Butch Davis and North Carolina received a pleasant surprise this week.
Quinton Coples, a mammoth defensive end, has qualified from Hargrave Military Academy and will be participating in fall practice.
Hargrave coach Robert Prunty told Sports Illustrated that Coples reminds him of Julius Peppers -- All-Pro defensive end who was a two-sport star at North Carolina.
Coples, 6'7 245-pounds, will anchor a defensive line for possibly three years with the slimmed down defensive tackle Marvin Austin -- who was on many lists as the No. 1 prep player in last year's class. You have to like your chances with Coples and Austin.
As far as this year, expect Coples to be in the defensive end mix with the aforementioned Austin. Those two, along with E.J. Wilson give Davis one of the more formidable defensive lines in the ACC.
Davis won just four games in his first year, but was on the verge of something big. The talent he's bringing to Chapel Hill is going to be a force soon.
-AA
Comments (2)
Hargrave Military Academy serves as prep school for all of these great players who need to work on academics, but Hargraves football records are never all that astounding. What's the reason for that?
I'll bet the coach of Hargrave would make a great interview.
Last year Hargrave went 4-3-1 in non-scrimmages. 7-3 in 2006 and 2005.
At first glance I notice two things:
1. Lots of turnover. Whereas the teams they play have some solidarity. New players in and out of Hargrave annually.
2. 17/18 year olds vs. walkons and scout team players. I think of the guys on VT's scout team this year, who Hargrave has played, and there's some highly recruited talent waiting to break the 2-deep.
Prunty is a good guy and coach, from what I hear.