Newspapers / The daily Tar Heel. / Oct. 23, 1976, edition 1 / Page 6
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
6 The Daily Tar' Heel Saturday, October 23, 1976 UNC lineman Griffin gaining due recognition upeir Sports Info tasting aft 12:1 12:20 Pick the Winners with Bob Holliday and Art Chansky 12:30 ACC Today A preview and review of all ACC games of the day, with interviews of the coaches, players, sportswriters and commentators. With Bob Holliday and Warren Levinson. 1 :00 Press Box Review A 12-minute show from the press box featuring highlights of the two teams. 1 :1 3 Game Coverage Beginning 10 minutes prior to kick off, an on-the-spot, play-by-play account of the Carolina football game. With Woody Durham, Charlie Choo Choo Justiceand Chris Kupec. Coke Scoreboard Lasting one hour post game, a complete wrap-up of the Carolina game and scores from all ACC games and the major football games across the country. Featuring interviews with coaches, players, explaining why it went the way it did. wOTm. by David Squires Staff Writer Carolina is known for producing good linemen. Ron Rusnak and Ken Huff 'are two Chapel Hill products who made All-America during their tenure here. This year Mark Cantrell is the media's pick as the best Carolina lineman, but why do pro scouts keep asking about number 79? Cantrell wears 55. Number 79 is the other Mark, Mark Griffin, a 6-foot-5 inch, 240 pound senior who loves challenges. Playing in the shadow of Cantrell can be a problem for anyone, yet Griffin just goes on about his business and plays his own game. ; ' "' ;'. . "Until this year, I hadn't gotten that much publicity,; , People were .always ' asking about .Mark (Cantrell). Npw that I'm a senior, I'm confident of what I can do without questioning myself; I go out and do it. It's really a challenge," Griffin said. Griffin's favorite hobby is sailing, and it is interesting how he started it. "Some guy showed me on a diagram and told me how easy it was.v In about ten minutes, I was sailing," he said. What brought such a challenging giant to Carolina? "I was recruited during the last part of my junior year," he said. "Mark (Maryland's QB Mark Manges) and I were called in by our coach and it seemed like a dream world." Griffin, who played football at Fort Hill High School in Cumberland, Maryland had an opportunity to play for the Terps but says, "I didn't l;ke the campus and I wanted to get away for awhile." He had hardly ever heard of UNC, but recalls the year McAdoo led the Heels to the final four of the NCAA. "I remember hearing of Carolina the year McAdoo played," he said. Griffin is very confident about this year's team. "I have great confidence in our running game," he said. "Our biggest problem right now is execution." Griffin said it would be easy for the team It's Gonna Taste So Good iiilipi liiliill (if. liiliill Tackle Mark Griffin to get up for the ECU game especially after what happened last year when the team suffered back-to-back losses to State and ECU. At the start of the season, Griffin was picked by his coaches as being one of the best players in the ACC. Of this he said, "If I play well enough to please myself, I hope this will be good enough to help me be selected on the All-ACC team. I'd like to think that I'm one of the best players in the league, but that's not for me to decide." Zipper, as he was tabbed by linebacker Chuck Austin, would like to play pro ball after he graduates. "This is something that I'll just have to wait on," he said. "All college football players would like to play in the pros, and it is something that I'm looking forward to." Since the team's two losses, fans have been shouting everything from fire the coach to kill the quarterback. Of this Griffin said, "At first there wasn't much interest in our team as far as the fans were concerned. Then as we won more and more the fans began to have confidence in us and we also began to have more confidence in ourselves. After the loss to Missouri, we were down and the fans were also down, but in the backs of our minds we were saying that maybe we were not expected to win that game anyway. Everyone including ourselves thought that we'd rebound against State, so the loss was really a big disappointment for us all." Griffin fell in love with Chapel Hill the first time he set foot on the campus. (Don't we all?) "It seemed like the ideal place," he said. "It's sort of like a Utopia, there's something here for everyone. You just have to know where to go to find it." Preparing for this year's season, Griffin has gained weight, speed, and quickness. When asked to describe his complete Carolina experience, Mark Griffin pondered over the question, then answered, "Experience! That's really what it is." But when the Business major puts on the Tar Heel uniform, it all becomes a challenge. 84th Year of Editorial Freedom Alan Murray Editor Grant Vosburgh Sports Editor Sports: Gene Upchurch, assistant sports editor. Kevin Barris. Dede Biles, Skip Foreman, Tod Hughes, David Kirk, Pete Mitchell, Joe Morgan, Lee Pace, Ken Roberts, Greg Shackelford, David Squires, Will Wilson, Ford Worthy and Isabel Worthy. The Spirit of Chape Hill
Oct. 23, 1976, edition 1
6
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75