Football: Draughn looking for scores

In 2008, North Carolina developed a two-headed rushing attack: Shaun Draughn would move the ball in normal downs and between the 20s, while Ryan Houston would come in to pound out tough yardage and be a red-zone back.

The result was that Draughn’s 866 rushing yards led the team, but Houston’s eight scores were more than Draughn and Greg Little — who started the opening three games — combined.

But Draughn and the other UNC backs spent the offseason working on their lower body strength so they won’t wear down and, in Draughn’s case, be able to finish plays from anywhere on the field.

“Home run ability,” Draughn said. “I hope to get some home runs this year, so I won’t let Ryan come in there and steal my touchdowns.”

And while Draughn’s added strength makes him more viable for every-down play, Houston wasn’t slacking this offseason either.

“He’s shed a few more pounds from last year,” Draughn said. “He might be able to run past a couple people this year.”

Either way, it figures that unless something changes, North Carolina’s backfield will remain the same, with the exception being the addition of Jamal Womble. Womble, a redshirt freshman, has already gained praise from coaches and teammates for his lightning-quick cuts and agility.

First game a ‘special’ night

Just three days before the season-opener against the Citadel, Butch Davis and UNC feel confident in their rehearsal of just about every part of the game — except one.

“You can’t scrimmage full speed,” Davis said. “You would be really rolling the dice from an injury standpoint if you ran full-speed live kickoff coverages and have guys blowing up wedges in practice.

“So it’s a little dicey in these first couple of games as to how will you cover kicks. … It’s something we’ll have to wait until Saturday to figure out.”

Acclaimed author visiting

UNC also gained attention for the experiment the team is taking by using the CoreTemp pill. The pill contains a small computer that reads the internal body temperature of athletes, helping to assess when they are more susceptible to injuries, particularly concussions.

Those efforts attracted a notable writer in Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell specializes in statistical analysis, and his book “Outliers” was an intensive look at how athletes are generated.

“In some respects we were fortunate,” Butch Davis said. “Malcolm Gladwell … was here visiting with (UNC researcher) Kevin Guskiewicz and talking with the concussive study that UNC did.”


Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.