Depleted UNC team readies to face LSU

By Jeff Haws

For the AJC

It was all set up for the Tar Heels.

This was going to be the year North Carolina football took a step back into the limelight, with what was going to arguably be the nation's best defense, a talented backfield, big-play receivers and a proven coaching staff. The team opened at No. 18 in the AP poll, its highest preseason ranking in 12 years.

And the first act was going to play out Saturday night at the Georgia Dome, when a national television audience was going to watch them face down No. 21 LSU in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game.

But what has grown into two investigations into NCAA rules violations, both external and internal, threatens to unravel all of that before the season even starts.

Six North Carolina players have been ruled ineligible for the game, six more are being held out by the school as a precaution and three others did not accompany the team to Atlanta, although it is possible they may be cleared in time to make kickoff. All totaled, eight defensive starters and all three leading rushers from 2009 could sit out the game.

The scandal, which began as an inquiry into improper benefits provided by an agent spread into academic improprieties, has grown by the week. But coach Butch Davis insists the anticipation for the game is still there.

"I think when the game was announced over a year ago, I think everybody was excited about it and I think they still are," Davis said. "It's an opportunity to play against a program that has a great history and success."

LSU at this point may have to guard against complacency versus an opponent that lost so many key players at so many positions.

• Defensive end Robert Quinn, regarded as perhaps the best pass rusher in the country: ineligible.

• Lombardi Award candidate defensive tackle Marvin Austin: ineligible.

• Greg Little, the team's top receiver who stayed for his senior season rather than going to the NFL: ineligible. 

• Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston, who split duty at tailback in 2009, accounting for 1,280 yards and 10 touchdowns: both withheld.

Other players effected are cornerback Charles Brown, cornerback Kendric Burney and defensive end Michael McAdoo, who are ineligible, and defensive end Linwan Euwall, safety Brian Gupton, safety Da'Norris Searcy and safety Jonathan Smith, who are all being withheld.

The three other players who did not travel with the team were not named.

That's a sobering list for UNC fans. And it's surely a concern for some LSU fans, who now have to wonder if their Tigers will take the Heels lightly.

"We anticipate playing their very best team," LSU coach Les Miles said prior to the announcement of which players would be out. "I expect those people to make decisions, as needed. We don't feel if a substitute would be in, that the calls would be any different."

One returning starter who will be in the lineup for UNC is senior quarterback T.J. Yates, who graduated from Pope High School in Marietta. Who he will distribute the ball to is another question.