two games of 2007 there. Davis was willing to listen to Draughn's argument.
"I kind of knew that he was going to look at me different," Draughn said. "That was the thing that was really holding me back, whether he had the confidence in me to play running back. Just having confidence in my ability and knowing what to do, I wanted to ask him."
Draughn was partly correct about what Davis thought of the request. Davis liked Draughn's athletic ability at safety but wondered how difficult the transition would be with only a month of practice at before the season started.
Davis also knew that Draughn hadn't played running back since the 2005 high-school season because he was redshirted at UNC in 2006.
Now, with 206 yards rushing on 44 carries and an average of 4.7 yards, Draughn has exceeded Davis' expectations.
"I'd be probably remiss if I did say, ‘Sure, absolutely,' because you didn't know," Davis said. "He showed flashes in training camp during scrimmages. But as is the case with everybody, until you do it in front of 65,000 people under the lights on national television, you never know if you're going to get what you think you might get.
"There's an awful lot of people that are really, really good practice players, and it never really transfers to the (playing) field. But Shaun has probably played better in games than even in practices."
Draughn carried 19 times against UConn. On one play, he took a handoff up the middle, found a hole and went untouched for a 39-yard touchdown that gave UNC a 24-6 lead.
Draughn was doing his part to hold up an agreement that he had made with some of his teammates.
"I joke with the offensive linemen all the time," he said.
"I told them, ‘If you make me look good, I'll make you look good.'"
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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