Ranking The ACC Coastal Division Teams: North Carolina

North Carolina with Butch Davis at the helm is one of four ACC schools that will have new head coaches and staff for the 2007 season.

Davis brings a proven record at the college level having amassed a 51-20 record at Miami in six years as the Canes head coach. Tar Heel fans are full of optimism as the 2007 season is set to begin. Optimism for the future is so high that Davis recently announced that the school is hoping to begin a $100 million renovation of Kenan Stadium within the next 18 months.

Davis came in and had an excellent recruiting season which led to more optimism by the fans. Nole fans will recall that Davis snared highly recruited defensive tackle Marvin Austin who by all accounts was coming to FSU. However, it takes time to bring in a whole new system and staff and expect to win lots of games in the first season. Chances are that is not going to happen.

North Carolina returns forty-six letterman having lost sixteen. Of the sixteen leaving, eleven were starters for the 2006 season. The Heels have an easy schedule to begin with before taking on Virginia Tech, Miami, and South Carolina three weeks in a row. Question marks loom at quarterback and the defense only has four starters from last year. Davis did announce this past week that redshirt freshman T.J. Yates will start the Heels opener Sept. 1 against James Madison. The decision does not entirely resolve the quarterback competition, though, because Davis said he would only commit to starting Yates in the first week.

The Heels do have a talented receiver in sophomore Hakeem Nicks who some are predicting could be the best receiver in the ACC. At 6-1, Nicks isn't huge or a speedster, but he does have the ability to come up with the ball and make big plays.

With that said, the Tar Heels will probably have to endure another lackluster record. Any thing above the 3-9 2006 record will be cause for celebration.

FSU It's Time Ranking Prediction: I think the Tar Heels could surprise but I still think they will be no better than #5 in the Coastal Division.