Whether the deterioration of Kentwan Balmer’s situation with San Franciso was related to the NCAA investigation of UNC is hard to tell.

Balmer didn’t show up for practice last Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday was the day former UNC player Cam Thomas told The News & Observer’s Joe Giglio that Balmer had paid for the trip Thomas and Marvin Austin took to California in 2009.

Naturally, reporters were eager to ask Balmer what was going on. But by Wednesday, Balmer was a permanent no-show at the 49ers camp. The view from here seem to connect the NCAA investigation and Balmer’s reticence, but that might not have been the driving factor. Balmer, a No. 1 pick in 2008, couldn’t crack the 49ers starting rotation and apparently was unhappy with his status. San Francisco coach Mike Singletary said it was a “personal matter” and didn’t go further.

San Francisco traded Balmer to Seattle Monday for what the Sacramento Bee reported was a mere 6th-round pick. That’s awfully cheap for a decent defensive lineman and former first-rounder.

“We have strong connections to the 49ers and it is our understanding that Kentwan is ready to play football and in need of a fresh start,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider said.

Sounds like he does. But if he thinks he’ll just move on to Seattle and dodge questions, he’s in for a surprise.

CHAPEL HILL – Donte Paige-Moss has added nearly 40 pounds of muscle from a year ago. But his new strength is only one change for the Northside product as he enters his second football season at the University of North Carolina.

Paige-Moss said some setbacks last season led to a more mature attitude as he expands his role with the Carolina defense.

Paige-Moss, a sophomore, started his UNC career poorly by getting into a dorm-room fight last July. His true freshman season ended when he battled an N.C State player Nov. 28 and was suspended for the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

It was then, Paige-Moss said, that coach Butch Davis called him into his office to review what happened in Raleigh. “Coach Davis told me straight up that if I kept doing those things I wouldn’t be here in any more,” Paige-Moss said Thursday.

From then on, he said, “I changed my attitude on the field and off the field.”
Paige-Moss, sitting Thursday in the swank UNC football offices that overlook Kenan Stadium, knew what was at stake. He would have to harness the fighting instincts he had honed growing up in the Jones County town of Maysville, where he lived before transferring to Jacksonville as a high school junior.

“In that area, it was a lot of negative things,” he said. “Everybody didn’t make it out like I did.”

Many people he knew as a youth, he said, “are either locked up or dead.”

He found an outlet in football, and had a dominant career at Northside High. Scout.com ranked him the No. 1 defensive end prospect in the country, and SuperPrep and Parade picked him to their All-America teams.

“He’s a classic example of a guy who had phenomenal credentials.” Davis said recently. “Guys like him could literally dominate a high school game. He probably never played against somebody on the offensive line who was good enough to block him. But at this level, it’s not enough to rely on God-given ability.”

“That’s kind of the way it was,” Paige-Moss said. “In high school, you find your ‘fanatical freaks.’ But at this level, everybody was on top in high school.”

Paige-Moss started his UNC career as a talented pass-rusher, but he barely understood the subtle skills required of a top defensive end. Since last season, he has added weight and focused on learning how to play the run.

“Last year, what I had was raw talent that could be used for pass rushing,” said Paige-Moss, who is now 6 feet 4 and 269 pounds.

Paige-Moss had only five tackles in 2009. But he will be in UNC’s rotation this season as the backup at left defensive end.

Depth along the defensive line is important for UNC, since the NCAA is investigating the school for actions involving defensive tackle Marvin Austin. Quinton Coples is listed as the preseason starter at defensive left end, but Carolina is also playing Coples at defensive tackle. If Coples starts at tackle for Austin, junior Michael McAdoo will switch from the backup at right defensive end to the starter at left defensive end.

Either way, Paige-Moss will be the No. 2 at left defensive end. Paige-Moss isn’t complaining that McAdoo might move ahead of him and is confident he’ll get plenty of time on the field this fall.

“Maybe last year, I’d be like ‘That’s my spot and I have to have it,’” he said. “But this year, with me more mature, I’m able to accept my role.”

That role could be a significant one as Carolina looks to build depth along the defensive line – and Paige-Moss looks to take advantage of his new muscle and maturity.

The Washington Redskins may have found its fastest player since Darrell Green in the person of Garner native Brandon Banks.

Banks, wearing the No. 16, returned a punt 77 yards for a touchdown in the Redskins 45-17 romp over the Buffalo Bills in preseason action. The Redskins, under new head coach Mike Shanahan, are looking for more production from the special teams, which failed to get a touchdown on any runback last season.

Banks stands just 5-foot-6 and weighs less than 150 pounds. Compare that to hall of famer Darrell Green who was 5-9, 180 pounds and called himself “itty bitty.” While it wasn’t as spectacular as Green’s famous hurdling 50-plus-yard punt return for a TD in the 1987 playoffs against the Bears, Banks blew by and through five or six defenders to remind Redskins’ fans of days gone by.

After getting in the end zone, Banks paid tribute to his fellow Triangle buddy John Wall, the Washington Wizards rookie, by performing Wall’s signature dance. To read more about the connection between the two and to watch the return, please click here.

Receiver Devin Thomas came into the game as the top kick returner while defensive back Phillip Buchanon was slated as the first-team punt returner. Neither distinguished themselves in the game. In fact, Thomas muffed the opening kickoff. (To be fair, Banks earlier dropped a punt as well.) And, depending on other roster desires, Banks, who is listed as a receiver, could fail to make the team because he doesn’t figure to play anywhere else except on special teams.

While it was just one return, if Redskins special teams coordinator Danny Smith goes by his own words, Banks has a good chance of making the team.

“I want a guy that’s sure-handed so we don’t have to worry about catching the ball. I want a guy with a quick first step, I want a guy with toughness, I want a guy with good vision, I want a guy with good balance, I want a guy that can make somebody miss, I want a guy that can take it the distance,” he said.

It appears Banks fits the bill except maybe being “tough.” Although former Redskins returner Brian Mitchell says “toughness” comes down to something besides brute strength or even the physical ability to take a hit. Mitchell says the one muscle they don’t test at combine is heart.

Banks, who went undrafted out of Kansas State, was a two-time all-conference football selection at Garner High School and was named to the USA Today’s All-USA high school track and field team in 2006.

N.C. State hasn’t had five straight losing seasons since 1956, when coach Earle Edwards’ team finished 3-7 overall. That year marked State’s sixth straight losing season before Edwards turned the program around and embarked on a long, and overall successful, career.

That history is a reason why the Wolfpack is entering an important season this fall. State fans have poured time and money into this program, and to see all that net four straight losing seasons is hard to fathom. It’s true that coach Tom O’Brien has had tremendous bad luck with injuries; it’s also true that he is entering his fourth season, and injuries are part of the game.

“You have to win. That shows progress,” O’Brien said in an Associated Press story. “That’s what we haven’t been able to do. … We’ve got to go on and have a winning season and go to a bowl game.”

Say what you want about State fans, but they are amazingly loyal to their program. In this region, only South Carolina football fans have given more – and often received less – than Wolfpack fans. State averaged 56,422 fans for eight home games last year, which is an amazing number for a 5-7 team.

But at some point, as O’Brien understands, you have to win. O’Brien is a smart, tough coach who wants to win and do it the right way. The chaotic ways of the Chuck Amato era have disappeared, but the winning seasons haven’t returned.

The Wolfpack is four seasons into O’Brien’s tenure and still doesn’t project as an upper-half ACC team. This schedule, with Central Florida, Cincinnati and East Carolina among non-conference games, is not easy. Another losing season would be difficult to accept, and certainly make the new chancellor and new athletics director take a long look at how to fix it.

State fans deserve a winner. This season is an important barometer of whether Tom O’Brien can deliver one in West Raleigh.

While most Americans appreciate the various cultures coming together for a melting pot society, most (about 80 percent) do not appreciate illegal immigrants taking advantage of a free public education, free health care and other taxpayer costs to the tune of $113 billion a year, according to one recent study.

The cost of illegal immigration has extended to local youth leagues. For instance, one area soccer league has a scholarship program for children who can’t afford the tuition to play. According to a reliable source, nearly all the money awarded in recent years has gone to Hispanic children whose parents don’t speak English. That is money that could be going to poor American families.

Speaking a foreign language and the inability to speak English, no matter what some open borders types will tell you, is an indicator of being an illegal immigrant. Federal rules say that in order to be a naturalized citizen, one must be able to read, write and speak simple English.

One source in a local youth sports league told me the coaches have to translate and email team instructions and schedules to players in Spanish. That evidently isn’t enough for some Hispanic families who have demanded that they be called each week to get verbal instructions over the phone. Someone who speaks English has to be located while the coach waits on the phone. Other Hispanic families told one coach that their children couldn’t make it to practices often but that they wanted their children to play in the games nonetheless.

One soccer league in particular has a regular league and a travel team league. One source indicated to me that at least two Hispanic families, where the parents don’t speak English, insisted that their children be bumped up to the travel team or the kids wouldn’t play. Not only are travel team players considered better but their tuition to play is at least partly paid for by the league.

So, let me get this straight… a family illegally comes into our country, gets a job that an American would otherwise have (only 12 percent of illegals are employed in the low-desired agriculture field), takes advantage of the public education system, takes advantage of the health care system, etc. and they are so comfortable being here that they are applying for, and getting, money from area sports youth leagues to the detriment of poor American children… and, further, demanding special treatment because they don’t speak English. So much for being in the shadows.

It seems the problem is even worse in border states such as Texas. The Eagle Pass, Texas little league baseball team made it to the U.S. Southwest regional finals this year. That team was fully comprised of Hispanic players whose coach speaks to them in Spanish. The team lost to Pearland, Texas yesterday but could you have imagined if that team represented the U.S. in the World Series. That would be a spit in the face of our sovereignty and our rule of law. In past years, little league teams have been ruled ineligible for having players a few months too old to play. But evidently teams can have players who aren’t even in the country legally and that’s ok.

Some may say that while the parents are illegally here, the children are citizens. That could be true for some of them who have been in the country for more than 12 years (since that’s the age of most little leaguers). The debate rages nationally about whether the 14th Amendment is being interpreted correctly that children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants are or should be considered citizens. One recent study showed that there are 60,000 births per year to illegal alien parents in Texas alone. That includes nearly 12,000 in Parkland Hospital – the hospital where President Kennedy was taken after he was shot in Dallas.

Another study out Thursday indicates that more than eight percent of the children born each year in the U.S. are children of illegal alien parents (termed anchor babies). The study also says that four percent of the people living in the U.S. today are here illegally (of course that doesn’t include the eight percent of children born to illegals each year who are considered citizens).

One local charity, just this year, started a Hispanic Youth Soccer League and advertised for Spanish-speaking coaches. Not only is that accommodating illegal immigration, it is bordering on, if not actually, racist to single out and target a particular race in favor of another. Might there be a poor, white neighborhood of native-born North Carolinians in need of a sports program? Would anyone suggest, support or even allow a White, Native-Born Soccer League?

Even if the charity somehow verified that the participants are legally in our country, should they be excluding other races from participation, isolating one particular race, and working against their assimilation into our society? We certainly don’t want to penalize children who were brought to our country illegally by their law-breaking parents. Nor should we reward them for their parents’ actions.

The affects of illegal immigration are being felt all the way down to the ball fields in the Triangle with special treatment for illegals and special financial advantages for illegals, not to mention the player slots being taken up by illegal immigrants to the detriment of American children.

North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour made a surprise visit to UNC’s football media day, opening a news conference in Chapel Hill by saying he would handle the questions on the NCAA investigation so that coach Butch Davis could deal with football.

Baddour said the NCAA came to Chapel Hill and went over all the issues involved. “It’s very complicated, very detailed and it’s going to take a lot of time to sort it out,” Baddour said.

Baddour said UNC has assembled a team to investigate, including people from the university counsel and athletics compliance. He said he does not have a timetable for when the school might have an answer from the NCAA.

“I have my own personal benchmarks and goals but I don’t want to throw those out because that creates expectations,” Baddour said.

Baddour said he understands the public has a right to know but wants to balance that against the rights of the individuals involved. He said UNC is cooperating completely with the NCAA and, again, said the NCAA did not want details of the investigation to leak out.

After Baddour finished, Davis took the podium and addressed issues involving the team but declined to be specific about the investigation. He said that Carolina would have to address the uncertainty about whether the players could play at some point but said, “We’re not at that point yet.”

However, read the post below to see that UNC is preparing – just in case.