Butch Davis: Maximizing the Tar Heel Spring Experience

(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Current Players

For the Tar Heels currently on the roster, the advanced schedule should yield some clearly tangible results. The first and most important result will be the athletes’ abilities to spend the month of April functioning as a normal student; more or less. 

Without the hours spent on film breakdowns, daily install sessions, practices, and scrimmages, the student athletes will have time to focus on the tests, papers, projects, and finals that never fail to pile up as the end of the semester approaches. 

It gives the academic support staff, as well as the players, an opportunity to correct lapses, improve performance, and address problem areas in the classroom.

While the classroom benefits will be much appreciated by the academic support staff and the UNC community, the secondary benefit is the one that will be felt most noticeably on the gridiron. Spring football’s early ending begat offseason conditioning’s early beginning. 

Teams across the nation will be wrapping up spring as the Tar Heels are keying up their summer conditioning program. Instead of bring players back after exams to initiate offseason workouts, the Heels’ bodies will be working trending towards summer time shape as they return to campus for the first summer session.

Community Goodwill

Unlike the Alabama's, Florida's, and Nebraska’s of the world, spring football has yet to become a statewide event for North Carolina. However, Davis is working to change this mindset and spring attendance has increased tremendously since his arrival in 2007. 

The 2009 spring game should be a banner year as Chapel Hill hosts Super Saturday, a day in which visitors can take in all that Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina has to offer.

This event begins with Tar Heel Town, an interactive fan experience geared towards young and old fans alike and moves into the 2009 Tar Heel Spring Showcase where the football team will give the public a glimpse of what fall 2009 will hold. 

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