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Tate's North Carolina career is over
Electrifying receiver, kick returner has torn knee ligaments; Davis is mum on replacement
AP File Photo
Brandon Tate (87), before his season-ending injury, led North Carolina with 982 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns.
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Published: October 14, 2008
CHAPEL HILL
North Carolina will have to finish its football season without the services of Brandon Tate, its top offensive playmaker, after serious damage was found in his injured right knee.
An MRI exam at UNC Hospitals Sunday revealed a torn anterior-cruciate ligament and a torn medial-collateral ligament. The test confirmed the initial diagnosis made Saturday by the UNC Sports Medicine program after Tate was injured in a game against Notre Dame, according to school athletics officials.
UNC officials initially said Saturday after Tate was examined that he had suffered a sprain.
Tate will undergo surgery later this week and will miss the rest of the season. He is a senior and his UNC career is over. Coach Butch Davis said Tate's loss is a big blow to UNC, which is 5-1 going into Saturday's game at Virginia.
"It's tough for our football team and it's certainly tough on him," Davis said.
"I told the players (Sunday) after we finished watching the special-teams film that there's going to be some guys that we're going to ask more out of you. We're going to need you to step up and give us plays or minutes or time or roles."
Davis said that Tate is in good spirits after experiencing some anxiety Saturday after being hurt with 5:40 left in the first quarter of a 29-24 win. Davis said that Tate managed to laugh Sunday when watching the special-teams video from the game.
Hakeem Nicks, a receiver, said that Tate will be missed on offense but that the other players on the unit will have to make up for his absence with more production.
"I just told him to keep his head up," Nicks said. "He's in high spirits. He just wants to be around the team right now. He wants to be around his (UNC) family, his brothers. We'll take good care of him."
Tate is a receiver and a kickoff-return and punt-return specialist. His five touchdowns lead the team. He has amassed 982 all-purpose yards in receiving, rushing, punt returns and kickoff returns. He was leading the ACC in all-purpose yardage before the injury, with an average of 163.7 yards a game.
His absence will be felt immediately on both return teams. Tate set the NCAA career record for combined punt -return yardage and kickoff-return yardage earlier this season. He needed 305 yards on kickoff returns to break another NCAA record.
Johnny White, a sophomore cornerback, replaced Tate on the kickoff team after the injury. Nicks also returns kickoffs. Notre Dame did not punt after the play on which Tate was injured and Davis did not have to immediately choose a new punt returner.
Tate has handled punt returns almost exclusively since 2005 in his freshman season. Davis said that UNC will spend the rest of the week determining which player will take over on punt returns and if White will still team with Nicks on kickoff returns.
"Anybody that's a significant playmaker for your football team, you've got to find somebody that can step up," Davis said. "We've got some options. There's some guys who we're going to take a look at and talk to and see what kind of roles that they can do.
"There won't be one guy this week. Or maybe one guy three weeks from now or two guys two weeks from now. It may take a committee of two, three, four or five guys who'll know that they'll come in and do some things for us."
Davis declined to identify which players might be asked to fill the return roles.
"We've got some ideas but rather than fax them to you (reporters) or to (Virginia coach) Al Groh we thought we might sit on them," Davis said with a laugh.
Tate's role as a receiver should be slightly easier to fill.
Brooks Foster, a senior, is the No. 3 receiver. He had three catches for 28 yards against Notre Dame after a slow start and has 13 for the season with two touchdowns.
Cooter Arnold, a senior from Mocksville, came off the bench against Notre Dame to catch two passes for three yards. Kenton Thornton is a veteran but has made marginal contributions in his career.
Davis said that some thought will be given to moving Greg Little back to receiver. He has struggled at tailback all season, while Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston have improved. Davis said that playing Dwight Jones, a freshman from Burlington, for the first time all season is a possibility.
Little caught 13 passes for 99 yards and a touchdown in the 2007 season as a freshman. He has one catch for four yards this season in concentrating on running the ball.
"It's something that we will consider and think about," Davis said of moving Little again. "Right now we've got a lot of options of guys that we're going to take a look at. We haven't decided exactly what direction we're going to go in."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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