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'83 success depends on young players
By ANDY HODGES
Tar Heel Sports Editor
Despite significant losses on both sides of
the line of scrimmage, many experts are ex
pecting big things from the UNC football
team this year.
The Tar Heels are making virtually every
one's preseason Top 20 and have been picked
as national champions in some polls. After
losing 10 starters from last year's team which
went 8-4 overall and 3-3 in the ACC, though,
Coach Dick Crum said the team's perfor
mance depends largely on the individual per
formances o some young players.
"We've lost some very fine players from a
year ago, but I still think we can be a pretty
good" football team," Crum was quoted as
saying in a recent ACC news release. "We're
going to be very young at some key positions;
how quickly those young players develop will
go a long way in determining our success'
Among those missing from the 1982 team,
which ended the year ranked 13th by United
Press International and 18th by The Associ
ated Press, are two-time all-American guard
Dave Drechsler, two-time all-ACC guard
Ron Spruill, all-ACC linebackers Mike Wil
cher and Chris.Ward, center Steve McGrew,
quarterback Rod Elkins and three-time all
ACC tailback Kelvin Bryant, the third-leading
rusher in the school's history.
Top returnees include all-American defen
sive tackle William Fuller, all-ACC defensive
back Willie Harris, offensive tackle Brian
Blados, running backs Tyrone Anthony and
Ethan Horton and quarterback Scott Stan
kavage. Stankavage, a 6-1, 197-pound senior from
Doylestown, Pa., will run the offense this
season after gaining valuable experience last
year filling in for the injured Elkins. He
finished the '82 season with 78 completions
out of 158 attempts for 1,124 yards and 11
touchdowns. He tied a school record with
four touchdown passes in one game against
N.C. State. Red-shirt freshman Kevin An
thony, from Decatur, Ga., and freshman
Mark Maye, from Charlotte, will be the top
reserves.
Horton and Tyrone Anthony got their
share of playing time last year, too, sharing
the duties at tailback with Bryant who was
slowed by an ankle injury. Horton, a 6-4, 220
pound junior from Kannapolis, started three
games and rushed for 576 yards and nine
touchdowns during the regular season. He
was named one of the most valuable players
in the Tar Heels 26-10 Sun Bowl victory over
seventh-ranked Texas, in which he carried 27
times for 1 19 yards and one touchdown all
in the second half.
Anthony, a 6-1, 203-pound senior from
Pfafftown, has been the team's second-leading
rusher behind Bryant for the past two
seasons. He gained 697 yards as a junior and
averaged 5.9 yards per carry. .
The fullbacks will again be Eddie Colson
and James Jones. Colson, a 6-0, 218-pound
junior from Jacksonville, saw the most play
ing time last year, averaging 5.2 yards per
carry and providing a great deal of blocking
for the other runners.
The offensive line will be anchored by re
turning tackles Brian Blados and Joe Con
well. Blados, a 6-6, 295-pound senior from
Arlington, Va., has been selected to several
preseason all-America teams. Conwell, a 6-6,
265-pqund senior from Bala Cynwyd, Pa.,
missed much of spring practice with a shoul
der injury but is expected to be 100 percent
by the Sept. 3 season opener at South Caro
lina. -
Juniors Greg Naron and Willy Austin are
likely candidates for the guard positions va
cated by Drechsler and Spruill.
The center position will probably go to
either Harris Barton or Brian Donnailey.
Barton is a red-shirt freshman from Atlanta,
and Donnailey is a sophomore from Raleigh.
His brother, Rick, was an all-ACC center for
UNC and now plays for the NFL's Pitts:
burgh Steelers.
Arnold Franklin, a 6-4, 236-pound sopho
more from Lincoln Heights Ohio, will start
at tight end. He became a starter last year
after Doug Sickels suffered an ankle injury in
the seventh game of the season.
Sophomore Earl Winfield is expected to
start for the second year at split end, and
Fayetteville senior Mark Smith is a probable
starter at flanker. -
A key figure in the Tar Heels' defensive
unit will be tackle William Fuller, who is ex
pected to repeat as a first-team all-American.
The 6-4, 246-pound senior from Chesapeake,
Va., was one of last year's finalists for the
Outland Trophy, which is awarded to the na
tion's top lineman. Brian Johnston, a junior
from Highland, Md., will start at the other
tackle position. He became last year's start
ing center after Steve McGrew was injured at
mid-season. ' - ,
Durham junior Ronnie Snipes earned the
starting nose guard job with an outstanding
showing in spring practice.
; Micah Moon, a junior from Lynch Sta
tion, Va. , also used spring drills as a stepping
stone to a starting role at inside linebacker.
.He will be paired with returning regular Bill
Sheppard, a senior from Jacksonville, who
was the team's second-leading tackier in '82.
The outside linebackers will be junior Aaron
Jackson and senior Butch Griffin.
Starting safeties will be all-ACC senior
Willie Harris, who was third on the team in
tackles last year, and junior Steve Hendrick
son, who led the team in interceptions.
Three-year starter Walter Black will return at
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Scott Stankavage
right cornerback, while junior Larry James,
who shared playing time last season with
Greg Poole, is a probable starter at the left
corner.
All three of the Tar Heels' kicking special
ists will be back this year. Senior Brooks Bar
wick, from Clinton, made 20 of 23 field goal
attempts in '82 and had 37 straight extra"
points. He was seventh in the nation in field
goals and 1 1th in scoring with 97 total points.
He also set school records for field goals in
one season, field goal percentage (87), and
consecutive field goals (13, which will carry
into this season).
Also returning are punter David Lowe and
kicker Rob Rogers, who handles kickoffs
and whose 53-yard field goal in the Sun Bowl
set a new school record.
Coaching is 'challenge, big plus' for Streater
J
Tar HeelFile photo
Carolina Pirates Coach Steve Streater
team is newest member of semi-pro league
By MARLYNN JONES
Tar Heel Staff Writer
Former UNC football star Steve Streater has been selected
to serve as head coach of the Durham-based Carolina Pirates,
the newest member of the Mason-Dixon semi-pro football
league.
Former teammate Billy Johnson will join Streater, whose
professional playing career ended before it ever started when
an automobile accident left him paralyzed in 1981, as a player
coach for the team. Johnson is listed as a probable starter at
the fullback position.
Pre-season workouts have been held daily for about one
month at Durham High School. The final squad consists of 40
players on the traveling roster, with five on waivers.-
The players are only guaranteed expenses for a 10-game
schedule, with the season running from Aug. 20 to Oct. 29.
The team will have five home games and five away.
The Mason-Dixon League is the largest semi-pro league on
the East Coast, with seven other teams m Pennsylvania, Mary
land, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
, "Basically, the Pirates are a pro football team," said Dave
Cook, the team's publicity director and operations manager.
"Charlotte has a team like it in the Carolina Storm. Three
guys from there went direetly to the pros this year.''
"The team will serve guys getting out of school and give
area players a chance to play pro ball and have pro scouts see
them play," Cook added. "The team hopes to serve as a feeder
system to the USFL and the NFL, similar to the relationship
between the Durham Bulls and the Atlanta Braves."
He said that punter Eric Hines has already been contacted
by the NFL's New Orleans Saints.
The Pirates wjU employ a wishbone offense that will allow
them to highlight Johnson, along with former N.C. State
quarterback Kenny Pugh and former East Carolina half-back
Mike Hawkins..
Another area player for the Pirates is Victor Hunter, who
holds all of N.C. Central University's rushing records.
"We don't expect those guys to be with us for long," Cook
said. : -
Area players make up approximately 50 percent of the team,
but there is also one player from the Canadian Football Lea
,gue, one from Stanford, two from Grambling, and one from
the University of Wisconsin.
Dan Dudley, team founder and owner, is an operating room
technician at N.C. Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill. He
started working on the team about VA years ago. He joined
the league last November.
Cook has been working with the team's publicity for three
weeks. He is a law school graduate who is a sport and enter
tainment counsultant.' He also works as an agent around the
country.
Another assistant coach is Lew Edney, a former player with
the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the CFL and the Pittsburgh Steel
ers of the NFL. Edney played college ball at Fresno State be
fore transferring to NCCU.
Streater, who served as an assistant coach at Chapel Hill
High School for one season, told WRAL News that coaching
"is something I've always wanted to do. I like coaching the
younger guys and I got a chance to do this." He added that
"it's a big plus for me and it's a challenge for me. I'm ready to
try my strategy against that other team."
He will get to do just that on Aug. 20 in the Durham County
Stadium when the Pirates open their season against the Wash
ington Stonewalls. '
All home games will be played at the County Stadium and
will begin at 8 p.m. Season tickets are $33 for adults, $18 for
senior citizens and children. Regular admission will be $7 per
game with senior citizens (over 60) and children under 12 ad
mitted for $4.
12 The Tar Heel Thursday t August 4, 1983