The Devon Ramsay ruling was not the only piece of football news to hit this week:
** Four Tar Heels were named to the ACC's all-academic team this week. OL Mike Ingersoll, FB Curtis Byrd, and TE Zack Pianalto, all seniors, made the list, as did freshman OL James Hurst. To receive this honor, a student-athlete must have a 3.0 grade point average for the previous semester as well as a 3.0 cumulative average.
As THF noted to me earlier this week, for Hurst to make all-academic as a freshman is impressive, since it often takes freshmen a while to adjust to college, much less meet the demands of being a student-athlete. While Hurst was not the only freshman on the all-academic squad, he was the only one not from Duke.
Speaking of Duke, as you might expect, the Devils placed a league-leading 13 players on the all-academic list, followed by Clemson with 6 and Virginia Tech with 5. UNC was in a group with Boston College, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Maryland at 4, while Wake and Miami had three and UVa and NCSU had only one player honored.
** Multiple outlets are reporting that UNC has hired LSU assistant coach Joe Robinson as its new defensive line coach. Robinson's specialty in Baton Rouge was special teams, as LSU's coverage and return teams were among the best in the country (a fact UNC found out during this year's Chick-Fil-A kickoff game). Maybe in addition to his D-line duties he can give some attention to Carolina's deficient special teams.
Robinson will replace Brian Baker, who was on the UNC staff for about an hour and a half before leaving for the Dallas Cowboys for over twice as much money. I highlight that last part because the ABCers seem to have a difficult time with that, spinning all kinds of wild conspiracy theories about Baker's brief tenure in Chapel Hill.
Robinson is a solid hire and LSU fans may wonder what's happening to Les Miles' staff after losing two assistants to the ACC (offensive coordinator Gary Crowton left the Tigers for the same position at Maryland).