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Monday, August 14
Tar Heels hoping for speedy recovery

By Gregg Doyel
Special to ESPN.com

Season notes:
1999 record: 3-8 (2-6 ACC)
Coach: Carl Torbush
Returning starters: 14 (4 offense, 10 defense)

Outlook
Everything went wrong for the Tar Heels last season, beginning with season-ending injuries to their two most important players: linebacker and defensive captain Brandon Spoon, and quarterback Ronald Curry. Both are back, and expectations in Chapel Hill are more in line with the 7-5 season of 1998 than the debacle that was 1999, when Torbush was expected to be fired entering the final two weeks but saved his job with victories against N.C. State and Duke.

The defense, led by Spoon and end/power forward Julius Peppers, should keep the Tar Heels in most games, leaving it up to Curry and Co. to find a way to win them. Curry has talented pass-catchers in receivers Kory Bailey and Bosley Allen and tight end Alge Crumpler, but the backfield is muddled. Leading rusher Daniel Davis was kicked off the team shortly before fall practice began, leaving redshirt freshman Willie Parker or any of a handful of recruits as the starter at tailback, operating behind a line that lost five starters.

Keep an eye on ...
Junior defensive tackle Ryan Sims hasn't gotten much in the way of press, but Torbush says the 290-pounder is as good at this stage of his career as some former Tar Heels now in the NFL, like Vonnie Holliday and Marcus Jones. Sims had six tackles for losses and four quarterback pressures last season.

It's a good season if ...
Torbush returns as coach next year. That probably would mean the Tar Heels qualified for a bowl game, because anything less than that is likely to result in the firing of Torbush, the program's longtime defensive coordinator who replaced Texas-bound Mack Brown after the 11-1 season of 1997. The non-conference schedule should make the goal as realistic as possible; non-ACC opponents are Tulsa, Marshall and Pittsburgh.

Gregg Doyel covers the ACC for the Charlotte Observer

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