Heels are for Real

No doubt you've seen enough powder-blue and Tyler Hansbourgh on the basketball court recently but it looks like over the next few years your going to be seeing a lot more of that baby cow blue on the gridiron.

The University of North Carolina Tar Heels are methodically working their way up to the upper levels of college football. They are currently ranked #17 in the country and have their eyes set on the ACC championship, which would be their first since 1980.

From 2001 to 2006 this program went 27-45 and was the laughing stock of college football. Now bring in Butch Davis and in two years he has completely changed the attitude of UNC football.

The team has swagger that starts with one of the better defenses in the country and trickles down to the rest of the team. Their running game is emerging as one of the best around the country. They have a great combination backfield with Ryan Houston and Shaun Draughn. Daughn is the speedy, every down type, back and Houston the big bruiser for the goal line and short yardage situations.

UNC ran wild against Georgia Tech on Saturday, picking up 160 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. More importantly though it was the big-late game runs that sealed an important victory for the Tar Heels. Winning in the trenches is the key to any football team and UNC is dominating the line. It took a few changes, like moving former RB Greg Little to WR and Draughn, a former safety to RB, but the Tar Heels have finally found a winning formula.

Where you can really see the change is in the off field recruiting war. Butch Davis is slowly putting together a top 15 class this year. Just last week the #5 receiver, Jheranie Boyd, committed to the Heels. The other big names of their class include 5 star DE Donte Moss and QB Bryn Renner who participated in Elite 11 this year. Renner is expected to really blossom at the next level and could be the best QB from this class with the right coaching. This strong 2009 class builds on their 2007 class that was widely considered the best in Tar Heel history.

With the ACC struggling this year and possibly for the next few years UNC could really emerge as a big time program. They seem to be moving forward will the ACC is moving backwards. The big question will come in the off season, however. Butch Davis has attracted the attention from big time programs like Tennessee. Is North Carolina ready to pay the price to win?