North Carolina's Tate out to prove he's not just a return man

NCAA Football Betting Lines

10/09/2007 -

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -Brandon Tate has spent the first half of the season proving something to coaches who no longer are with North Carolina.

With every acrobatic catch and end-around rush, the Tar Heels receiver has tried to prove that his fired former coaches made a mistake by seemingly pigeonholing him as a kick and punt returner.

Finally given a chance to contribute by new coach Butch Davis, Tate has shown a knack for rolling up yards - and scoring touchdowns - in a variety of ways.

``When I go out there and make great plays, I told the coaches last year I could do it, and I guess they didn't believe me,'' Tate said Monday. ``But they see now.''

His breakout junior season is halfway over, and Tate already has scored three different types of touchdowns this year alone - receiving, rushing and on a punt return.

His 14 receptions are nearly three times as many as he had combined during two seasons under John Bunting - who cast him almost exclusively as a return man - and his 955 all-purpose yards has him in position to challenge Don McCauley's 37-year-old school record of 2,021.

Tate's latest highlight came in last week's win against Miami when he took an end-around 54 yards down the left sideline for the first rushing touchdown of his career. It stands with the three touchdown passes he caught this season, his two career punt-return TDs and the three times in his career in which he brought back a kickoff for a score.

``Reverses to receptions to kickoff and punt returns, he's a field-position changer,'' Davis said. ``Because of his speed ... potentially any play has a chance to maybe go to the house.''

Bunting's failure to involve Tate in the offense may be one reason why he's the Tar Heels' ex-coach since it appears that last season's offense - which was desperate for playmakers - might have had one hidden on the sideline.

Tate said he jokingly lobbied to last year's staff, begging for more involvement, ``because I didn't want them to get mad at me,'' but they never explained why he was stuck behind senior Jesse Holley on the depth chart and couldn't get on the field more often.

He finished last season with five catches for 72 yards, and closed the season against Duke by becoming the ninth player in NCAA history to return a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the same game.

``Sometimes the coaches would tell me I'm going in for certain plays, but they'd never call those plays for me,'' he said. ``They didn't ever say (why). I didn't really ask.''

When Davis arrived and began studying film, he wondered why Tate wasn't a bigger part of the offense. Now he hopes the receiving corps that also includes Hakeem Nicks and Brooks Foster can develop into a pick-your-poison scheme that someday might rival the collection of talent he had in Miami, which at one time boasted future NFL players Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson and Jeremy Shockey.

``As talented as Brandon was a year ago in all the kicking situations (he was) someone that maybe emerged earlier,'' Davis said. ``Not being here and not watching practices, I can't tell you why that maybe was ... We can't get stereotypical. The best teams I've been on have been teams where it's been very difficult to defend just one guy.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

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