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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 are 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:
No. 34: Kelvin Bryant (1979-82)
A three-time first-team All-ACC running back, Bryant ran for more than 1,000 yards in each of those seasons in helping the Tar Heels to a pair of top-10 final national rankings in 1980 and 1981, and No. 18 in 1982.
UNC was 4-0 in bowl games during Bryant’s four seasons, which included an overall combined record of 37-10-1 for the Tar Heels. UNC won its last ACC championship in football in 1980. Also, The Tar Heels were ranked among the top 10 in 22 weekly polls when Bryant was in the program.
In 1981, Bryant set a UNC record with six touchdowns in the season-opener, then he scored five the following week setting an NCAA record that still stands with 11 TDs in the first two games. His 15 TDs in the first three games that season is a mark that still stands. Had he not torn his knee in the fourth game and missed several games, Bryant very well could have won the Heisman Trophy. He was the early leader when injured and UNC could have ended up playing for something special, too.
Bryant had 3,267 career rushing yards (4th all-time at UNC) and caught 44 passes for 503 yards. He scored 32 rushing touchdowns as a Tar Heel and had six more receiving for a total of 38 touchdowns. Bryant was named to the ACC Top 50 all-time team in 2002
Like a lot of players at the time, Bryant opted for the USFL instead of the NFL out of college, and in 1983 was named the USFL MVP. He was twice an All-USFL selection and played for a USFL champion. He ran for 4,053 yards averaging 5.0 per attempt in the USFL and scored 28 touchdowns. Bryant also caught 141 passes for 1,270 yards and six scores.
In spending four years in the NFL, he won a Super Bowl (XXII) as a prominent member of the Washington Redskins. He was the Redskins’ starting tailback in 1988 rushing for 489 yards on 108 attempts (4.5 average) before when an injury ended his season and essentially ended his career.
His specialty in the NFL was catching passes out of the backfield, which he did 154 times for 1,634 yards and 14 touchdowns. He ran for 1,186 yards and six scores in the NFL.
