John Bunting gave his summer press conference yesterday. He confirmed that the schedule was rated as the toughest in the country, and gave some thoughts on life without Darian, Barrington Edwards, and spring football.

We had a great spring. Our players are doing a terrific job academically. We've had a good spring eligibility-wise, and we expect that to continue as we get into summer school.

Well those are two great things that won't win us game one. Of course academics are important, and eligibility is important. What about on the field?

Matt Baker and Chase Page and other players on both the offensive and defensive sides have really taken a major step forward in terms of leadership. This will be the largest number of seniors I've ever had on scholarship - 17. We had 14 my first year, 10 the following year, and then 13 the next two. We have 17 seniors on scholarship now and I'm real excited about their leadership.

That's good and expected. Chase Page has spent a whole year waiting to be the senior leader. Baker is going to the 'the guy,' so he needs to bring confidence to the huddle.

On Barrington Edwards:

I have never seen anything like what I saw last fall in terms of a player participating on the scout team. Everyday he was upbeat. Everyday was his game day, and that's the way that he took it. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays it was game day for him against our defense, and, frankly, at times he torched us.

This is great to hear. JB has been really touting Barrington and I hope he's not over-hyping him. He looked good in the spring game, but again, that was against our defense. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do against ACC foes. It is so important to have a good tandem of backs so we can always have fresh legs in the game.

An article from last week about the SOS.


And here's a good read on Matt Baker from the Winston-Salem Journal.

"It was more taking over the leadership role," Baker said. "I know the whole offense. Coach Tranquill is still around. Nothing has changed. It was more proving to the team that they can trust me and I can take over the quarterback position and lead them to some victories. I think I had a successful spring and accomplished that."

Hope so, Matt. There are a lot of skeptics in and out of Tar Heel nation. Me? I am as I am. Hopeful. Let's get after it.