Colorado: Quinton Savage

(Note: THI is naming the greatest former UNC football or basketball player from each of the 50 states. The criteria is the player had to live in the state he represents at some point before arriving at UNC. The duration doesn’t matter, he just had to live there. College and pro careers were factored with a lean toward their UNC accomplishments.)

Quinton Savage played at Thomas Jefferson High School in the Denver Prep League earning all-conference honors before transferring to Bethel High School in Hampton, VA, toward the end of his senior season. He grew up in Colorado and was recognized in UNC’s football program as being from Centennial State.

Savage, who was a safety and special teams player, also had an impact on Carolina’s football program, including some of the team’s most exciting plays during his career from 1997-99.

As a redshirt freshman, Savage blocked a punt that was returned for a game-sealing touchdown in a home win over No. 18 Stanford. It came with less than six minutes remaining in the game and the No. 8 Tar Heels leading 21-17. It gave UNC a 28-17 lead, which ended as the game’s final score.

“Special teams, special teams, special teams,” Savage told the Greensboro News & Record after the game. “That's all we've heard from the coaching staff since Florida State's special teams beat us (13-0) last year. And tonight, we finally made a big play.”

Antwon Black, also a freshman safety playing on the punt return team, scooped up the punt in the end zone securing the score for the Tar Heels.

“(Savage) had the ball first and it jumped out of his hands into mine,” explained Black. “I bobbled it, recovered and took it in for the touchdown. It just popped into my hands and I thank God for that.”

The Tar Heels lost once that season, at home to Florida State in a battle of top-five teams, and concluded the campaign with an 11-1 record and No. 4 final national ranking.

In that season’s bowl game, Savage also blocked a punt in UNC’s 42-3 Gator Bowl win over Virginia Tech that Dre’ Bly returned for a touchdown. A year later, Savage blocked a punt in a 20-13 victory over San Diego State that David Bomar returned for a touchdown in the Las Vegas Bowl.

For his UNC career, Savage was in on 101 tackles, broke up six passes and recovered a fumble. He played in 31 games as a Tar Heel, starting six times in 1999.

Savage’s football career ended during his junior season when he fractured his kidney in a game in 1999 versus Wake Forest.