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By Turner Walston
Sixteen Tar Heel football student-athletes will participate in Senior Day festivities prior to Friday's game against NC State. They are four members of the signing class of 2012, Larry Fedora's first recruiting class at Carolina. They are seven members of the class of 2013, the first that Fedora had a full year to recruit. They are five walk-ons who became outstanding contributors.
It's not hyperbole to say that this class is transcendent. They have shepherded the Carolina program into the 20-tens, to the point that the Tar Heels are now an AP Top 25 mainstay. Last November, Carolina was ranked in the top ten for the first time in 18 years. The Tar Heels won their first-ever Coastal Division Championship and played in their first-ever ACC Championship Game. Last year the Tar Heels won 11 games for the first time since 1997, and this year they still have the opportunity to post back-to-back double-digit win totals for the first time since Mack Brown's final year in Chapel Hill.
John Ferranto, Jon Heck, Caleb Peterson and Dan Mastromatteo were part of that first Fedora class in 2012. After redshirting that season, they became building blocks for a program, three of them on the offensive line and one a special teams standout. That year, Mack Hollins, Joey Mangili and Nick Weiler walked on but didn't play.
Khris Francis, Des Lawrence, Ryan Switzer, T.J. Logan, Mikey Bart, Lucas Crowley and Bug Howard saw that 2012 season, the one in which the Tar Heels weren't eligible for the postseason but earned eight wins and a tie atop the Coastal Division. They saw that and two months later faxed their letters to the Kenan Football Center, committing to Carolina, to football, to the Chapel Hill community. Dominquie Green joined the team in January and would earn a scholarship prior to the season. Kemmi Pettway, who'd been on scout team in 2012 –he played the part of Jadeveon Clowney before the opener against South Carolina– would officially walk on the following fall.
Four and five years ago, this class of Tar Heels believed. They saw the light poking through the cloud of scandal, could see that the fog would lift. They believed that they could be difference-makers in Chapel Hill. They believed that North Carolina football could do more, be more than a six or seven-win team year in and year out. Their coaching staff believed in them. Their classmates and campus officials believed in them. The fans and alumni believed. They believed in themselves, and they have rewarded that belief.
"This senior class, they've done some special things," Fedora said Monday. "When we were recruiting them, there was a lot of negativity surrounding this program in every aspect, and so these guys were the ones when we went into their homes and their schools, they believed and they bought in and they wanted to change things here, and they did and they have. And so, they're pretty special."
This season, they have scored 27 touchdowns and 250 total points. They have 616 rushing yards and 2,156 receiving yards. They have 133 tackles, five sacks, 13 pass break-ups and an interception. But they have done so much more.
They are the survivors, the ones who will leave Carolina better than they found it. On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, they will line it up for a final time in Kenan Stadium, taking on rival NC State. For a day, at least, they'll have a sliver of a chance to sneak into the ACC Championship Game. There's opportunity there, certainly.
But there's another opportunity Friday, one perhaps more important than that championship chance. There's an opportunity for you, the reader, for us. For us, the fans, the alumni, the ones who have so enjoyed watching these young men represent our university for these past four years. When they are introduced, when they stand with their families and hold their framed jerseys high, there is an opportunity for us to say thank you. There is an opportunity for us to lift them up.
And they deserve it, for they have lifted us all.
By Turner Walston
Sixteen Tar Heel football student-athletes will participate in Senior Day festivities prior to Friday's game against NC State. They are four members of the signing class of 2012, Larry Fedora's first recruiting class at Carolina. They are seven members of the class of 2013, the first that Fedora had a full year to recruit. They are five walk-ons who became outstanding contributors.
It's not hyperbole to say that this class is transcendent. They have shepherded the Carolina program into the 20-tens, to the point that the Tar Heels are now an AP Top 25 mainstay. Last November, Carolina was ranked in the top ten for the first time in 18 years. The Tar Heels won their first-ever Coastal Division Championship and played in their first-ever ACC Championship Game. Last year the Tar Heels won 11 games for the first time since 1997, and this year they still have the opportunity to post back-to-back double-digit win totals for the first time since Mack Brown's final year in Chapel Hill.
John Ferranto, Jon Heck, Caleb Peterson and Dan Mastromatteo were part of that first Fedora class in 2012. After redshirting that season, they became building blocks for a program, three of them on the offensive line and one a special teams standout. That year, Mack Hollins, Joey Mangili and Nick Weiler walked on but didn't play.
Khris Francis, Des Lawrence, Ryan Switzer, T.J. Logan, Mikey Bart, Lucas Crowley and Bug Howard saw that 2012 season, the one in which the Tar Heels weren't eligible for the postseason but earned eight wins and a tie atop the Coastal Division. They saw that and two months later faxed their letters to the Kenan Football Center, committing to Carolina, to football, to the Chapel Hill community. Dominquie Green joined the team in January and would earn a scholarship prior to the season. Kemmi Pettway, who'd been on scout team in 2012 –he played the part of Jadeveon Clowney before the opener against South Carolina– would officially walk on the following fall.
Four and five years ago, this class of Tar Heels believed. They saw the light poking through the cloud of scandal, could see that the fog would lift. They believed that they could be difference-makers in Chapel Hill. They believed that North Carolina football could do more, be more than a six or seven-win team year in and year out. Their coaching staff believed in them. Their classmates and campus officials believed in them. The fans and alumni believed. They believed in themselves, and they have rewarded that belief.
"This senior class, they've done some special things," Fedora said Monday. "When we were recruiting them, there was a lot of negativity surrounding this program in every aspect, and so these guys were the ones when we went into their homes and their schools, they believed and they bought in and they wanted to change things here, and they did and they have. And so, they're pretty special."
This season, they have scored 27 touchdowns and 250 total points. They have 616 rushing yards and 2,156 receiving yards. They have 133 tackles, five sacks, 13 pass break-ups and an interception. But they have done so much more.
They are the survivors, the ones who will leave Carolina better than they found it. On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, they will line it up for a final time in Kenan Stadium, taking on rival NC State. For a day, at least, they'll have a sliver of a chance to sneak into the ACC Championship Game. There's opportunity there, certainly.
But there's another opportunity Friday, one perhaps more important than that championship chance. There's an opportunity for you, the reader, for us. For us, the fans, the alumni, the ones who have so enjoyed watching these young men represent our university for these past four years. When they are introduced, when they stand with their families and hold their framed jerseys high, there is an opportunity for us to say thank you. There is an opportunity for us to lift them up.
And they deserve it, for they have lifted us all.
