Tag: North Carolina

North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye building up No.1 overall pick buzz

No player is pushing harder to be the top pick than North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye.

Ever since the beginning of the season, there has been one name that has unanimously sat at the top of most pundits’ draft boards for the 2024 NFL draft, and that has been USC’s Caleb Williams. With some recent downturn in USC’s success and an uptick in play from other quarterbacks, North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye has pushed his name into the conversation for that number one overall pick.

Possessing prototypical size, arm strength, and athleticism, Maye is the prototypical modern NFL quarterback. He has used his prototypical skills and developed into one of the best signal callers in the entire country, putting up his most impressive season yet. With 1,902 yards passing and 16 total touchdowns on the season Maye has been the leading force of a Tar Heels offense that has seriously impressed and pushed to a 6-1 record after their recent loss to Virginia.

Maye possesses all the talent you could want in a prototypical passer and with his level of play being up there with anyone in the country, he has certainly left an impression on decision-makers for each of the 32 NFL teams. If Maye can continue to progress and put up another solid year he could place himself as a shocking front-runner for the top pick of the 2024 NFL draft.

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Photos: This $26M Blue Ridge mansion has a simulator overlooking the highest golf course east of the Mississippi

Welcome to Lazy Bear Lodge, a 10,000-square-foot mansion on a ridgetop pedestal.

Hey, we get it — sometimes you want to work on your golf swing while sitting atop the Blue Ridge Mountains and sometimes you’d like to stripe a fairway wood on a Bobby Weed redesign that whistles through Fraser firs and red spruces.

Welcome to Lazy Bear Lodge, a 10,000-square-foot mansion on a ridgetop North Carolina pedestal, one that comes with a Hobbit House that includes a full golf simulator as well as views of adjacent Linville Ridge Golf Club. It’s about 2½ hours to the nearest major city in Charlotte.

The gated home is currently for sale for the sum of just $26,750,000, meaning after the cool $6.4 million you’ll need at closing for costs and the down payment, your monthly mortgage will only set you back $169,169.

What’s included? Plenty. Aside from the views, there’s a 25-foot great room and a dynamic kitchen that allows you to watch the sunrise while scrambling eggs. Also, the Folly House is a perfect space to entertain, complete with a full kitchen, and a spacious and picturesque dining area.

According to the listing, the golf cart building “could be an additional guest house.” But why would you want to do that?

As for the course, it was ranked 14th on the Golfweek’s Best Private Courses in North Carolina in our 2022 ranking. Sitting at 4,949 feet above sea level, Linville Ridge is the highest elevated golf course east of the Mississippi River.

Here’s a look at the home, which was built in 2007:

The Weekend: Washington claims top spot in Pac-12

We’re getting closer to the first set of College Football Playoff Rankings, and the Pac-12 remains the toughest conference in the country. The Washington Huskies and Oregon Ducks battled it out for the top spot in the Pac-12, and it was one of the …

We’re getting closer to the first set of College Football Playoff Rankings, and the Pac-12 remains the toughest conference in the country.

The Washington Huskies and Oregon Ducks battled it out for the top spot in the Pac-12, and it was one of the season’s best games. The Huskies are led by arguably the best player in the country, Michael Penix Jr., who has put the rest of the country on notice with their high-powered offense. The Huskies still have a rough schedule ahead of them.

Clemson had a bye this weekend, but their role as spoiler is becoming more prominent as the ACC is becoming a two-team race between Florida State and North Carolina. The Tar Heels will visit Death Valley on November 18, and if they are still undefeated, it will be a big game for the Tigers.

Kylee Watson, Sonia Citron will represent Notre Dame at ACC Media Day

Wonder what these two will say.

With the season creeping closer, ACC programs soon will head to Charlotte, North Carolina for the conference’s annual Media Day. Every team is represented by its coach and two of its players, making it no different than a typical postgame news conference. Obviously, Notre Dame coach [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] will be in attendance. Meanwhile, the players will be represented by [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] and [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag]:

Citron led the Irish in scoring last season (14.7 points a game) by a slim margin over [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] (14.3 points a game), who was injured in the regular-season finale and didn’t play any of the remaining games. Citron also averaged the most minutes for the Irish at 33.5. For all of that and more, she made the All-ACC First Team.

Watson was the Irish’s field-goal percentage leader in 2022-23 at 60.1%. She also had career highs in most major statistical categories in her first season at Notre Dame after two years with Oregon.

The Irish are ranked 10th in the AP preseason poll and open against South Carolina on Nov. 6 in Paris.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Beau Welling tackles renovation of Peninsula Club in North Carolina

The Peninsula Club will be renovated by architect Beau Welling.

The Peninsula Club in Cornelius, North Carolina, has broken ground on an extensive golf course renovation project led by Beau Welling and his associate, Chase Webb.

The layout opened in 1990 with a design by Rees Jones on the shores of Lake Norman about a half hour’s drive north of Charlotte. The renovation is slated for completion in October 2024.

 The routing of the private Peninsula Club will remain largely the same, but Welling plans a number of improvements. The course, including the greens, will be re-grassed with TifEagle Bermuda. Infrastructure will updated with a new irrigation system and drainage. Strategic tree clearing will improve views, fescue will be added to out-of-play areas and the total square footage of bunkering will be reduced.

Peninsula Club
Beau Welling (from left) with Nick McLennan, director of golf course grounds at the Peninsula Club, and Nick Mazzella, owner of the Mazzella Partnership (Courtesy of the Peninsula Club)

“After a couple of years of planning and preparation, we are excited to break ground on a project that will create a brand new feeling and playing experience for the golf course as well as other facilities for the club’s membership,” Beau Welling, founder and CEO of Beau Welling Design, said in a media release announcing the renovation. “We are proud to add to the tradition of excellence that the Peninsula Club has curated for decades, and we believe this project will enhance the guest and membership experience both on and off the course.”

A putting course will be added and the club’s practice area will be expanded to include two state-of-the-art teaching bays, among other capital improvements away from the course.

Notre Dame ranked 10th in AP preseason poll

Good place to start the year, no?

The Associated Press has released its preseason poll for the 2023-24 women’s basketball season. With Notre Dame coming off an ACC regular-season championship and a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAA Tournament, not to mention most of the roster returning, it should come as no surprise to find the Irish in the No. 10 spot.

The ACC has plenty of representation in the poll. Only Virginia Tech ranks higher than the Irish at No. 8. North Carolina, Louisville and Florida State round out the conference representation in the 16th through 18th spots respectively. Programs receiving votes but not cracking the poll were NC State, Duke and Miami.

The AP story about the poll mentions [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] among the stars in women’s basketball and that she’s back from the ACL injury that kept her out of tournament competition last season. This comes fresh off Miles being named to the Nancy Lieberman Award watch list for the country’s top point guard. Meanwhile, Sonia Citron is on the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watch list for the best shooting guard in the country.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Falcons coach Arthur Smith on Sam Howell: ‘He’s tougher than hell’

Arthur Smith, like Sam Howell, is from UNC, so he’s followed him closely over the years.

Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith played guard at North Carolina from 2001-05. He battled injuries and didn’t play a lot during his college career, but quickly began his coaching career with the Tar Heels as a graduate assistant in 2006.

After one year as a grad assistant with his alma mater, Smith moved to the NFL as a quality control assistant.

Do you care to guess where he started his NFL coaching career?

If you guessed the then-Washington Redskins, you’d be correct.

Smith joined Washington in 2007 under Joe Gibbs, where he spent two seasons as a defensive quality control coach. Smith’s father, Fred, was a minority partner of former owner Daniel Snyder until their falling out.

So, directly or indirectly, Smith has multiple connections to the Commanders and quarterback Sam Howell. Howell, like Smith, played football at UNC. When Howell was preparing for the NFL draft in 2022, Smith paid a visit to Chapel Hill to scout Howell, where he was spotted on the sidelines with North Carolina head coach Mack Brown.

In preparation for the Week 6 game against Washington, Smith offered the following scouting report on his fellow UNC alum.

“I think Sam Howell’s done a good job there,” Smith said. “I don’t know what the numbers are, but he’s tougher than hell. He’s very accurate, and he’ll sit in there. You have to respect that.”

Smith then praised Washington’s skill position players, naming Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel, Dyami Brown, Brian Robinson Jr., Logan Thomas and Antonio Gibson.

Smith was later asked to compare Howell and the quarterback the Falcons selected over Howell in the 2022 NFL draft, Desmond Ridder.

“They’re different players,” Smith said of Howell and Ridder. “I knew a lot about Sam, just following him, they recruit, going to North Carolina. Broke a lot of records there, a vertical passer. I think the same thing; you see it now in the NFL, he throws a very accurate deep ball. I think he’s tougher than hell…….that’s a good passing attack……he’s resilient, he’s a smart football player……we got a lot of respect for Sam.”

Smith praised Howell’s toughness, which means he probably will challenge that toughness sometime on Sunday.

North Carolina men, Stanford women top first Golfweek/Sagarin rankings for 2023-24 season

The Golfweek/Sagarin rankings will be updated every Friday throughout the season.

The first Golfweek/Sagarin college teams rankings are out and there are no surprises with who the top men’s and top women’s teams are right out of the box.

North Carolina, which lost in the semifinals of the 2023 NCAA Championships in May, will start the new campaign in the No. 1 spot.

The Stanford Cardinal, which also reached the final four last spring before getting knocked out, is the top team in the women’s game.

The Golfweek/Sagarin rankings were released on Sept. 28 and will be updated every Friday throughout the season.

Defending men’s champion Florida is No. 16.

The top 10 in men’s golf looks like this:

  1. North Carolina
  2. Auburn
  3. Washington
  4. Georgia Tech
  5. Tennessee
  6. Ole Miss
  7. Vanderbilt
  8. Arizona State
  9. Texas
  10. Illinois

North Carolina’s roster is highlighted by David Ford, Maxwell Ford, Austin Greaser, Dylan Menante and Kenan Poole. The Tar Heels already won their first tournament, taking first in the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational.

In the women’s rankings, Wake Forest, which won it all last season, is No. 2 to start this year.

Here’s the women’s top 10:

  1. Stanford
  2. Wake Forest
  3. Arkansas
  4. USC
  5. South Carolina
  6. Oregon
  7. Auburn
  8. Ole Miss
  9. Clemson
  10. Texas A&M

Stanford has started its season with a win in the 2023 Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach with Megha Ganne winning the individual championship. The Cardinal roster also features Rachel Heck, Kelly Xu, Paula Martin Sampedro, Sadie Engleman and Caroline Sturdza.

This season, the men’s and women’s championships will be held at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California, the first of a three-year commitment. Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, hosted the previous three seasons, except for 2020, when the championships were canceled due to the COVID pandemic.

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Notre Dame’s men’s basketball 2023-24 schedule released

Here’s the order in which the conference will face the new-look Irish.

Notre Dame looks completely different from how it did a year ago. Unfortunately, it isn’t for the better, at least not as far as the roster. Sure, [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] as the new coach is a breath of fresh air, but he inherited only a few players from the season before and was forced to patch a team together with little time to do so. Not one newcomer or incumbent is projected to turn any heads.

This upcoming season is going to require patience and understanding from Irish fans, especially once ACC play begins. Now that we know the conference schedule, we know when most of the teams on that schedule in all likelihood will have at least one easy win. This is not to say the Irish have no chance at pulling off any upsets, but all one has to do is look at who’s playing for them and face reality.

If you think you can stomach this upcoming conference season, here it is:

Notre Dame’s women’s basketball 2023-24 schedule released

Here’s the order in which the ladies will try to defend their ACC regular-season crown.

Notre Dame is ready to begin defense of the ACC regular-season championship it won a season ago. However, it’s also hoping to accomplish even more than that in 2023-24, and it has the personnel to do it. With four returning starters, everyone in the conference will be gunning for the Irish. We now know when they will be playing who in their league.

The Irish will be playing home-and-homes against Louisville, Boston College, Syracuse and Pittsburgh. They’ll see the rest of their ACC rivals only once during the regular season. Although Virginia Tech and Louisville are seen as better than this year’s Irish, every conference team knows it also will have to bring its best when they see Notre Dame pop up on its schedule. The Irish deserve respect for their history if not for how stacked they’ll be again this season.

For those looking to see the Irish play the most important games of the season, here is when they will play them: