Winner of November’s Cranial Rectitus Award: Deems May

'08 Football Fans41

head_up_ass.jpgAfter Saturday’s 41-10 loss to NC State, Deems May had this to say on Taylor Zarzour’s WPTF post-game call-in show:

‘They won’t even be in our league soon.  […] With the way our recruiting is going we’ll be challenging teams like Viriginia Tech for the ACC Title. […] State College will be lucky to get a win against us every four or five years…’ (paraphrased, but accurate as confirmed by others.)

In life, it’s said that timing is everything.  After your ass has just been handed to you by your in-state rival, is that a good time to fling insults and talk about how far ahead your team is?  I’ll go with “Probably Not” for $1000, Alex.

May, who played QB and TE for the Tar Heels from 1987-1991, during the Sheridan era at NC State, won once in four tries against NC State, and was on the field for the 1988 48-3 loss to the Pack, and then again for the 1989 40-6 shellacking that the Wolfpack handed the Tar Heels on a gorgeous fall day in Carter-Finley Stadium.  Moreover, in their last seven meetings against UNC, NC State leads the series 4-3.  They are on a two game roll against the Tar Heels and Saturday’s result was the second largest of victory by the Wolfpack over the Hapless Heels.

deemsmayia9.jpgRegarding recruiting, May of all people should know better: he was a much-heralded Parade All-American coming out of high school, but was a bust under center in college.  By the time he was done in Chapel Hill, he was a tight end.  Sure, May did have an eight year NFL career, mostly as a reserve: he scored one TD over 26 receptions in eight years in the league. Not exactly what I would call a stellar career in either league, and certainly not the expected result if all of the high school hype surrounding him was to be believed.

In fact, you could compare the career of Deems May to a current QB on the UNC roster, Mike Paulus.  Paulus was another highly ranked recruit coming into Chapel Hill, and by now it was thought he would be running the Tar Heel show.  It hasn’t happened and when he does play, Paulus is spotty, at best.  Compare and contrast that to a three-star QB from Athens, Alabama that came to NC State because his in-state schools didn’t want to give him a shot under center and then-Wolfpack-coach Mike O’Cain said that he’d get his chance if he wore red and white.  What do you bet that by the end of his true freshman season that Alabama or Auburn (not to mention UNC) wished that they had given a grant-in-aid to Philip Rivers as a QB recruit?

Bottom line is that while recruiting service rankings matter to a certain degree, they don’t truly forecast the development of an athlete once they get to the college level.  That’s up to the athletes and their coaches.  For every five-star success, there’s another five-star bust…and sometimes, lightly regarded recruits set NCAA records and end up getting drafted #3, going to the Pro Bowl and leading the NFL statistically once they get to the pros.  In other words, recruiting rankings are a crap shoot and Deems May knows this, even if he won’t say so.

Deems May might be a proud UNC alumnus, but he probably should have heeded this simple maxim:

“Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt”

and kept his arrogance to himself, but he didn’t.  Therefore, Deems May wins the SFN Cranial Rectitus Award for the Month of November.  Congrats, Deems — you finally won something!

'08 Football Fans

41 Responses to Winner of November’s Cranial Rectitus Award: Deems May

  1. tractor57 11/24/2008 at 6:20 PM #

    The Marine 2, the Mercenary 0

  2. wufpup76 11/24/2008 at 7:40 PM #

    Typical …

    “Yeah – but, but, but … We’re God’s institution and before long we’ll control whether it rains or the sun shines!”

    ho-hum

  3. SEAT.5.F.2 11/24/2008 at 7:45 PM #

    Twenty years Pack fan, but what if it were 2 in regards to BBall?

    Do we have to recruit the best of the best, absolutely. Case brought down cagers from Indiana to play against college teams that were using football players in order to stay conditioned. Sloan fought for every native son, he would have gotten the John Wall of the era already, and made DeMatha a household name in Raleigh.

    This is though a football related thread so I’ll tie it in saying a 5-7, 6-7, or 7-6 campaign in football will cast a large shadow over the 14-16, 15-15 or 16-14 season we’re about to uncork. A Bowl game may only be 5-6 weeks from baseball which is another program where the players who come back ACTUALLY get better.

  4. choppack1 11/24/2008 at 8:43 PM #

    rf – Going after big names is fine. The problem is what happens if you aren’t prepared when you don’t get them. As good as this recruiting class is – to a large extent our short term future now depends on getting Favors and Walls.

    I really think that Lowe can be a fantastic recruiter, but it will do us no good if we come in 2nd place for these guys – or if they don’t stay long enough to get us past the second round of the tourney. I’m a little worried he may have Chuckie’s attraction to stars. I do like his recruits like Johnny Thomas and CJ Williams. I’m hoping his guys will bring some toughness – an element that has been missing since V left.

    As far as football recruiting, part of me wonders if TOB is really miffed at the reception he’s been getting at NC high schools this year w/ the commits streaming to UNC.

    He’s letting it be known that he wants to the North Carolina title each year – and that he wants this to be THE FOOTBALL SCHOOL of North Carolina. I wonder if those same “journalists” who hounded Amato so much about ignoring the Old North State will do the same Butchie. Sure, Butch has gone after a lot of North Carolina recruits this year, but what will happen if he only has 20 ships and NC has a down year talent wise…

  5. TomCat 11/24/2008 at 9:06 PM #

    I heard the interview live. D.May actually was very direct in saying NC State beat UNC in every phase of the game Saturday and 95% of what he said was a very accurate assessment of the State beatdown of UNC. I’d be careful with paraphrase to create a desired response. Kind of like the Jimmy Kimmell “bleeping out key words of a President Bush speech to get laughs. Deems May is no fan of NCS but what he said was candid and the best you could expect from a Tarheel. Let the convincing beatdown speak for itself… and let it sink in. Take success like a champion. It speaks volumes

  6. Primewolf 11/24/2008 at 10:45 PM #

    Marines 2, Mercenary 0.

    I haven’t visited Boblee’s site in a while after he pissed me off, but I must say he is less of a hole than most.

    The thing about Butch is he has no character. Go read a dozen books on leadership, Good to Great, Built to Last, ….., they all say point to what good leadership is. Tom has it, Butch doesn’t.

    Butch’s problem, among many, is that he can’t come across as a real man of character to his players. He can’t really lead them, demand sacrifice, and be consistent in principle and action. Look how he blew the QB call. Look at the greyshirt and running folks off. It catches up with you. While the press covers it up and many HS coaches let him get away with it, I really don’t think Butch is build to last at UNC. Yeah, they are getting a lot of talent and may have a dominant year, but I don’t think he will last. Leadership counts and the Marines will win more than they lose to the Mercenaries.

    This will shape up to be 10X what the rivalry was developing under Amato and Bunting. Those guys hated each other. The first slavo has been fired.

    I love it.

  7. turfpack 11/24/2008 at 11:47 PM #

    Speaking of recuiting-I talked to Sam Jones 6’5 300lb DL at the local YMCA near Fuquay-Varina (His high school), he said he had his grades in order and will enter State in Jan.(A year after he signed his letter)He looked great and will be a plus for the defense next year.

  8. PacknSack 11/25/2008 at 12:26 AM #

    I think it was Spurrier who once said that, as a coach, your players have to be willing to lose for you. It struck me as odd at first and after it rolled around a bit it clicked.

    I don’t see Butch inspiring that sort of loyalty from his players, or even his coaching staff. O’Brien has proven that he does.

    Butch strikes me as the guy who can stock the pantry, but can’t cook the supper. That being said, it’s Carolina’s next coach who could be taking that program to BCS level.

    Oh, yeah, 41-10.

  9. wolfonthehill 11/25/2008 at 7:20 AM #

    I love me some Marcus Stone for everything he did for our program… but he had his share of critics while on campus (including myself for most of the time he was under center). And no one’s going to proclaim his career a raging success.

    But damn, Marcus Stone ended up having a bigger positive impact on our program than Deems May did on theirs. I mean, who the hell is paying this douchehelmet to talk about things he obviously has no clue about.

    Bitterness is a tough pill to swallow, eh Deems?

    (I mean, seriously – check the picture out again – total douchehelmet)

  10. SEAT.5.F.2 11/25/2008 at 8:34 AM #

    Sam Jones has always been an OL. Not to say he wouldn’t make a damn fine DT.

    Butch Davis is a great leader and excellent coach, so is Grobe, Cutcliff, Holtz, and Jerry what’s his name up in the mountains of Boone.

    Let’s appreciate every W over our in state rivals, as it should be always, but not lose site that this is a unique time of very high profile and praise worthy coaches in the state (that have nothing to do with basketball).

    The team and program that can distinguish itself above the rest will be primed for an ACC title and a solid chance to actually represent the ACC well in a BCS game, something VT and others have not done to date.

    As to the Marcus Stone thought, no one should underestimate that complete and utter poop pile our OC has been at State since Chow left, Trestman was the silliest hire that has happened anywhere in college football.

  11. Alpha Wolf 11/25/2008 at 9:05 AM #

    I’d be careful with paraphrase to create a desired response. Kind of like the Jimmy Kimmell “bleeping out key words of a President Bush speech to get laughs. Deems May is no fan of NCS but what he said was candid and the best you could expect from a Tarheel. Let the convincing beatdown speak for itself… and let it sink in. Take success like a champion. It speaks volumes

    I don’t need someone to lecture me on how to accurately quote a source. Not only did we hear it live, we took notes and I also confirmed wither others that we were not misrepresenting Mr. May’s words.

    For the record, his “State College” quote is direct and was illustrative of the tone his condescension. The rest – if not word for word – are close enough to accurately reflect what he had to say.

    Thanks for your concern, but I don’t feel out of bounds on this post and don’t need to be lectured on how to take success. If there is anything I have learned in this life is that failing to call out fools is cowardly.

  12. partialqualifier 11/25/2008 at 10:08 AM #

    Great Piece!

    As for recruiting…a couple of things that I am surprised the normally insightful group here has forgotten.

    1- Rankings are not at all important to TOB. He doesn’t recruit 4 or 5 star players to come in and play immediately. Instead, he seems to prefer the lower ranked players and diamonds in the rough that he can redshirt and coach up. His pattern at BC was to redshirt freshman…play RS Frosh and Sophs sparingly…and the bulk of his starters were either RS Juniors or Seniors. Often times a 2-Star RS Senior will play much better than a 5-Star true Freshman or Soph. I think for a school like ours…this is the perfect strategy..as we may not always get the stud-palyers.

    2- TOB is great at finding Diamonds-in-the-rough. It has been said that while at BC, Notre Dame would often go after 2 & 3 star players TOB was recruiting because he was so respected as a talent scout. If other coaches feel this way about TOB’s eye for talent…then I certainly feel confident in any player he recruits.

    3- Finally…we are witnessing right now how over-rated recruiting is. There were 5 highly rated QB’s on the field Saturday (Sexton, Yates, Paulus, Glennon, & Beck), and a 2 Star recruit stole the show! Not only that…but this 2-Star recruit may end up being Freshman of the Year and first team All ACC!

  13. NCSU84 11/25/2008 at 1:14 PM #

    Isn’t it true that Notre Dame (ND) attracts high quality players year in and year out? Then based on Dim May’s comments, ND should compete for a bowl every year. But we all know how well ND is doing this year – even the Tarholes beat them. Sorry Dim (Wit), your comments just do not hold up.

  14. redfred2 11/25/2008 at 7:25 PM #

    I know this is the time to talk FB, so I’ll drop it after this comment. All I can say about Sidney Lowe is that he was behind the eight ball when he arrived, that he still has an uphill battle, that the players that were here have not helped his cause, nor the cause of the NC State BB program, and in my estimation the guy deserves two more years to show progress without a bunch of pressure about keeping his job.

    As far as comparison to Davis at unc, Butchy has a built-in contingent of HS kids in NC that have always wanted to play at unc. On the other hand and due to poor management skills by administrators as well as a TWO recent coaches in both the FB and BB programs at NCSU, that is not the case for TOB or Sidney Lowe.

    TOB is a proven commodity, Sidney Lowe is not. Sidney Lowe will have to fight for every recruit that he can bring in, he will have to build recognition back into a program that had no personality and no concept of what a winning attitude involves. All of that, and he will have to coach ballgames, all at the same time. Maybe he is up to it, maybe not, but keeping in mind all of the circumstances it is still too soon to start using Lowe’s job status to beat him over the head with it.

  15. Elrod 11/25/2008 at 9:45 PM #

    One thing I would like to know. How is it that BBU attracts so many players with names that sound like a debutante? Deems, Cameron, etc.

  16. Pitbull_1973 11/26/2008 at 4:26 AM #

    Having grown up in Mr. May’s hometown (Lexington, NC) I had always heard about Deems as the hometown boy who made it to the big leagues. I didn’t know much about him other than he had played for the Chargers & Seahawks. Never knew he played for UNX. I did know that he was never one of the elite names in the NFL, but Lexington has never really produced a lot of big name talent, so just the fact that he played on the national stage and the he was from our little town (and that my dad was his barber) was enough to make us a little prouder.

    After reading his comments, though, I feel like I need a shower. Maybe I can get rid of this bad taste in my mouth with some barbecue.

1 2

Leave a Reply