Skinny - North Carolina fans were excited when Butch Davis was named coach a couple seasons ago. North Carolina was a perennial bottom feeder in the conference standings and remained there with 4 wins in Davis' first season trying to turn the program around. After a year in his system, North Carolina turned heads last season in the second week shutting down an upbeat Rutgers program and a quarterback in Mike Teel, that was supposed to have a strong year. The team won 7 of the first 10, with all three losses being by three or less points. They got blown out by NC State, before beating Duke and losing a hard fought game to West Virginia in the bowl by 1 point. North Carolina played a lot of close games last season and with a lot of talent coming back, the team could potentially improve on last season's performance. The schedule gets tougher though as they have to travel to NC State, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech and Florida State rotates onto the schedule. North Carolina is probably a year or two from reallly competing with the conference big boys, but they definitely should show an impact on the conference standings and return to a bowl game this season.
Strength - Linebacker
Quan Sturdivant is the team's best player after racking up 122 tackles last season including an incredible 87 solo. Bruce Carter provides a good complement to Sturdivant, garnering 5 sacks in addition to his 68 tackles. The third position will be filled by new starter Zach Brown, a young player showing the transition to Davis' players. The defensive line returns intact from last season. Led by Marvin Austin, the defensive line should give the linebackers ample opportunity to eat up opposing running backs and hassle the quarterback. Sturdivant is a first team All-ACC member and Carter will have a chance of postseason recognition.
Weakness - Wide Receiver
The group is very inexperienced, with hybrid Greg Little being the only experienced player at the position. Little has seen more touches through the ground game the last couple of seasons and will need to develop into a more pure receiver as the the team has to replace Hakeem Nicks and Brandon Tate, two of the most talented receivers to play at North Carolina. The position will feature a battle of freshman and sophomores. Dwight Jones and Josh Adams will be the favorites and don't be surprised if Adams is joined by fellow true freshman Jheranie Boyd as two true freshman starters. TJ Yates is a proven quarterback and should help the receivers adjust.
Key Game - 9/26/09 @Georgia Tech
North Carolina had Georgia Tech's number last season as the beat them 28-7 in a surprising game. How well will North Carolina be prepared this season as they travel to Atlanta in a rematch game that could be very important to North Carolina's Coastal division hopes. Georgia Tech returns Nesbitt, Dwyer, and Jones and should provide an interesting battle against North Carolina's strong front 7. North Carolina probably won't be able to beat both Tech's on the road this season, but they match up well against Georgia Tech and could pull a repeat of last season.
Key Player - Shaun Draughn
The running game will have added emphasis this season with the departure of Hicks and Tate and Draughn needs to improve on a modest 4.4 ypc last season. He also only had 3 TDs so the numbers could be improved. He back up and Greg Little both put up 300+ yards last season, but only one is a true back. Draughn has one year of starting experience under him and runs behind pretty much the same line as last season.
Impact Freshman - Josh Adams
Predicted ACC finish - 3rd (Coastal)
Top 5 Players
1. LB Quan Sturdivant
2. CB Kendric Burney
3. LB Bruce Carter
4. DT Marvin Austin
5. QB TJ Yates
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