University of North Carolina Athletics

It's a big year for Julius Peppers – in July he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and in December he'll be celebrated in Las Vegas when he's inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

In his introductory speech three months ago in Canton, Ohio, Peppers thanked the coaches Mack Brown and Donnie Thompson, “for coming to Bailey, North Carolina and making me realize that Chapel Hill was the place I needed to be” when they secured his commitment to the Tar Heels in 1997. He also thanked his head football and basketball coaches, Carl Torbush and Bill Guthridge, for giving him the opportunity to become one of the most decorated dual-sport stars in collegiate history. And he paid tribute to another Tar Heel.

“I’m not going to sit up here and act like my idol, and one of the reasons I went to Chapel Hill is not in the building,” Peppers said. “The GOAT, his airness, Michael Jordan. MJ, I want to thank you for the inspiration and memories. I love you, big brother.”

Pep, MJ and the Tar Heels. That's quite a trifecta.

Make sure you're in your seat at Kenan Stadium on Saturday when Peppers delivers his College Football Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute during halftime of the first quarter and his during the first TV timeout of the second quarter Induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be honored. And we can all think back to the greatest Julius Peppers moments while wearing the Carolina blue and strolling across the lawn or the hardwood. Which were the biggest?

Was it Peppers who plucked a ball out of the air at Duke in 2000, galloped 27 yards to a touchdown and leapt over the goal line? Was it great that No. 49 fended off two blockers at Clemson in 2001, jumped to block a pass from Woodrow Dantzler and then held the ball as it fell to the ground? Has he often turned a left tackle like a top on the way to the quarterback or even pushed the tackle into the quarterback while making a tap? both to the lawn?

Was it Peppers in his third basketball game as a Tar Heel early in the 1999 season in Buffalo during the winter with an acrobatic dunk that was shown on ESPN's Sports Center and had the entire team laughing when he watched the clip later on the team bus? Or at Georgia Tech, when he started from the corner, caught a lob thrown from behind, arched his back, caught the ball and delivered a thunderous dunk? Or that six-point, two-block, great defensive game against an athletic Tennessee team in the 2000 Sweet 16 on the way to the Final Four?

Certainly a difficult choice.

Basketball was his first love.

Football was his business decision.

Things were going well for Peppers, who wowed Tar Heel fans and the ACC with his football and basketball exploits from 1999 to 2001 and went on to a long career in the NFL.

“He really liked basketball the most,” said Brown, who recruited the Peppers out of Southern Nash High in the mid-1990s and received a commitment before heading to Texas after the 1997 season. “I told him football was his future, it was his best sport. I said, 'We'll let you play basketball, go and enjoy it, but this is where you make your money.'”

Brown pauses and smiles, knowing Peppers has amassed around $160 million in career earnings.

“He owes me something,” he says.

Peppers grew up in Bailey, a town halfway between Zebulon and Wilson in Nash County. He was a three-sport star and attracted national recruiting interest because of his eye-popping numbers and incredible athletic ability, which allowed him to do 100-yard backflips the length of a football field while wearing full pads and a helmet. Young Julius was called “Big Head” by his mates because he wore size XXX hats and caps, and he stuffed his feet into running shoes two sizes too small because the 18s that fit him weren't available (he was Second in the race). Triple jump in the state track competition anyway).

Peppers committed to Carolina in the summer of 1997, beginning his senior season, but continued to receive recruiting offers from Tennessee, Nebraska, Penn State, Virginia and Florida State, among others, as he completed a career in which he rushed for 3,500 yards and points 46 touchdowns during the game came from defense.

“When we saw him play, he was so much bigger than everyone else, he just ran through everyone,” Brown remembers. “He could be a running back. Then he wanted to be either a defensive end or a tight end. We thought he could be a freak on defense.”

“He’s tough to tackle,” Southern Nash coach Ray Davis said. “Sometimes it looks like there are ants crawling on his back.”

Peppers briefly resigned after Brown left for Texas in early December 1997, but after Torbush was named Brown's successor, Torbush's first call after the introductory press conference was to Peppers. Torbush reiterated that Peppers could play basketball for the Tar Heels and that he would retain Thompson, who led the Peppers' recruiting and was the defensive ends coach.

“I just realized one of my dreams,” Torbush said. “Julius, I hope you still come to Carolina and pursue your goal.”

One of the reasons Peppers liked Carolina was the fact that both coaching staffs were willing to give him a chance at both sports.

“My passion was basketball,” Peppers said. “Part of the story is that I had to be somewhat convinced to try out for the football team in high school. So when I had the opportunity to accept the football scholarship and try out for the basketball team, it was something I wanted. I couldn't pass it up.

As a redshirt freshman in 1999, Peppers ended up starting 11 games and led the team with 10 tackles-for-loss and six sacks. As a sophomore, he was named first-team All-ACC and led the nation with 15 sacks, one shy of Lawrence Taylor's 1980 record.

Kenny Browning, the Tar Heels' defensive coordinator in 2000, remembers how important Peppers and his defensive teammates, tackle Ryan Sims and nose guard Anthony Perkins, were to a unit that featured three freshmen in the secondary.

“Julius had five sacks at Virginia this year,” Browning said. “We dominated Pitt up front and shut down two of their quarterbacks. I planned the game for him. We were so young at the back, if we hadn't put a lot of pressure on the quarterback it would have been disastrous.” Julius He was always physically gifted, but people tried to belittle his intelligence, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. Once he was a smart football player, and that was it.

During his first year at Carolina, Peppers attended basketball games at Woolen Gym with other football players, sometimes including basketball players such as Ed Cota. Cota raved to Guthridge about Peppers' prospects as a basketball player.

“Ed really convinced Coach Guthridge what a good basketball player Julius could be,” says Pat Sullivan, then a young assistant coach who is now on Hubert Davis’ staff. “I’m not sure how much Coach Guthridge was into the idea. But he trusted Ed. Ed was persistent. He recognized the talent.”

As soon as the 1999 football season ended, Peppers moved to the Smith Center and joined a team led by Cota and 7-footer Brendan Haywood. Sullivan remembers an early practice in which Peppers sprained his ankle, gritted his teeth and waved off a suggestion that he take a break.

“I thought that was the kind of toughness we needed,” Sullivan said. “He brought a different element, some football mentality. During our run to the Final Four in 2000, we beat Missouri and Stanford, two rough and tumble teams. “We became kind of a rough and tumble team, not just your typical, free-flowing Carolina team.” We got into a bit of a mess and I credit Julius with helping us with that.”

Peppers was a key part of the rotation of the team that reached the Final Four. As a sixth man, he averaged 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds.

“Julius was a godsend, the missing piece for us,” Guthridge said. “I hate to think about how this season could have ended without him.”

Ronald Curry, another two-sport phenom who played quarterback on the football team, joined the basketball team the next year, and the Tar Heels won 15 straight games early and were No. 1. However, they lost to Penn State in the second Round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament, where the Peppers posted 21 points and 10 rebounds.

“I'll tell you one thing: I think if Pep had just focused on basketball, he could have played in the NBA,” said Matt Doherty, who replaced Guthridge as Carolina's head coach in the 2000-01 season. “He had a feel for the game. He wasn't just a rebounder or banger. He could pass the ball, make the 15-18 foot shot and had soft hands.”

After the 2000-01 basketball season, Peppers decided to focus on football during his junior season – which would be his fourth and final as a Tar Heel.

“I will miss basketball, but I think I will be a much better soccer player now that I am training for it like a normal player,” he said. “I still believe I could make an impact in the NBA if I dedicated myself to basketball. But my coaches say I could be another Lawrence Taylor or Jevon Kearse in football. I now see football as my job and my biggest challenge.”

Peppers had an outstanding senior year in 2001. He was first on the team with three interceptions, 19 tackles-for-loss and 9.5 sacks. His only blemish was that he played virtually no role in Carolina's game at Texas – just a deflected pass on the stat line for Peppers as the Longhorns beat the Tar Heels 44-14.

That's because Brown, then in his fourth season leading the Longhorns, and offensive coordinator Greg Davis refused to let the opponent's best player beat them. They planned their offense so that Peppers was blocked on every play by the opposing tackle and another player, sometimes two.

“We used him as a double player every game,” Brown said. “It took two players but we kept him out. Sometimes the greats get frustrated if you discourage them early on. They're used to making plays, and they lose their lead when you take them out.” . If you let them start, you’ll have a mess.”

Peppers has certainly caused a lot of trouble for opponents across the ACC and the NFL for two decades.

“I always hated it when someone new came in and people wanted to say, 'This kid is another Julius Peppers,'” said Browning, who was on the Carolina team from 1994 to 2011. “I said absolutely not. This guy was a generational talent. That doesn't mean the new guy can't be a great player. But comparing him to Julius? That's not fair. Nobody can be another Julius Peppers.” “

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has been writing about Tar Heel football under the banner Extra Points since 1990 and has been reporting from the sidelines on radio shows since 2004. Write to him at [email protected] and follow him @LeePaceTweet.