“He left on his own”, Fedora said. “It means we have one less guy”.
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He also played in 13 games with three starts as a true freshman in 2013. Though Walker had played in the team’s first seven games, Fedora said the move appears to be related to playing time.
A former standout at Mallard Creek High in Charlotte, Walker showed promise as a freshman but struggled, like most of UNC’s defensive backfield, a year ago as a sophomore. “He will truly be missed on this football team”. The kickoff return, his was the last part of the eight-lateral, hotly debated one that lifted Miami to a 30-27 win over Duke last Saturday. He didn’t make that trip after deciding the day before that he was leaving the team, Fedora said.
When Kaaya and his teammates saw Miami coach Larry Scott “celebrating” and “fist-pumping” after about nine minutes of the officials conferring, he said he knew the play was ruled a touchdown. If neither Kaaya nor Rosier can play, Miami would turn to either Vincent Testaverde or Evan Shirreffs, who flip-flopped last week for the next spot on the depth chart….
Afterward, they smiled as they recalled Elder’s return, which is on a short list of the wildest endings to a college football game.
After Elder scored, “a couple guys ran outside and were screaming”, Kaaya said.
“That’s insane, insanity, a mess, exciting it was a lot of things”, Hood said. “You’re on a seven-game run and you just want to keep it going”. It’s exciting to go against a family member just to have bragging rights. I feel way better than last week.
“I think we’re over (the Miami game), and hopefully it will fuel us for this North Carolina game because we’re going to need it”, center Matt Skura said. You start trying to pile more on a group of athletes than that, you start running into restricting people.
“Our goal hadn’t been to be in the poll”, Fedora said. “We all just went insane”. They also lost in their bowl game, losing to Arizona State in the Hyundai Sun Bowl.
Kaaya said he was with about 15 players who were injured or didn’t travel, watching the game at walk-on receiver Greg Golden’s place and “chillin'” before the final play. “The rivalry in itself fuels us already, and we have a lot of energy going forward”.
“We’ve got November left to play”, he said. Duke (6-2, 3-1 in ACC) can still win the Conference if they beat North Carolina (7-1, 4-0 in ACC) and win out. The Blue Devils wrap up the season at home against Pittsburgh, before finishing out on the road against Virginia and Wake Forest.
“Coach (Gunter) Brewer always (says), “Never leave it in the refs” hands.’ Me, I would have found a way. College football is a better place when he’s involved with it”.
“Every game does get bigger and bigger”, Hood said.
The teaching moment is likely to come at a few point before the start of next season, during preseason practice. The senior safety is one of 16 finalists for the 2015 Jim Thorpe, given annually to the best defensive back in college football.
“It hits home”, he said, “a little bit more when you have a real good visual from a game of it actually happening”. So, we’ve dealt with a lot different things in that back end with our guys.
“They’re going to bounce back”, Williams said, “and they’re going to be excited to go come Saturday”. His starting role for the Tar Heels this year came in nickle packages, he recorded 12 tackles and five pass break ups this year. “So there might be something we put in just in case to make sure we’re alerted whenever he’s in the nickel or coming off the edge because he can be kind of a disruption when he has the opportunity”.
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The Duke defense is allowing less than 17 points per game this season.
