The Pros and Cons

What was Larry Fedora thinking when he agreed to give one of his “preferred” walk-on slots in the UNC football program to Drew Davis?

• Maybe he actually needed another quarterback, since the Tar Heels had only four on their roster – three on scholarship and one walk-on. Davis, who was a record-breaking passer at East Chapel Hill High School, makes five.

• Maybe it helped his relationship with East Chapel Hill coach Bill Renner, the father of Fedora’s starting quarterback, Bryn Renner, and Drew Davis’ coach for four years.

• Maybe it boosted the morale of the players he inherited from Davis, many of whom were expecting to have Drew as a teammate before his father was fired. Bryn Renner and Drew Davis are close friends.

• Maybe it was an attempt to close the divide with those fans who are still sore over Butch Davis’ firing and need to get behind Fedora and Chancellor Holden Thorp 100 percent.

• Maybe, after meeting with the young Davis, he was convinced that having him could help field a competitive scout squad and that Drew Davis would not be a distraction to his program.

• Maybe he thought the fair thing was to give the kid a shot, and if he doesn’t live up to the new standards Fedora has set on and off the field for his entire team then Drew can transfer or play club football at Carolina.

• Maybe he wanted tickets to the Panthers-Tampa Bay game this season (JK).

What Larry Fedora must have forgotten, or did not realize, when he offered Drew Davis a walk-on slot:

• That this kid is Butch Davis’ son, making the Davis parents part of the Carolina football family, insuring that the media and message board gooks would make it a distraction for his program.

• That UNC wants a complete, uncompromised separation from the Butch Davis era.

• That it might be risky to take the son of a coach who was fired and is still vindictive toward the Chancellor and others he believed had him dismissed unjustly.

• That the chance any controversial information that leaked out of his locker room would be linked to Butch’s kid, fair or not.

• That it would bring scandalized tutor Jennifer Wiley’s name back into play because Drew studied under her when he was in high school.

• That it would royally toast those supporters who have since turned on Davis and now see him as a mistake hire who led a program to NCAA probation and is keeping the $1.8 million balance of his severance over a carefully worded new job description with the NFL Bucs.

• That this is Chapel Hill (with Duke eight miles down the road and N.C. State 20 miles away), where no one lets you forget anything.