HILL, N.C. — Marvin Austin, Greg Little and Robert Quinn have a lot in common … unfortunately for them, too much.
By Streeter Lecka, Getty Images
North Carolina products Robert Quinn, left, and Marvin Austin, right, both could be first-round picks in the NFL draft
By Streeter Lecka, Getty Images
North Carolina products Robert Quinn, left, and Marvin Austin, right, both could be first-round picks in the NFL draft
They were highly coveted high school recruits who went on to star for the University of North Carolina's football team, and all of them could have NFL homes by the completion of the draft's second round Friday night.
But none played a down in 2010 after being ruled ineligible, each guilty of accepting improper benefits from agents.
Yet for NFL general managers titillated by their talent but torn by the trouble, perhaps they need look no further than UNC for an endorsement of a trio who embarrassed their school, failed their teammates and crippled the Tar Heels' chances to earn their first Bowl Championship Series bid.
"All three of them hurt. They really, truly were remorseful. They were just devastated by their own stupidity, their own ego, allowing themselves to get caught up in it," head coach Butch Davis said.
Little seems to actually appreciate the adversity.
"I think it was a good thing for me," he says. "If it didn't happen in college, it would have poured over into the NFL. I'm thankful I learned those lessons."
But it was a painful conclusion to reach.
"I was so close to everyone on the team, from walk-ons to fifth-year seniors. It was so bad, I couldn't even watch the games sometimes," he says.
Austin does not accept all of the blame for his troubles.
"Given my background, being from an urban area of (Washington) D.C., my appearance with my (dread)locks, people form a perception," Austin says. "It was easy for them to point the finger and say, 'He's just another one of those (thug) athletes.' I've never been in any (legal) trouble — ever."
He doesn't view his transgressions (including three trips to Miami) as especially egregious.
North Carolina's football program might play second banana to its basketball team, but the Tar Heels have sent their share of first-rate players Hall of Fame linebackers Chris Hanburger and Lawrence Taylor, Jeff Saturday, Julius Peppers and Willie Parker to name a few to the NFL. At least four more potential Pro Bowlers could be drafted this year:
The skinny: He swallows running backs, dominates offensive linemen at the point of attack, terrorizes quarterbacks and can play inside or out.
The skinny: He's still recovering from a torn knee ligament suffered late in the 2010 season. Otherwise this explosive playmaker would be a surefire first-rounder.
The skinny: He's a strong, chiseled athlete who played running back during his first two years. He is fast, has great hands and is scary with the ball, but he needs refinement.
The skinny: He might work as a linebacker in a 3-4 defense, but Davis prefers him at defensive end in a 4-3, lauding his ability to pursue quarterbacks and stop the run.
Compiled by Nate Davis
"It was like being caught on the Fourth of July for shooting firecrackers. You know you're not supposed to, but everybody does it … receives extra benefits," he recently told ESPN's Outside the Lines. "It's something that has plagued college football for years."
Davis explained why he chose to help them onto roads of redemption.
"They are kids; this is an educational institution," said Davis, who saw a teachable moment at hand while deciding to allow the players — none of whom has graduated — to use the campus facilities to work out after the season and participate in the school's heavily attended March 31 pro day, which came a month after the Tar Heels sent 12 players to the NFL scouting combine, more than any other program.
"Here's a great opportunity to learn one of life's unbelievable lessons," Davis said of including the players, cautionary reminders to their ex-teammates. "What happens if you make a mistake? How do you change your perception? How do you rebuild your reputation? How do you restore your credibility?"
It hasn't been easy.
"(Someone) called me an 'excuse-making con artist,' " recalled Austin, a dominant 6-2, 309-pound defensive tackle who likely would have been a first-round pick had he entered the 2010 draft after his junior season. "I have owned up to everything I did. It is extremely hard to make a mistake today because there is so much media attention. I think I'm still paying a price.
"For the most part, a majority of teams — to be brutally honest — said, 'We want to know what went on, but that's not why we have you here.' They are in the football business. Most teams did not grill me about it."
Davis consulted with UNC's chancellor and athletics director before welcoming back the troika who were primarily responsible for the undoing of last year's team, opting to serve as an advocate.
"Every single time that they had an opportunity to publicly state and take ownership of what they did, never one time did they ever blame somebody else," Davis says. "They said, 'I made a mistake, I made a bad choice, I regret it.'
"Prior to that they had three phenomenally gifted years, they played well, they'd been in academic good standing, they'd been successful players. We all somewhat deemed that kids make mistakes.
"They learned something, it hurt us. But we had to move on. (Let's) put closure to the end of it. ... It was just the best way for everybody to kind of heal."
And it seems the players have convalesced nicely.
Quinn, an explosive 6-4, 265-pound pass rusher who was first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference in 2009 as a sophomore when he had 11 sacks, is regarded as a top-10 prospect. He has tried to prepare himself for the rigors of a pro season by training with former NFL wide receiver Don Beebe.
"Had he played this year, not had the suspension, he's a top-three pick," ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. says.
Austin is again a borderline first-rounder. He appreciates the help the university extended.
"They understood we made mistakes," he says. "I am Tar Heel born, Tar Heel bred; when I die I will be Tar Heel dead. That's our saying. That's the way they approached it."
Austin was the defensive engine, commanding frequent double teams that helped turn Quinn loose, and a catalyst for the program's revival. He quickly helped Davis put the program back on the map after a decade-long fallow period. His decision to go to Chapel Hill with the new coach in 2007 blazed a trail other blue-chippers followed.
"He was the prize recruit; he was the signature player," NFL Network analyst and former league executive Michael Lombardi says, adding Austin's ability compares favorably to Alabama defensive tackle Marcell Dareus (whom some scouts regard as the draft's best player). "He's a top-10 talent."
All three have persistently tried to work into the league's good graces. Still, some clubs might steer clear even though Davis says he has fielded "dozens and dozens of calls" from teams seeking insights.
"I think anytime you have red lights you put extra work into it," NFL Network analyst and former league general manager Charley Casserly says. "The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior when you're dealing with young people.
"You're guessing at the end of the day."
Cleveland Browns GM Tom Heckert, who holds the sixth pick of the first round, is weighing Quinn's upside while assessing game video of him from 2009.
"Obviously, it's a thing you'd rather not have to deal with. You'd like to see him play this year," Heckert says. "You just have to kind of use your judgment."
Poor judgment could most penalize Little (6-5, 231 pounds), who converted from tailback to receiver after two years at Carolina and displayed soft hands and exceptional run-after-catch prowess along with 4.5 speed. He caught 62 passes for 724 yards and five TDs as a junior in 2009. But his lack of polish at wideout could drop him into the second- to fourth-round range.
"He could've benefited most by playing," says NFL Network analyst Bucky Brooks, a former NFL player and scout and a UNC alumnus.
Being cast out hurt Quinn, who continued attending classes in 2010 despite his suspension.
"I would be sitting in the stands thinking, 'That's where I should be,' " he says of the field. "Once I got the final word that I couldn't come back, that's when it really hit me. There was no hope.
"But you have to make a positive out of a negative. We learned from our mistakes, and it opened our eyes."
It wasn't the first time Quinn had a reality check. He had surgery for a benign brain tumor in high school and still has regular checkups.
"Things happen. There's no point in holding grudges," he says. "That ain't going to do nothing but kill you faster."
The consequences of his self-described immaturity — "I was so naïve that I (thought) I could be that invisible and not get caught," Little admits now — reached beyond his Tar Heels family.
"It really hurt my parents, because they had to go to work and be asked about it all the time," Little says. "It brought me back down to earth. (My actions) affected so many people indirectly."
Austin was plagued by his mistakes amid a wasted senior year.
"When the game was taken from me, it was extremely hurtful. I never want to feel that way again; I never will go back to that place, I promise you," he says.
"I came back to school," he said. "I didn't come back to party and have fun — I came back to win a national championship."
That dream unraveled quickly.
Davis, who'd picked up the pieces of a program run amok before rebuilding a juggernaut in Miami a decade earlier, was entering his fourth season with the Heels with his recruiting classes in full bloom. "Obviously, we were very optimistic about the 2010 season," he says.
But the potential path to a title began dead-ending last summer as the players' missteps — they were accused of accepting trips and jewelry — began coming to light in late June, spurring an NCAA investigation. Other players later were accused of academic misconduct involving a former tutor.
Sixteen players were suspended for the opener at LSU. Two were later cleared before kickoff, and five more were subsequently exonerated of any wrongdoing. But the die was cast. The depleted Tar Heels finished 8-5, though their Music City Bowl triumph was the first bowl win in Davis' four-year tenure.
It was a Pyrrhic victory. Several players were suspended for varying portions of the season. Little and Quinn were stripped of their eligibility. Austin was dismissed from the team. The NCAA's final ruling is pending.
"It took awhile to change the culture of the locker room, recruit all these guys," Davis says. "We felt like we were going to put ourselves in a position to really compete for the ACC championship and hopefully — maybe — something beyond that.
"It was disappointing."
Unsavory influences had been hovering, a development Davis foresaw and warned all his players about. "We had done an awful lot with these guys to try to prevent this particular type of thing," he says.
But Austin, Little and Quinn didn't listen.
"It was tough to lose them, tough to suspend them, then eventually have the NCAA take them away," says Davis. "But you also know they are kids. ... You don't want that one thing to be the defining moment of their life."
Quinn is looking forward to putting Carolina quandary behind him.
"I don't want to speak for everybody, but I'm sure I can," he says. "We are real excited and can't wait to show people what we are really about."
Little hopes to capitalize on a fresh start.
"I want to share my story with kids, get into some type of social work," he says. "I want to let them know that there are things such as second chances.
"Once you've been given that second chance, it's not worth anything if you don't do anything with it."
The Tar Heels seem to be again loaded with talent heading into 2011, and Brooks says the players who stepped in for their suspended counterparts blossomed.
"It may be a blessing in disguise going forward for the development of the program," Brooks says.
Davis just hopes others heed the lessons of his former stars' choices.
"You'd like to see those guys come back and be the voice of reason and education," he says, "(Saying to kids), 'Don't make the mistakes that I made. Don't put your own ego, your own pride (at stake). Enjoy and cherish your college experience. The NFL's gonna be there when you get done. ' "
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