A month ago, many a football fan would gladly have taken the class of 21 players coach Butch Davis signed on Wednesday for the university of North Carolina. But Davis wanted, and got, more.

Davis and his staff made a strong push toward the end of recruiting season.. They also had several highly recruited kids qualify and then enroll for this spring semester.

One of those is massive 6-foot-7, 320-pound tackle T.J. Leifheit of Wilmington. The big fellow is one of the top-rated offensive line prospects in the nation, along with fellow tackle James Hurst of Indiana, a 6-7, 305-pounder who is ranked even higher than Leifheit.

And just to make it even better for Davis and his offensive coaches, who struggled with massive injuries along the offensive line last fall, Hurst is also enrolled for the spring.

"Definitely it's good coming in early, getting a chance to get into the weight room, playbook and hopefully get on the field next year with all the extra time with (offensive line coach Sam) Pittman and Coach (Jeff) Connors in the weight room," Leifheit said. "Coming in the spring you get the extra time in the weight room and extra time with Coach Pittman learning the plays and stuff like that.

"Then in spring practice, you get all the extra reps against guys like (rising junior defensive end) Robert Quinn, who is probably going to be a top (NFL) Draft pick the following year. I'm going to get a lot of good reps against top guys. It's going to help speed up the process."

Davis needed a strong recruiting year with offensive linemen, and he got it with those two plus 6-6, 310-pound Nick Appel of Virginia and 6-4, 290-pound Russell Bodine of Virginia, a true center.

"They are two very talented players," Davis said of Hurst and Leifheit. "They are big, strong and physical. It was clearly a need on this football team to recruit some offensive lineman and coincidently two great ones we were fortunate enough to get."

Hurst and Leifheit graduated early from high school, along with defensive tackle Brandon Willis of Duncan, S.C. Willis had considered UNC for sometime but chose Tennessee. He planned to enroll there in January, but then Volunteers coach Lane Kiffin left to take the job as head coach at Southern California.

So Willis and his dad drove to Chapel Hill and Willis enrolled at UNC instead.

"That day Lane came on TV and announced -- that was supposed to be the day I was supposed to be enrolling in Tennessee -- so I found out that way. I gave it a day and talked to my dad, kind of cut our phones off and just sat and talked with him about the decisions I would have to make being an early enrollee."

Davis is extremely happy Kiffin left and Willis made the decision that he did.

"We had followed his career throughout his junior year of high school," Davis said. "He is a brilliant, outstanding student with terrific work ethic. When he came we said 'That's the type of kid that you want on your football team.'

"There was a period of time where he was leaning this way, and then he was leaning that way. He then commits and then after that there are coaching changes and he is up in the air with what he wants to do. He had actually committed to us at one time and then changed back. I think he is definitely one of the most relieved recruits at this time of our entire class."

Tight end Sean Fitzpatrick (6-5, 235) and defensive back B.J. Bunn of Smithfield also enrolled in January.

There is not a quarterback in this class, but Davis said that was by design. This fall is going to be one of the strongest classes ever in North Carolina and a strong one in the region in general. UNC will probably try to sign two quarterbacks.

The Tar Heels will need to get some more running backs, although they did land a prospect with a great deal of potential. Giovanni Bernard, 5-9, 210 pounds out of Florida could have played for any team in the nation. And he originally planned to play for Notre Dame.

But when Coach Charlie Weiss was fired, Bernard reassessed his situation and decided to become a Tar Heel. Some consider him the finest running back prospect in Florida this season.

"We feel comfortable about the running back that we did get," Davis said. "We think very highly of him."

- chn -