OIJP Sail!} ®ar 1M Friday, September 3,1993
Hardest Hitters Reside in Secondary
Walker Leads
Defensive Backs
BY ZACHARYALBERT
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
When the football is thrown deep against
UNC, crowds hold their collective breaths.
The Kenan supporters cross fingers in
hopes that the Tar Heel secondary that
held Virginia’s conference-best passing
game to just 102 yards last year responds.
Opposing fans wish for the UNC cover
age that was ripped for 361 yards on 23 of
25 passing attempts If om N. C. State’s Terry
Jordan a year ago.
Obviously, consistency is a question
mark for the secondary, isn’t it?
“I think it’s unfair to say much critical
about our secondary against State even
though we didn’t play well,” UNC head
coach Mack Brown said. “We had two
starters who didn’t play and had a lot of
young guys who hadn’t played at all.
DEFENSIVE SECONDARY
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Bracey Walker likes to intimidate opposing players with his hard hits.
“Hopefully what we learned after inju
ries with the extra playing time last year
around the State game will help us this
year.”
Well, this is now and the secondary has
responded early. The deep coverage team
ofSean Boyd, Sean Crocker, Bracey Walker
and Lawrence Winslow showed its poise
in the season opener.
Against Southern Cal, the UNC deep
men broke up four passes and made 22
tackles. Asa result, most of the Trojans’
passes were short, tallying only 167 yards.
However, the four backs that roam long
ball land have had to adjust to some differ
ent positions this year. Walker, a 5-foot-11,
190-pound senior, moved from strong to
free safety in the spring, a position he
played as a freshman.
“I believe it was done so I could get in
the action more,” Walker said. “Being the
free safety, I have a better pathway of
running to the ball, instead of having to
take on a lot of blockers.”
It’s frightening to think Walker might
have a better path to the ball, enabling him
to deliver more crushing blows to ball car
riers.
FOOTBALL '93
Being in the action was Walker’s forte
last year. His punt blocks and explosive
hits gave him national notoriety in the
Peach Bowl, where he was named Defen
sive Most Valuable Player for the game.
“That was kind of a turning point for
me,” Walker said. “I had been playing
pretty well in the regular season, but the
Peach Bowl was postseason. That game
really boosted my confidence to another
level.”
His teammates are glad that Walker is
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on their side. When asked which player on
the team they would not like to get hit by,
many Tar Heels surveyed gave Walker’s
name.
Walker said he has become so used to
issuing out pops to opponents, he can tell
when he’s struck fear in someone.
“After you hit someone and you see
their eyes get big as quarters, you can tell
that they’re scared right then saying,’God,
this guy’s trying to kill me,”’ Walker said.
The head-cracking school of thought
| DEFENSIVE SECONDARY |
has flowed over to his secondary compan
ions. Boyd, a 6-3,195-pound strong safety,
who is also Walker’s roommate, said that
he is ready to take over a starting role in
this, his sophomore year.
“Bracey has got that hitting mentality, ”
Boyd said. “I’m hoping that it will rub off
on me and maybe I can be the next hitter
when he leaves.
“I’m just building on what I did in the
Please See SECONDARY, Page 20
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