Football players shed light on student-athlete experience, bring professors to practice

As practice wound down for the North Carolina football team Wednesday afternoon, the energy level of the players was noticeably higher than usual.

In the middle of a bye week, it could have been the product of lighter practices, or it could have been the fact that professors were in attendance, watching their students in a completely different environment. 

For freshman linebacker Cayson Collins, the annual Invite Your Professor to Practice Day was an opportunity for Linda Green, a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, to see what life is like for him outside of the classroom.

"It was good having her out here," Collins said. "We’ve definitely talked about it before, like she loves football. She actually went to her first game this year — I think it was the Liberty game.  

"It was good for her to see how late I’m out at practice and how much we do, how much it drains us."

A crowd of professors watched the team practice from bleachers beside the field and talked with Coach Larry Fedora after the practice was over.

"I figure it’s a way to help professors know what life is like for the football players," Green said. "For me, it was a great opportunity to see a little bit of what football is like. 

"I know very little about football."

Green was the only one of Collins' professors at the practice.

"I wish more of my teachers would have came," he said, "So they could understand what it's like for a student-athlete with the demands of class."

Collins said the challenge of balancing athletics with academics is much greater in college than it was in high school.

"In high school, teachers worked together so that the course load wasn't as heavy," he said. "Here, it's like professors only care about their class, so if I would have had all my professors out here, I feel like they would have understood how much I have to juggle."

While Green still doesn't know exactly how much time Collins puts into football, she said she knows it's a lot. 

"I feel like I know a little bit more about what they do," she said. "But I have a lot to learn. There’s still a lot I don’t know. But it seemed like a well-coordinated, well-organized (practice) and a lot of hard work going on."

While it might have seemed like a lot of hard work to those who aren't at practice every day, Fedora talked about the importance of giving players rest this week, with their next game against Pittsburgh still 10 days away.

"We really went back and evaluated how many reps each guy’s gotten during the season," he said. "We’re trying to get some of the guys that have had a lot of reps, we’re trying to get them some rest.

"We’re taking a lot of the younger guys that haven’t had as many reps and we’re getting a lot of reps with them right now."

For Collins, who has seen an increase in playing time in recent weeks, the bye week is a blessing.

"It’s great, especially being able to rest your body," he said. "(At) this point in the season, your body is pretty beat up, not just from games but from practices. But we got Monday off, we’re getting Friday (and) Saturday off, so just being able to get rehab if you need it and just rest your bodies."

sports@dailytarheel.com