July 27, 1999

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Coaches across the Atlantic Coast Conference agree that North Carolina quarterback Ronald Curry is one of the league's future stars. The Tar Heels need that future to be now.

After posting 10-2 and 11-1 seasons with top 10 rankings, North Carolina slipped to 7-5 last year and out of the national spotlight in Carl Torbush's first full season replacing Mack Brown.

Curry, the national prep player of the year, was thrust into action four plays into the season when starter Oscar Davenport was injured. With instability, immaturity and injuries at several key positions, the Tar Heels started 0-3 and ended up with the school's worst offensive output since 1990.

But Curry showed promise - at least as a dangerous runner - in the tail end of the season as North Carolina won seven of its final nine games as the rookie QB was named MVP of the Las Vegas Bowl. Now, the sophomore two-sport player has been handed the starting job with only freshman Luke Huard as backup.

"I think Ronald will be a lot more polished and a lot more mature quarterback," Torbush said when asked what he expected from Curry this season. "He got out of a lot of bad situations last year because of athletic ability and he will be able to do the same thing this year, but I don't feel he'll have to rely on doing that this year."

Curry worked hard on his passing game this spring and seemed more at ease with the North Carolina offense. However, he'll still be a major threat to tuck the football away and take off at any moment.

"There is no doubt he's awfully hard to tackle one-on-one in the open field, so we don't want to take that away from him," Torbush said. "We don't want to make him so polished that we take away what makes him a great, athletic quarterback."

Curry will welcome the return of all-ACC tight end Alge Crumpler, who missed last season with a knee injury, and tailback Domonique Williams, who didn't play because of academic problems.

Meanwhile, Torbush's defense has taken tremendous hits over the last two seasons. For example, 14 defensive players from the 1997 team are on NFL rosters.

North Carolina gave up 347 yards a game last season - the program's worst in nine years. And after allowing 10.0 points a game in '96 and 13.0 in '97, the Tar Heels surrendered 24.6 last season.

"Losing some great players had something to do with (the statistics), but the biggest thing is we gave up way too many big plays," said Torbush.

Linebacker Brandon Spoon, a 6-foot-2, 240-pounder, is the leading returning tackler in the ACC, but the Tar Heels are extremely thin in the secondary and will be somewhat inexperienced up front. North Carolina has only two cornerbacks on scholarship, Torbush calling that fact his biggest concern.

"If I were a fan, or a sportswriter or whatever I would say we're a big question mark," said Torbush. "When you lose the type of players we've lost on defense the last two years - 17 to the NFL - that tells you where we've been. Now, we're going to be a very, very young defense, but we're got some good athletes."

The Tar Heels can't afford another poor start, considering the early competition. North Carolina plays Virginia, Florida State and Georgia Tech - the top three teams in the ACC preseason poll - by mid October.

One talk show even predicted the Tar Heels might start the season with five straight losses.

"That's two more than 0-3, isn't it?" said Torbush, referring to last year's disastrous start. "No, I don't need any more of that. If you look at the schedule somebody who doesn't know anything could say that. I can tell you this, our players and coaches don't feel that way."

A winning mark this year would give the Tar Heels a record 10 straight winning seasons. North Carolina is also the only Division I.A. team to win a bowl game in each of the last four seasons.