MIAMI GARDENS, FL – Eugene Asante finally got his chance Saturday night, and he acquitted himself just fine.

The sophomore linebacker had been waiting his turn behind first-team All-ACC linebacker Chazz Surratt the last two seasons, but with Surratt opting out to concentrate on preparing for the NFL draft, Asante got the call.

And all he did was lead the Tar Heels with 10 tackles, seven of which were solos, and he displayed the sideline-to-sideline speed, the explosiveness into gaps, and a tenacity for finding the ball and meeting the ball in the Tar Heels’ 41-27 loss to No. 5 Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium.

“You start looking at Eugene Asante, I thought he did a good job tonight,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said. “Did he mess some things up? Of course he did because he hasn't played, but he showed that he's got a chance to be a really good player.”

Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman raved about Asante during August camp, assuring he would get on the field and contribute whenever called on. But those opportunities were slim, not because Asante wasn’t panning out, it was more because Surratt was so good.

Bateman admitted last week it was just too hard to remove Surratt from games, so he rarely did. But Asante never complained and prepared each week like he was the starter. He logged just 93 snaps at linebacker all season, but nobody would have guessed it by his performance.

“Eugene played great,” fellow linebacker and seasoned veteran Jeremiah Gemme said. “Every time I sent something back or spilled, he was always right behind me to sit there and make the play.

"If there was a blitz and I had to blitz the B gap and he had to scrape off make the C gap, he made the play. He was on his P's and Q's. He studied, he prepared well, and that showed in the game.”

As Brown said, Asante made some mistakes. He missed a few tackles when he was right there to make a play but just didn’t wrap up the ball carrier. He appeared to turn the wrong way a few times, too. But for the most part, the things he had issues with are fixable, and something an offseason will help take care of.

Yet, Asante’s frustration at times was evident. His intensity to make plays is something that will become more obvious as he plays more, and in sequences it came through during the game, especially when he missed a tackle. But he also took solace in the fact that he was there to make those plays. That’s a start.

“Yeah, certainly I think so,” he said. “I think that when I'm in situations to make tackles, I need to make those tackles. I feel like that's something we stress over here is tackling every day in practice.

“I think when those opportunities present themselves, I need to make those plays. It's great me being in position to make those plays, but I need to make those plays.”

Asante will have plenty more opportunities next fall and beyond. And the 61 snaps he got versus the Aggies will go a long way toward him being that guy Bateman raved about.