UNC

Just looking at their roster and noticed Bard and Cox were gone. Any idea where these guys are now?

 

Bard- Richmond

Cox- ECU

...and for those that know Jonathon Ratledge at USC; he is now at ECU

 

Watch out for ECU this year. The rich get richer!!

 

?

Bard you speak of, is that the brother of former UNC Daniel Bard?

 

Yes...Jared

 

I think these guys probably went through fall practice and realized that UNC hit the mother lode with freshman pitching, so it was time to head for greener pastures.
In the UNC fall WS these seven freshmen pitchers excelled;
Colin Bates (RSF)
Matt Harvey
Garrett Davis
Nate Striz
Patrick Johnson
Ryan Leach
Greg Holt
This is an incredible amount of quality pitching in one class and they are going to eat up a bunch of innings.
May not be many innings leftover for anyone who's last name doesn't start with W, ( White and Warren & Wooten).
Matt McNichol (East Meck) is also gone, leaving only Cavasini, Shelton & Gaines as Charlotte area players still on the roster.
Doesn't look like any 08's will be coming from Charlotte either. Seems a bit strange that UNC is not staying with a good thing (Charlotte players) after so much recent success.

 

I believe this is something that will become more common each year. It is incredible the number of quality players they bring in each year.

What is amazing is when they field the 9 players to start, there are 9+ more on the bench just as talented. Potentially, you could be an All American one year and sitting the bench the next...those recruits are that good and I don't see it slacking up.

 

I think you are absolutely right. As UNC shifts their emphasis from in-state to national recruiting, players are going to be less willing to ride the pine for the "home team" when they could be big contributors elsewhere.
While they may be upgrading their talent, I think the unforseen cost of recruiting nationally is the loss of loyalty to the program.
I mean, what's up with bringing in 3 freshman first baseman along with Holt who is a p/1b. It's like tryouts.

 

That may be true. I guess the future will determine that, but as long as they win and go deep each year in the playoffs, they will not lose support. South Carolina has proven that recruiting nationally does not take away from their hometown support.

But I have always admired and have taken a sense of pride for the school that the majority of players are from North Carolina. I remember when they were not successful and the NC players largely helped to put the program on the map.

 

I'm not referring to fan support, which really ain't that great anyway if home attendance is the yardstick. USC & Clemson blow UNC away in that department. In fact if you want to be honest about it, Clemson probably has more fan support in western NC than UNC has right now.
What I am talking about is having quality NC players like Kyle Shelton, sticking with a limited role at Chapel Hill rather than transferring and starting at any other NC school.