Kory Bailey, former UNC receiver and currently #6 on the all-time receptions and receiving yards list, spoke to HeelsBlog last week about what he's up to now. He keeps busy with an interest in the Chapel Hill nightlife scene, marketing a fitness club, and not giving up on professional football just yet.
Kory's still in the area, working in marketing and promotions for O2 fitness. He primarily works at the Cary location.

"I was working out here and knew that they were getting ready to expand the gym," Bailey says. "I started doing some great things out here as far as marketing and promotion."

Kory is a minority owner in Avalon nightclub, Carolina Blue Bar, and W.B. Yeats Irish Pub in Chapel Hill as part of HC Bar Group.
"November 2003 is when I got involved with that," he says. "Myself, Danny Davis (who's an ex-football player and is involved with that too), and one of my friends from high school, Greg Boone." There are a lot of ties to UNC, Bailey says. "It's actually a group of about 7 of us and 6 of us went to Carolina."

Playing in the Canadian Football League gave Kory some capital to invest in the bar group.

He says each bar has a different atmosphere. I mentioned to Kory that I played open-mic nights at W.B. Yeats during my time in school.

"We haven't done open mic nights in a few months, but we have live music at least twice a week," he says. "We do an 80s night on Fridays." He says Yeats hosts mixers and events for greek organizations, and sometimes musicians bring their instruments to jam. "You pretty much play for free."
In addition, Yeats has hosted comedy nights. "There are soem pretty funny comics," he says. "There are a number of different things that we're trying to do."

"Avalon is an 18 and up club and it's a dance club," Bailey says. "You get a younger crowd." He says some of the basketball players frequent the 21 and up VIP lounge upstairs at Avalon. "It's a pop culture crowd."
"At Yeats we have a number of regular customers that are older," he says. There is an after-dinner crowd and after-hours bar crowd. "And for a game of bar golf - they always hit Yeats."

"Carolina Blue Bar is beer only," he says. "There are 8 TVs in there; it's kind of a sports bar. It was absolutely packed for the national championship."

Next time - Kory's experiences with reality television.
After that - reflections on football and what's next.

Ted Enarson returns with what will be a weekly feature - a look at how the freshman football players contribute week to week.

For the first time in several years, Carolina opened its season without playing a significant number of true freshmen. Due to a lack of depth at almost every position, Tar Heel newcomers have been thrust into immediate action for several years now. The 2005 season marked a noticeable change as only six true freshmen saw the field in the 21-27 loss to Georgia Tech.  

Most notable of the freshmen was James Arnold from Mocksville, NC. Arnold, a 5-10 185 pound halfback, was recruited as an athlete. In high school, he played a variety of positions including quarterback, halfback, and cornerback. Coming into camp, Arnold did not receive as much attention as fellow freshman Richard Rich. Rich, a more highly touted recruit from Marietta, GA was expected to challenge for immediate playing time while Arnold was expected to redshirt and eventually end up at cornerback. However, Arnold impressed the coaching staff enough in camp that he earned the starting halfback spot for the opener at Georgia Tech, beating out highly regarded transfer Barrington Edwards from LSU. Although Arnold only managed 28 yards on 9 carries, he showed flashes of brilliance and should be more comfortable on the field in the Tar Heels’ second game against Wisconsin.

In addition to Arnold, another freshman who will play a significant role for Carolina in the 2005 season is Brandon Tate. Tate, a 6-1 185 pound wide receiver from Burlington, NC earned a spot as the team’s primary punt returner. Although not as highly touted coming out of high school as several of his fellow freshmen, Tate was very impressive in camp and beat out veteran players like Jarwarski Pollock, Quinton Person, and Del Roberts for the spot. Despite the fact that he did not break any big plays against Georgia Tech, Tate should have ample opportunity to “take one to the house” against Wisconsin.

Besides the aforementioned players, four other freshmen also contributed on Saturday. Richard Quinn, a 6-4 242 pound tight end, was brought into the game after Jon Hamlett struggled on several plays. Although Quinn failed to catch a ball, he should be an important player for the Tar Heels in years to come. Garrett White is a 6-2 230 pound player from Miami, FL. Although White was expected to redshirt and later play the middle linebacker position, he found the field on Saturday at defensive end. Carolina struggled all game getting pressure on Reggie Ball despite rotating a number of players at the end position. The coaching staff had experimented with White at the rush end spot in practice and decided to bring him into the game. Although he did not record a tackle, White was able to pressure Ball on a play. Additionally, 6-2 235 pound fullback Nick Starcevic saw a limited amount on action in the game. Starcevic reminds many people of former Tar Heel Madison Hedgecock who is now with the St. Louis Rams. He is currently listed on the two-deep behind Senior Rikki Cook and is the most likely option to replace Cook next season. Another player that may not have been noticed by many is 6-0 220 pound linebacker Mark Paschal. Paschal worked his way on the field Saturday with the special teams. He was a highly regarded recruit out of Charlotte, NC who is expected to have a major impact in the future.