With the running back situation unsettled for Carolina - is Shaun Draughn healthy? will Ryan Houston burn a redshirt year - it appears Hunter Furr has become a key part of the UNC offense.Furr, who ran three times for 27 yards on the game-winning drive last week against Florida State, has been the scout team runner this season. Those are the guys who prepare the starters for the opposition and don't play in the game. "He's not on the scout team anymore," UNC coach Butch Davis said with a laugh, adding that he's been getting 20-30 percent of the snaps with the starters in practice.
Davis said that drive last week at the end of the game against FSU was the best drive the Tar Heels have had during his tenure as coach. "The whole team was ecstatic for Hunter," Davis said. "He's been very unselfish. He's been willing to play whatever role we gave him."
Primarily, in addition to the scout team, he's played a lot on special teams with the short-handed Heels. "With four senior running backs, he knew this wasn't going to be the year he was going to get an awful lot of opportunities but he continued to practice hard, study and know the game plans," Davis said.
Furr, a sophomore from Lewisville, said he felt ready when he was forced to enter the game after Johnny White, Shaun Draughn and Anthony Elzy all got injured during the course of the game.
"In our pre-game running back speech, Coach (Ken) Browning told us that your roles will change during the game unexpectedly, and you never know," Furr said. "Since I've been here Coach Davis has always preached you've got to watch film, you've got to be ready you never know when you're time's going to come, and I guess my time came."
For those wanting to know more about Furr, he wears No. 40 in honor of Pat Tillman, the former NFL player who was killed serving in the military. His favorite off-day activities are playing golf with teammates, hunting and fishing, and his dream job is to coach football at UNC.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment