Every offseason, we run historical ranking series focusing on North Carolina basketball and football.

The purpose each spring isn’t to make declarative statements, but to have fun offering a subjective look at the best teams and players ever at Carolina. This effort is to generate discourse, debate, and take UNC fans down memory lane.

This season, we are doing something a little different, combining football and basketball, as we offer our take on the Top 40 UNC football and basketball players of all time. The criteria is quite simple: The process includes playing careers with the Tar Heels and professionally, other relevant impacts they’ve had on their sports, coaching, and championships. We also gave a lean toward all UNC accomplishments.

So, this isn’t a UNC-only list, a pro-only list, or a straight up purely best ever list. Some Tar Heels on this list didn’t have great pro careers but were so good and historic at UNC, they simply had to make the cut. Some on this list weren’t stars at UNC, but had outstanding and/or highly distinguished pro careers, that it warranted their place among these 40 athletes.

We hope you enjoy the list and feel free to disagree, as we know many will.

We continue our countdown with:

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Crumpler’s college stats might not wow anyone – 68 total receptions for 760 yards and five touchdowns – but there was so much more to his game, which was recognized. That is one reason he was named first-team All-ACC three times, first on one of Carolina’s best teams ever in 1997, but still when the Heels had fallen on hard times after Mack Brown left.

He missed the 1998 season after tearing his ACL, but since he played as a true freshman in 1996, Crumpler still had two more years of eligibility.

Crumpler was an outstanding blocker, and his last two seasons endured a period in which the program was in flux and had quarterback issues. As a freshman, the Tar Heels went 10-2 and finished ranked No. 10 in the nation, and as a sophomore, UNC was 11- and was ranked Nos. 4 and 6, depending on the major poll.

That season, Crumpler caught 24 passes for 278 yards and four touchdowns and was fort-team All-ACC.

A second-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001, Crumpler played 155 games, starting 132, and appeared in four Pro Bowls. He caught 373 passes for 4,743 yards and 39 touchdowns. Among his receptions, 221 went for first downs.

He was NFC Offensive Player of the Week twice and NFL Offensive Player of the Week once.