Nov. 9, 2003

When John Bunting saw Ronnie McGill on tape for the first time he sensed there was something special about him. "He reminded me of Don McCauley," the head coach remembers, and that alone made him special. Then when Bunting met him for the first time his attitude, his demeanor, his maturity and his intelligence made him even more special.

As a senior in Clover, S.C., McGill led his team to an 8-4 record by rushing for 1,827 yards and scoring 29 touchdowns. He tallied another six scores on punt and kickoff returns. Head coach Marty Woolbright also used him on defense as both a linebacker and safety. He had 105 tackles during his final season and 350 for his career.

Yet Clemson's Tommy Bowden admitted prior to this year's Carolina game he didn't know anything about McGill. Lou Holtz's staff at South Carolina got interested late, but UNC assistant Andre Powell, his position coach, was among the first to get involved, and he stayed after him.

Following a recent trend, McGill finished high school in December so he could enroll at Carolina in January and participate in spring practice. He didn't turn 18 until late January, and two months later he earned a lot of attention in the spring game when he rushed for 104 yards. Maybe he was the big back Bunting needed for his offense.

However, when pre-season practice began in August some problems developed. McGill was cramping and he couldn't finish practices. At one point he missed four or five days, and he was falling way behind Willie Parker, Jacque Lewis and Chad Scott. "We weren't sure what was going to happen," Bunting said, "but we started to monitor him very closely as to the number of reps he took in practice. We made sure he had alternate ways to condition, and once the heat started to subside he started to become stronger and stronger."

Caught up in the tailback-by-committee rotation McGill was slow to progress. In the first five games he had only 31 carries for 85 yards and no touchdowns. That's an average of only 2.7 yards per carry. Then things began to change during the second half of the victory at East Carolina when he rolled up 67 yards and scored his first touchdown. He was finally able to practice more during the week so he started getting additional reps.

Over the last five games McGill has 70 carries for 456 yards and seven touchdowns. That's an average of 6.5 yards per attempt.

Of course, 244 of those yards and three TD's came during Saturday's 42-34 win over Wake Forest, and the rookie tailback was surprised. "That's a lot of yards for a freshman!" he exclaimed. In fact, it's the third best rushing performance for a first year player at Carolina. Amos Lawrence scooted for 286 yards at Virginia in 1977, and Natrone Means racked up 256 yards at Duke in 1990. It's the best single game effort at Carolina since Means punished Maryland with 249 yards in 1992. In 100 games against Wake Forest no other Carolina runner has done as well against the Deacons.

"I was just coming into the game wanting to get a couple of good runs. My confidence skyrocketed," McGill said. He scored the first of his three touchdowns in the first half, but at halftime he had only 20 yards on six carries. At the mid-point of the third quarter he added another touchdown, but he had just 37 yards on 12 carries. Then he ripped off a 66-yard scamper which set up Dan Orner's field goal for a 28-13 lead. On his next attempt, McGill's 34-yard scoring burst made it 35-13 in favor of Carolina.

After three quarters he had 137 yards on 14 attempts, so he would get 15 carries in the final period while grinding out 107 yards. "He kept telling us he felt better and was getting stronger as we got deeper into the game," Bunting pointed out. "As we get to know him better we'll tailor how we train and condition him, and get him ready for games."

As it turned out, his final 61 yards came during the last drive as Carolina ate up the remaining five minutes on the game clock by giving the ball nine straight times to the freshman tailback. The most important play was fourth-and-one with 33 seconds remaining and Wake Forest out of timeouts.

"He was hit in the backfield when he tried the right side," Bunting said. "Then he was hit again just before he got across the line of scrimmage. He was hit twice behind the line, and he was still able to get the first down for us which sewed up the win. That's how tough he is."

That second effort showed his teammates and thousands of hungry Carolina fans that Ronnie McGill can indeed be something special. He certainly was this past Saturday.