Saturday’s 42-10 season-opening win against James Madison gave the North Carolina football team a reason to celebrate, but a season-ending injury brought the Tar Heels right back down to Earth.
North Carolina officials announced Monday that redshirt senior fullback Devon Ramsay will miss the rest of the 2011 season after tearing the ACL and MCL of his left knee in Saturday’s game.
The loss of Ramsay leaves just one fullback on UNC’s depth chart —senior Curtis Byrd — but coach Everett Withers said Monday that he’s confident in the talents of Ramsay’s replacement.
Ramsay’s injury hits close to home for redshirt freshman Giovani Bernard, who missed the entire 2010 season after tearing his ACL on the third day of practice last season.
“Devon, that’s going to be a great loss,” Bernard said. “He’s like a big brother to me … (Having) gone through it, it broke my heart.”
Ramsay was found permanently ineligible by the NCAA in November, but North Carolina won the ensuing appeal and the NCAA reversed its original decision in February.
Because Ramsay’s 2007 redshirt season was medical-related, Withers said they’ve thought about the possibility of seeking a sixth year of eligibility for Ramsay.
“That’s in the early stages,” Withers said. “We’ve talked generically about it, but we just want to make sure that he’s okay and then we’ll pursue that as it comes up.”
In the meantime, Withers and the rest of the Tar Heel squad are busy preparing for Saturday’s game against Rutgers.
Withers said he was pleased with the team’s overall performance against James Madison on Saturday, but said there are still some kinks that need to be worked out.
