North Carolina is adding some depth to its defensive line for 2011. On Thursday, the Tar Heels announced that Sylvester Williams, a 6-foot-3, 320-pound defensive tackle from Coffeyville (Kan.) Junior College has signed a national letter of intent and will enroll in January. He will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Williams did not begin playing organized football until his senior season at Jefferson City (Mo.) High School, according to UNC. He enrolled at Coffeyville in January, 2009. He earned first-team all-conference and first-team all-region honors in 2010 and was an honorable-mention NJCAA All-America.

Last season he had 52 tackles, including 12.5 for a loss and two sacks, two pass break-ups, a forced fumble, and five blocked kicks.

Art Chansky was once known for signing off his sports radio opinion pieces with the words, “See ya,” and was even jeered at Cameron Indoor Stadium for that. Now, it’s Learfield Sports saying just that to Chansky.

Chansky is a bright, talented journalist who did a splendid job at the Durham Herald-Sun before moving to the UNC network. He has written books, been on the radio and had the sort of multi-faceted, and long, career many dream of having. His body of work is one that exudes intelligence and insight.

Unfortunately, his email to UNC chancellor Holden Thorp showed poor judgment on two fronts. WTVD has the entire e-mail up on its website. In the e-mail, Chansky explains that “if” Thorp decides to fire Butch Davis and look for a new football coach, two of Chansky’s former fraternity brothers, Jim Delany and Eddie Fogler, can help. You can’t help but read the e-mail and sense Chansky is advocating the firing of Davis.

But he also “outs” Delany and Fogler, who, he says, have quietly helped schools find new coaches. Chansky writes that Delany’s “love and loyalty for this university is unquestioned.” Delany, by the way, is the commissioner of the Big Ten, and those words would surely make him squirm.

Chansky writes that Fogler has been behind the scenes helping schools like Kansas State, Michigan, Indiana and South Carolina find basketball coaches. So now, Fogler’s work is in the open.

What the e-mail was really designed to do was tell Thorp that Delany and Fogler might be available to help once Davis was removed. And Chansky intended this as a private conversation, as he noted at the end with, “I reiterate this will remain strictly between us.”

Well, no it won’t. Led by The News & Observer, the local media outlets have been pouring over e-mails to UNC about the football program, and Chansky should have known his e-mail could turn up. WTVD reported he was fired Wednesday after 18 years, although Gary Sobba, the head of Tar Heel Sports Properties, insisted to the station that he resigned.

Either way, the outcome is the same. It’s an unfortunate end to a great run with the UNC network.

For only the second time in its history, the Atlantic Coast Conference has had three of its football student-athletes chosen as unanimous All-Americas, the league announced Wednesday. Boston College sophomore linebacker Luke Kuechly, Clemson junior Defensive End Da’Quan Bowers and Florida State senior offensive guard Rodney Hudson Tuesday were all named first-team All-Americas by the Sporting News.

Kuechly from Cincinnati, Ohio, Bowers from Bamberg, S.C., and Hudson, from Mobile, Ala., had previously been named first-team All-Americas by the Associated Press, the American Coaches Football Association (AFCA), the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and the Walter Camp Foundation.

Additionally the trio were also named first-team All-America by SI.com,CBS.com, Rivals.com and Scout.com, giving each nine first-team All-America citation.

The three unanimous All-America selections ties the ACC’s all-time high of unanimous All-Americas set in 2004 when Virginia’s Heath Miller, Florida State’s Alex Barron and Antrel Rolle of Miami all earned unanimous All-America honors.

North Carolina’s Bruce Carter, a senior linebacker, had ACL reconstruction surgery on his left knee Tuesday morning, the school announced, and he is out for the bowl. game against Tennessee.

Dr. Jeff Spang performed the surgery in Chapel Hill, according to the school. Carter, a native of Havelock, injured his knee against N.C. State on Nov. 20. Carolina said he is expected to play football again in 2011. But that injury is something that will concern NFL teams.

Also, UNC senior guard Alan Pelc had surgery Monday to repair his left shoulder. Dr. Alex Creighton performed the surgery at UNC Hospitals. A native of Houston, Texas, Pelc will begin rehabilitation immediately and also will not play in the bowl game against the Volunteers.

“Bruce and Alan have meant so much to this program,” head coach Butch Davis said in a statement. “They have been great kids, great leaders and, most importantly, they will graduate Sunday with a degree from the University of North Carolina. Obviously, we are disappointed for them that they will not be able to play in the bowl game. However, our main concern is their health and preparing for the future.”

Carter started 43 games at Carolina, including 10 this season. Pelc started 34 games in his career, including 11 this season. He graded out over 75 percent in 2010 while playing offensive guard and center.

Duke freshman Kyrie Irving is out indefinitely after suffering a toe injury on his right foot in last Saturday’s win over Butler, the school announced Wednesday afternoon.

There is no timetable for his return.

“Kyrie is going to miss an undetermined amount of time with the toe injury,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. “Our medical staff will continue to monitor the recovery process and he will return to action once it has sufficiently healed. Kyrie is an outstanding player and we are confident that he will bounce back from this setback.”

Irving is averaging 17.4 points per game and ranks in the top 10 of the ACC in six statistical categories (scoring, assists, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, steals and assist-to-turnover ratio).

The injury is a blow to the Blue Devils, but they do have depth in the backcourt. Nolan Smith can handle the ball, and Andre Dawkins and Seth Curry have shown they can contribute, although neither is a point guard.

The fact that N.C. State wound up in the Champs Sports Bowl says a great deal about how this team and the Wolfpack fan base are viewed.

Virginia Tech was headed to the Orange Bowl – that was a given. And Florida State fit the ACC’s No. 2 bowl, the Chick-fil-A. That left the Champs picking third, and looking at a Wolfpack team that is 8-4 overall and 5-3 in league play.

By ACC rules, the Champs could take any team within one game in the ACC standings of the highest remaining team. Maryland, N.C. State and Miami were 5-3 in ACC play, and Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Boston College and Clemson were all 4-4. But Maryland doesn’t travel and Miami is in disarray.  So State, with an exciting quarterback and a program thrilled to be back in the bowl picture, made sense.

By the way, here were the order of selections for the ACC’s remaining bowls:
No. 4 – the Sun took Miami
No. 5 – the Meineke Car Care took Clemson, in part because UNC has made so many Charlotte appearances
No. 6 – the Music City took Carolina
No. 7 – the Independence Bowl took Georgia Tech
No. 8 – the Military Bowl in Washington, D.C., got a boost with an 8-4 Maryland team to pair with East Carolina
No. 9 – Boston College, as always, got shipped to San Francisco for the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

By the way, if you wanted an illustration of why Tom O’Brien left Boston College, this was it. N.C. State, with a big fan base, gets a high bowl and Boston College, as is often the case, gets the left-overs.

North Carolina ended up with an attractive bowl option Sunday when it accepted an invitation to play in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30, in Nashville, Tenn., against the University of Tennessee. The game, at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN, marks the first the Tar Heels have faced the Volunteers since 1961.

Obviously, the Tar Heels drew a tough assignment playing Tennessee in the Volunteers home state, but it sure beats being banished to a lower bowl with little interest. Nashville is reachable for most fans, a cool place to visit, and there will be some energy in the stadium. And to be honest, this is hardly an unbeatable Vols team.

“Our fans have been tremendous this year, setting a school record for average attendance (58,250),” UNC athletics director Dick Baddour said in a statement. “This bowl game is another fantastic opportunity to support this Tar Heel team and recognize the accomplishments of an outstanding senior class.”

Head coach Butch Davis said, “I congratulate our team, and especially the 17 seniors, for the extraordinary job they’ve done in leading our program to a third consecutive bowl appearance. Regardless of the situation, this team fought week after week to make our fans proud. We look forward to representing North Carolina against a talented Tennessee team.”

Carolina (7-5, 4-4 ACC) is in a bowl game for the third straight season, the school’s longest streak since going to seven straight bowl games from 1992-98. The Music City Bowl is Carolina’s 28th all-time postseason bowl game, but first in Nashville, which is hosting its 13th bowl game.

Carolina and Tennessee will be meeting for the 32nd time, and first since a 22-21 UNC win in 1961. The Volunteers lead the overall series, 20-10-1. Tennessee (6-6, 3-5 SEC) won just two of its first eight games this year, but rallied to win four straight and qualify for postseason play.

North Carolina looked like a different team against Kentucky, and you can’t help but be impressed by the Tar Heels’ effort and determination in Saturday’s 75-73 win at the Smith Center.

First of all, Carolina’s defense was much improved over previous games. The Wildcats couldn’t get good shots off in the final four minutes, and that allowed the Heels to grasp control. Justin Watts, as previously mentioned, is emerging as one of the Heels’ best defensive players, and astute fans noticed he was on the floor often in the closing minutes.

It helps UNC that Reggie Bullock is now healthy and in the rotation. Coach Roy Williams subs him in for Harrison Barnes and also used a lineup that had Barnes at power forward (for John Henson) and Bullock at small forward.

Henson had a tremendous first half, but the star of this game was Tyler Zeller. Zeller is playing like an elite ACC player and scored against Kentucky’s burly inside players. It was obvious Carolina fed him the ball on sets in the closing minutes. Zeller isn’t Tyler Hansbrough – yet – but he produced like him on Saturday. His 27 points was impressive enough, but the calm he showed at the foul line, hitting all of his six free throws in the final 90 seconds, was extraordinary.

You can look at the minutes and tell where Roy Williams is going with this team (starters in bold):

31-Henson
30-Zeller
30-Drew
29-Strickland
25-Barnes
16-Bullock
12-McDonald
10-Marshall
9-Knox
8-Watts

That second five provides decent depth with players who will be used in certain situations, but there’s little offense coming from the bench – that group was just 3 of 12 from the field against Kentucky.

Overall, Carolina still can’t shoot from the outside – just 1 of 11 on 3-pointers Saturday – and that’s going to be an issue for this team. The Tar Heels must make up for it with rugged defense and a running game, and that was the formula Saturday for an impressive win over Kentucky.

It’s only December, but two trends jump out when you are talking about Duke basketball.

The first is that the yearly predictions of how much depth Duke has are once again not true. Early in every season, people talk about how many options Coach Mike Krzyzewski has, but Krzyzewski always shortens his bench as the season progresses. We saw a glimpse of that Wednesday night as Coach K relied on six players and reserves Miles Plumlee and Seth Curry saw their minutes shrink.

The second is that the Blue Devils may be the rare great team in this age of college basketball. North Carolina was just that in 2009, a seasoned team that could compete with some of the ACC’s all-time bests. We’re not saying that UNC team was better than N.C. State in 1974 or Carolina in 1982 or Duke in 1992, but it was a powerhouse that wouldn’t get wiped off the floor by the all-time greats.

Duke could be in a similar situation this year. The ACC is down – North Carolina is not nearly as good as projected, and N.C. State is much better but still has a long way to go. The Blue Devils could easily steamroll the league and win 14, 15 and maybe 16 conference games. Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith are elite college players, and Kyrie Irving and Mason Plumlee are strong in their own rights. The depth on the bench means competition for playing time, which is always healthy.

One always has to be careful when evaluating Duke early on. The Devils are unreal at home, especially when bolstered by a crowd like Wednesday. So there’s a tendency to see these early-season efforts at home and overproject the Devils. But you can’t help but be impressed. Duke looks like a great team for any era in a year in which the ACC in basketball sadly seems to resemble the ACC in football.

Virginia Tech’s Tyrod Taylor got the nod as the first-team All-ACC quarterback in voting released Monday by the ACC. N.C. State’s Russell Wilson was second team.