For Carolina football coach Butch Davis, building a team is not a matter of finding preordained pieces of the puzzle and popping them in place.

He would rather the young men who sign with the Tar Heels be talented and flexible enough to mold into whatever spot the team needs, while also finding the position that best fits the individual and provides the optimum chance at success.

Matt Merletti of Cleveland appears to be just such a kid. On June 3, Merletti will graduate from St. Ignatius, a Jesuit preparatory school. Just 17 days later, Merletti will arrive in Chapel Hill, ready to begin the next phase of his athletic career and his life.

"I'm looking forward to getting there," said Merletti, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound athlete. "Once Carolina offered, I committed on the spot. I think about it every day. I can't wait to get down there."

Merletti will add speed and toughness to the Tar Heels' roster. He played running back, cornerback and returned kicks for St. Ignatius, which is known for producing Division I prospects and, often times, professional football players.

These days, Merletti is running track. He competes in the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams. He also runs the 100-yard dash occasionally. He said that his best time is 10.9 seconds. To put that into perspective, the state 4-A champion sprinter in North Carolina last year ran the 100 in 10.48 seconds.

His versatility lends itself to an uncertainty as to where he will play at UNC.

"He's a very, very good all-around football player," said Chuck Kyle, Merletti's high-school coach. "We played him both ways. As a running back, he's a very quick kid. He hits the hole. The first 20 yards, he just explodes. A lot of times that is the difference between a big play and not. He's good out of the backfield catching the football. He has real good hands. So he brings a lot of skills that can help in a lot of different areas on any football team.

"He will gladly play defense, offense, whatever," Kyle said. "He just likes playing football. He's an aggressive kid. He was a shutdown corner for us. He would take the best receiver. He would come up and whack people. He doesn't shy away."

Merletti doesn't dodge the work required of him in class, either. To achieve his eventual goals beyond sports and college, he will need a good education.

"I think I'd like to follow in my dad's footsteps someday," Merletti said.

His father, Lewis, works in security for the National Football League's Cleveland Browns, but this is a new career for the elder Merletti.

He first served in the Army's Special Forces in Vietnam and later joined the Secret Service. Lewis Merletti served 25 years in the Secret Service, eventually becoming the 19th director for the agency. As an agent, he guarded the president of the United States.

He spoke out against agents testifying in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, saying it would compromise the relationship between the agents who must guard the president and the chief executive himself.

While the younger Merletti may someday become an agent, he is in no hurry. He's been working a long time to realize his dream of becoming a college football player.

He first met Davis when Davis coached the Browns at the start of this decade. Merletti has served as a ballboy for the Browns for years. When he wasn't practicing or playing football, he was hanging around the Brown's facility.

"In so many ways, he's been developing into a major-college football player since he was about 10 years old," Kyle said. "He's been in Browns' practice and helping on Sunday. Football was seven days a week for him. He's seen a lot of football. He's well prepared."

Merletti said that he is prepared for whatever this first year holds, too. If that means playing special teams, he'll do it. If that means playing offense or defense or even red-shirting, he will do it and he will do it.

"I would like to play special teams my freshman year, but I would not be opposed to red-shirting," he said. "I want to do whatever helps the team. [Football] can't be an individual thing. You have to win as a team.

"One guy isn't going to beat a whole team. I love winning as a team."