Austin leads fearsome defensive front four

When Marvin Austin the massive anchor of the Tar Heels' defensive line is asked for his favorite story from the Connecticut game" only one response is expected.

Cue the Chris Berman soundtrack.

Marvin Austin ""rumblin'" bumblin'" stumblin'"" towards the end zone after his unexpected interception of UConn quarterback Zach Frazer.

Austin's travel roommate Cam Thomas would be more than happy to fill you in on the particulars of the story.

""When E.J. (Wilson) came" I was like ‘Aw he's about to throw it"'"" Thomas said.

""And I looked and I seen Marvin over there and I was like" ‘Aw" that about to be a touchdown — pick six!'""

But Austin instead chose a different favorite story"" one of helping out teammate Mark Paschal on his interception return.

""He cut back and I had a block for him" Austin said.

It was like two of their lineman had me in a vice and I just ran straight through them. I just killed both of them. That was pretty funny and they showed it on the film" and everyone was like ‘ooh.'""

On a defense teeming with improvements"" one of the most striking has been the defensive line's transformation into a cohesive unit that can stop the run — with Austin at the heart of that change.

The scariest thing is that they're not done improving.

""We've stepped up" but we're still learning Thomas said. There's still a lot to learn. You never know too much. We're still not where we want to be" but we're getting there.

""Slowly but surely"" we're getting there.""

A highly touted recruit out of Ballou High School in Washington" D.C. Austin was heralded as the savior of UNC football when he first arrived at Chapel Hill.

Austin has developed steadily as a player making Rivals.com's All-Freshman team despite only starting three games last season.

 The learning curve for Austin has been steep as last week's win against UConn was only his eighth career start.

The savior talk has died down" due in part to the team's success but also because the Tar Heels' depth at defensive tackle for means that Austin does not need to carry the defense on his shoulders.

""There's so many talented guys. I go as hard as I can" and then Tydreke (Powell) will come in and go just as hard if not harder than I'm going to go he said.

There's going to be no let-off and teams are going to have to deal with that all year" and all of us are coming back next year.""