news-record.com

CHAPEL HILL -- After three straight weeks of playing teams with fast, aggressive, top-30 defenses (South Florida, Virginia Tech and Miami), you'd think North Carolina would pretty much know what's coming when South Carolina visits Kenan Stadium on Saturday.

Not so, according to coach Butch Davis.

"This is a totally different conceptual picture," Davis said of the Gamecocks' defense. "We have not played anybody thus far this year that lines up like South Carolina."

Davis estimated that the Gamecocks can present up to a dozen different defensive looks, based upon down and distance. That was an issue for Kentucky and fifth-year senior quarterback Andre Woodson. Somehow, redshirt freshman T.J. Yates must find a way to succeed where Woodson could not.

"It will put an enormous mental challenge on our quarterback and our offensive line," Davis said.

TRADE DEFICIT: While this game has short-term implications for both teams, the outcome also may play a role in either reversing or extending the import-export imbalance between UNC and South Carolina.

Only three Palmetto State natives are on the Tar Heels' roster, while 13 players from the Old North State have migrated to Columbia to play for the Gamecocks.

That may be an indication, in part, that the state of North Carolina just produces more talent than South Carolina and thus has enough to send to neighboring states. Or it may be indicative of the fact that the Gamecocks have had consecutive winning seasons, while the Tar Heels struggled and changed coaches. Either way, UNC certainly would like to find a few more players like former quarterback Darian Durant -- an Orangeburg, S.C., native -- and bring them to Chapel Hill.

"Any time that you're recruiting where parents have an opportunity to drive and come watch their son play within three, four, five six hours, it gives you a legitimate shot to recruit players," Davis said. "To have only three probably may be a little surprising."

TALENT CENTRAL: South Carolina brings one of its best teams in school history into Saturday's game, and the Tar Heels have an impressive group of young players, but it's safe to say that the collection of talent in Chapel Hill won't be close to the one that congregated the only previous time a Butch Davis-coached team played a Steve Spurrier-coached team.

That happened in the 2001 Sugar Bowl, when Davis' Miami Hurricanes knocked off Spurrier's Florida Gators, 37-20.

Here's a sampling of the players on each side.

Florida: quarterback Rex Grossman; defensive tackle Gerard Warren; offensive lineman Kenyatta Walker; defensive end Alex Brown; wide receivers Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell; and defensive back Lito Sheppard.

Miami: running backs Clinton Portis and Najeh Davenport; quarterback Ken Dorsey; tight end Jeremy Shockey; wide receivers Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne; offensive lineman Bryant McKinnie; safety Ed Reed; and cornerbacks Phillip Buchanan and Mike Rumph.

Contact Jim Young at 373-7016 or jyoung@news-record.com