Three's Company In The 1,000-Yard Club

ANNAPOLIS, MD – In the end, there were three.

North Carolina entered Friday’s game versus Temple in the Military Bowl with a whole lot of things to accomplish, including four Tar Heels pushing for the exclusive 1,000-yard clubs in their respective statistical zones.

Three Heels met the mark, capping a truly remarkable afternoon in the 55-13 victory and campaign that concludes with Carolina’s trajectory something that will resonate throughout the offseason.

While sophomore running back Javonte Williams fell a bit short of the mark, finishing the season with 933 yards, junior running back Michael Carter, junior wide receiver Dazz Newsome and sophomore receiver Dyami Brown reached their goals, each doing so in the second half as the Tar Heels pulled away from the Owls.

“Amazing,” said Brown, who finished the year with 51 receptions for 1,034 yards and 12 touchdowns, the latter tying him for the UNC single-season mark. “I set a goal for myself at the beginning of the year, really in the springtime. I said, ‘I need a thousand yards.’ And I got it.”

Hakeem Nicks in 2008 and Dwight Jones in 2011 are the other two Heels to haul in as many TD passes as Brown did this season.

Newsome also made no bones about his intent on getting to 1,000 yards, and he did so making a scintillating touchdown catch on an afternoon in which he set a new standard for turning the seemingly impossible into something rather pedestrian. The capper came came with 13:51 remaining and gave UNC a 48-13 lead.

“I was trying to get there, most definitely,” Newsome said, flashing a big smile.

“It’s a special moment for me. I know I set goals, I put goals up on my bedroom wall and I set them for a thousand and 10 touchdowns… and I got them.”

Brown and Newsome (72 receptions, 1,010 yards, 10 scores) are just the fourth and fifth Tar Heels to ever accomplish the feat and are the first Carolina teammates to do it in the same season. Only Nicks (1,222 yards in 2008), Jones (1,196 yards in 2011) and Ryan Switzer (1,112 yards in 2016) had done so before Friday.

Newsome and Brown constantly work out together and spent the entire offseason pushing one another toward their goals. For both get there within about 45 minutes apart is special.

“It means a lot,” Brown said. “Just being with him every day, working with him every day, it means a lot. It’s something that we both earned.”

It took Carter a bit longer, but he got there, too.

He carried the ball on eight consecutive snaps and 10 of 11 on UNC’s final offensive series of the game, crossing the 1,000-yard mark on a four-year run with 2:31 remaining giving him 1,0003 for the season.

With Carter’s number now in the books, Tar Heels have run for 1,000 or more yards 28 times, though just four times since Mack Brown left UNC 22 years ago. Elijah Hood hit the mark in 2015 and Giovanni Bernard did so in 2011 and 2012. In Brown’s 10 seasons in Chapel Hill from 1988-97, six times a Tar Heel ran for 1,000 or more yards.

Carter was obviously thrilled after the game, but what made the achievement more rewarding is that he wasn’t alone in hitting the milestone.

“I think that's more enjoyable then doing it on your own,” he said.

The Tar Heels finished the season 7-6 and on a three-game winning streak having outscored its opponents 152-30 in the stretch. It’s also the last time UNC won its final game since 2013.

And is a season of numerous numerical successes, having three players hit the thousand-yard mark on the same day has to rank up there. It certainly does for the trio who made their history.