Scouring the interwebs for your weekend reading pleasure...
**Inside Carolina is reporting that offensive tackle Kiaro Holts, ranked the #5 OT in the country by Scout.com, has committed to the Tar Heels. This is another big O-line get from Indiana, following James Hurst. Consistency on the offensive line has been a Carolina shortcoming for a number of years. If the Heels can shore that up (and the O-line recruiting is markedly improved), the final piece in the puzzle may be in place for a period of extended success.
**Bruce Carter is getting some love as the nation's #1 workout freak by ESPN's Bruce Feldman. While "the defense is overflowing with freaks", Carter has posted some impressive numbers, including a 4.38 40 time, a 40.5-inch vertical jump, and a bench press of 440 pounds. As Stu Nahan said of Thunderlips in Rocky III, "Awesome. Simply Awesome."
**Carter also merits some love from a certain unlinkable ESPN ACC football blogger who demonstrates yet again why she has received the THF link ban hammer because she can't even spell Kenan Stadium correctly (spelling it Keenan). But said blogger takes time from her daily slurp-fest of Paul Johnson, Miami, and Florida State to profile Carter, whom she notes runs the steps at Kenan carrying 60-pound bags of cement. See Stu Nahan comment above.
**J.R. Reid has been sighted quite a bit this summer as he seeks to break into coaching in the NBA. Reid gave a camp in Lexington this summer and worked the NBPA Top 100 High School camp. Inside Carolina has a nice interview with him posted. For a generation of Carolina fans under about age 30, J.R. Reid may be an unknown commodity as he is generally not considered among the Tar Heel greats despite his three-time all-ACC and all-American status. He was often surly in college and was hampered by injury his junior season, but was an amazing talent.
**Finally, in ACC news, NC State has named Maryland's Debbie Yow as athletic director. Yow, the sister of the late NCSU women's basketball coach Kay Yow, is generally well-regarded by her peers, has a doctorate in athletic administration, the program at Maryland has expanded in both numbers of sports and facilities under her leadership, and the Terps have won 17 national titles during her tenure, including men's and women's basketball. But she has also been publicly at odds with basketball coach Gary Williams and football coach Ralph Friedgen has struggled recently to make Maryland football relevant in the generally weak Atlantic Division.
StateFan, who is usually unhappy anyway, is greeting the news with something less than enthusiasm. There was a lot of fan support for Wolfpack Club executive director Bobby Purcell, but beyond that, I don't know what they were hoping to get that Yow doesn't bring to the table: college coaching experience, ACC and big state university experience, success across the board in all sports, and a family connection to NCSU.
On the other hand, there are not a lot of tears being shed upon Yow's departure from Maryland. Many, including THF himself, have likened the hiring to Tom O'Brien's coming to NCSU. In other words, State has again poached a fellow ACC member for someone who seems so successful on the surface and yet is not held in high regard by the place she is leaving. It will be interesting to see if the O'Brien effect (that is, an inability to duplicate previous success) bleeds over to Yow, as well as how Yow handles the increasingly hot seats of O'Brien and Sidney Lowe, plus supervising her sister's replacement, Kellie Harper.