Julius Peppers, who played three outstanding seasons with the UNC football program before embarking on a 17-year career in the NFL, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Thursday night in his first year on the ballot. Peppers is now the third Tar Heel to enter the Hall, joining Lawrence Taylor and Chris Hanburger.
A local legend at Southern Nash High School in Bailey, N.C. who played football, basketball and ran track, Peppers arrived in Chapel Hill in 1999. He played three seasons under head coaches Carl Torbush and John Bunting and became one of the most prolific pass rushers in the nation. As a junior in 2001, Peppers was named a unanimous first team All-American and won both the Rotary Lombardi Award (given to the nation’s top interior defensive lineman) and the Chuck Bednarik Award (given to the nation’s top defensive player). To this day, Peppers is the only Tar Heel to win either honor.
In addition to his phenomenal success on the football field, Peppers also found his way onto the basketball court at the Dean Smith Center. Peppers walked on to the men’s basketball team in both the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons. Though he only started three games during those two seasons, Peppers still averaged 5.7 points per game on 60.7 percent shooting. The Tar Heels reached the Final Four with Peppers in 2000 and were briefly ranked No. 1 in the nation in 2001.
After deciding to focus solely on football, Peppers was selected No. 2 overall in the 2002 NFL Draft by his home state’s team: the Carolina Panthers. He quickly established himself as a force in the league, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2002, reaching five Pro Bowls and earning two first team All-Pro honors in eight seasons with the Panthers. He helped lead Carolina to Super Bowl XXXVIII, where he became the only athlete ever to appear in both a Final Four game and the Super Bowl (Donovan McNabb was a member of the Syracuse men’s basketball team which reached the 1996 Final Four, but did not log minutes in the games).
Peppers moved to the Chicago Bears in 2010 and stayed productive, earning three more Pro Bowl nods and another first team All-Pro selection. He played three seasons with the Green Bay Packers from 2014 through 2016 – reaching his ninth and final Pro Bowl in 2015 – before returning to Carolina for his last two seasons. He retired after the 2018 campaign.
Peppers earned the rare honor of being voted to two separate NFL All-Decade teams: the 2000s and 2010s. He is a member of the Panthers’ Hall of Honor and was named one of the 100 Greatest Bears of All Time. His 159.5 career sacks (against 77 different quarterbacks) rank fourth in NFL history, his 52 forced fumbles rank second, and his 37 multiple-sack games are tied for fifth. Peppers racked up 10 NFL seasons with at least 10 sacks, tied for the third-most in league history. He also showcased remarkable durability throughout his career, playing in 266 of a possible 272 games.
“Julius Peppers’ dedication to football at every level epitomizes what a Hall of Famer should be, and we congratulate him wholeheartedly on this much-deserved honor,” said UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham. “He is not only one of the greatest to play football at Carolina, but also one of the greatest to play the game, period. We applaud and appreciate his talent, his generosity, and his legacy.”
UNC head coach Mack Brown, who just missed coaching Peppers during his first stint in Chapel Hill, called him “one of the greatest football players to ever put on the pads.”
Peppers and the Hall’s other new inductees will make their way to Canton, OH for Enshrinement Week starting on August 1. The official enshrinement ceremony will take place at noon on Saturday, August 3 and is open to the public. Tickets are not yet on sale, but fans who want to plan for the event can view the full Enshrinement Week itinerary here.
Featured image via ACC Digital Network
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