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The Daily Tar Heel

Offense Might Get Some `Pep'

Mike Ogle

O.G.

Don't be shocked if Julius Peppers gets his mittens on the rock tonight.

Don't be surprised at all.

All season, people have been talking about Peppers' getting a chance to show his offensive stuff on the national stage. Coaches, fans and reporters.

The time has come -- tonight on ESPN at No. 23 Georgia Tech with Peppers now in the Heisman Trophy race.

Let's examine the facts.

Fact: Peppers rushed for 3,501 yards and 46 touchdowns in high school.

Fact: Peppers is a beast. Not only that, but he's a beast with great hands, as displayed in his three interceptions and his skill on the hardwood.

Fact: Peppers is a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award for the nation's top interior lineman. He's a Nagurski Award candidate as the nation's top defender. Those he doesn't need help with, but now he's listed as one top-five Heisman candidate by Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com and The Sporting News.

Fact: Through eight games, Peppers has 43 tackles (17 for loss), 8.5 sacks and leads all linemen in the land in picks.

Fact: Can't nobody hold him down. Oh, no. He's got to keep on moving.

Getting a chance to move the ball on offense would skyrocket his stock.

Media relations offices pump lots of dough into Heisman campaigns. Posters, T-shirts, mouse pads and screen savers galore are sent to voting sportswriters.

What is UNC doing? It started sending periodic postcards that mentioned the Heisman part way through the season. Mostly they tout him for the other awards because defenders don't win the Heisman, no matter how dominant.

There's a reason the player on it is cradling a ball. No purely defensive player has ever won the 66-year-old stiff-arm statue. Two linemen have won - Notre Dame's Leon Hart in 1949 and Yale's Larry Kelley in '36. Both were ends on both sides of the ball when they were eligible to do more than block.

Cornerback and '97-winner Charles Woodson is the closest comparison to Peppers. Woodson made spectacular plays, including eight picks, 44 tackles (five for loss) and a sack for Michigan. But being allowed to receive, run and return punts pushed Woodson over the edge. He even completed a pass against Wisconsin. Woodson had four touchdowns and 588 all-purpose yards.

According to ESPN.com, Peppers' pick at Clemson was "the kind of play you build a Heisman campaign around."

In a sportsillustrated.cnn.com chat Tuesday, Peppers addressed his offensive possibilites: "The coaches have been talking about trying to get me the ball, but I'm not sure when they're going to add it to the game plan. There's been talk about it, but I don't know when it's going to happen."

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So who does?

OG: Has Julius been attending running backs meetings?

Running backs coach Andr

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