No. 3: Julius Peppers
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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No. 3: Julius Peppers (1998-2001)
Peppers was second-team All-America in 2000, first-team All-America in 2001, and won the Lombardi Award and Bednarik Award in 2001. He was named the nation’s top two-sport athlete in 2001 by The Sporting News, finished 10th in the Heisman balloting in 2001, was a two-time first-team All-ACC member, named to the Freshman All-America team in 1998, and named to the 50-year 50 Greatest ACC Players Ever team.
He led the nation with 15 sacks as a sophomore in 2000 while also setting a school record with 24 tackles for a loss of yardage that season. He had a career 53 tackles for a loss of yardage and 30.5 sacks. A defensive end, he intercepted three passes as a junior, returning one for a touchdown, and had five interceptions for his UNC career with two TDs while also returning a fumble for a touchdown. Pepper forced five fumbles as a Tar Heel, as well.
Peppers also played two years of basketball with the Tar Heels, including on the 2000 Final Four team and the 2001 squad that was reached the No. 1 ranking for a few weeks. He was a key reserve on both teams, logging plenty of minutes. A sometimes-theatrical player with a flair for thunderous and entertaining dunks, he averaged 5.7 points and 3.7 rebounds off the bench. He shot 60.7 percent from the field.
Professionally, Peppers played 17 seasons in an NFL career that will eventually land him in the Hall of Fame. He was All-Pro nine times, was on the NFL All-Decade team twice, for the 2000s and the 2010s. Peppers finished his career with 719 tackles,
He was NFL Defensive Player of the Week 13 times and was NFL Defensive Player of the Month five times. Peppers is fourth all-time with 159.5 career sacks. He intercepted 11 passes, forced 52 fumbles, recovered 21 fumbles, and scored six defensive touchdowns.
UNC has had some amazing athletes in its history, but few have ever been quite like Julius Peppers.