The Capital Sports Report

With much of its offense moving on to the NFL, North Carolina has brought in reinforcements in the form of four graduate transfers. The offensive line, including the tight ends, was already the strongest part of the offense coming into 2017. But now they’ve added Cam Dillard, who played at Florida and projects as the starting center. Also, Khaliel Rodgers, who started nine games during his injury-plagued career at Southern Cal, is competing for time at the guard position. “They’re both really good guys off the field and we’re happy to have them,” said senior tackle Bentley Spain, who added […]

UNC coach Larry Fedora got his wish as the media chose his team well down the ladder in the ACC Coastal, which is expected to be a wide-open division. The Tar Heels have lost their starting quarterback and running back who left early for the NFL as well as high-powered receivers who graduated. “They say that 90-something percent of the offensive production is gone,” Fedora said. “The more you guys talk about the guys who left, the better it is for us, It’s motivation for our guys to prove they are good football players.” He “urged” the media to keep […]

Despite coming off a 4-8 season that produced just one ACC win, Duke feels like it can win the Coastal Division but before verbalizing that goal, Coach David Cutcliffe wants the team to tell him its purpose – and the players have until July 30 to come up with an answer. “I want to know what their purpose is and then we’ll get specific about the goal,” Coach Cutcliffe said at the ACC Football Kickoff event in Charlotte Friday. “If you don’t have a real purpose, you’re not going to reach goals.” He gave the example of being stranded in […]

A lot of times when teams are loaded with talented experience, coaches like to downplay it but not N.C. State’s Dave Doeren. In his fifth year at the helm of the Wolfpack, he’s proud that his team is considered a contender due to experience and depth. When he was in his first and second years at State, he said players came because they saw an opportunity. “They saw a chance to play early,” Doeren said at the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte. “We told them they’d have to earn playing time but that the lines are short. We had good […]

Despite off the field concerns hovering over some Atlantic Coast Conference schools, ACC Commissioner John Swofford took a victory lap of sorts in addressing the media at the ACC Football Kickoff event in Charlotte. And why not? ACC teams won the NCAA football and basketball championships. The Heisman Trophy winner and runner-up came from the ACC. And generally, the ACC did extremely well against non-conference foes in most all sports. In addition, the league’s graduation rate for the last school year was 89.3 percent, which is five points ahead of the national average and ahead of the other four major […]

During a three-point shooting contest at the first game of the 39th annual ACC Barnstorming tour (of seniors), UNC’s Kennedy Meeks got to show a little of his inner shooting guard. Not only did he loft several during the game, he made it to the finals of the three-point shooting contest. See the YouTube video to see the barrage. In the second round, he faltered however, and Holly Springs’ High School Senior Jake Kelsey won the contest, making all 10 of his shots. The ACC All-Stars, coached by Phil Ford, were actually led by another coach who suited up – […]

Clifton Barnes, the owner of CapitalSportsNC.com, has won a national award for writing for a series of articles on the website. CapitalSportsNC.com has now won awards four years in a row. The series of articles revolves around former University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith won an Award of Excellence from the DC area-based Communications Concepts through its 2016 Awards for Publication Excellence competition. John De Lellis of Communications Concepts says competition was intense as there were more than 1,600 entries with seven winners in the Writing Series category. Barnes was the only winner in the category from North […]

He could have chosen George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John Adams or Benjamin Franklin. That’s what other kids were doing. But this 9-year-old from Cary, NC chose a North Carolina-product who was a star quarterback for the Washington Redskins in the 1960s and 1970s as his historic figure. Read more. Source:: Redskins