When Greg Little scored a touchdown in overtime to beat Duke in UNC football's 2007 regular-season finale, the moment helped crystallize the significance of recruiting.

In February '07, Little had changed his mind at the last minute and decided to attend the University of North Carolina instead of Notre Dame.

As his freshman season progressed, he became an increasing factor in the Tar Heels' offense. Eventually he became the starting tailback, and he completed the season with that exclamation mark against the Blue Devils.

Plenty of others signed with UNC and coach Butch Davis in his first season here in Chapel Hill, kids such as Marvin Austin and Charles Brown. That class instantly helped make the football team more competitive, and they are going to help make the Tar Heels winners again.

Right now, however, their job, along with that of their teammates and the coaching staff, is to add new, talented young men to the program.

Recruiting never stops. However, its intensity increases as January rolls around and February's signing day pops into sight.

This is a particularly big weekend in that process for the Tar Heels.

Carolina has been host to a collection of talented players, kids who could be the next Little, Austin or Brown, kids who could add more talent and potential to a team with a lot of young players.

For all the talk among some people about whether Davis can win at a so-called basketball school, the truth is the two programs help one another. Recruits often take their official visits during the other's season. For example, the high school student-athletes visiting campus this weekend attended the Carolina-N.C. State game.

Regardless of the outcome of that ACC basketball game, it's safe to say those kids got to see an excited Dean Dome, full of fans yelling and screaming for the Tar Heels against the Wolfpack. It's the same N.C. State some of them eventually will work so hard to defeat in football, behind the support of thousands of fans of their own.

Back during football season, some of Roy Williams' recruits attended football games and were treated to a Kenan Stadium full of passionate Carolina fans rooting for a football team that played its heart out.

The biggest issue for fans who follow recruiting is that the Tar Heels entered this weekend without a lot of oral commitments.

From the days of Mack Brown through the latter years of John Bunting, fans have become accustomed to seeing kids declare for UNC early. Davis has a different approach, though.

Davis is not afraid to wait on the players he wants. He is not going to sign kids just to add bodies.

One of the things Davis and his staff proved at Miami, as well as in their first year at UNC: they can evaluate talent and sign it.

Forget the recruiting rankings. The Carolina coaches know more about evaluating players than any magazine or blogger.

Some of those who come to Carolina will be similar to Austin and Little. They will be coveted by all the big-time football schools and will have a lot of stars next to their names in the rankings. Others, such as Charles Brown and Matt Merletti, will be relatively unknown to people other than Brown and his staff.

All that matters is Davis, so much in the vein of Williams, can often spot a player when others miss him. Both UNC coaches will get their share of superstar recruits, but both have an eye for talent that has led them to marvelous discoveries.

That is what will be fun in the coming weeks and on signing day -- to see the big names, such as E.J. Abrams-Ward of Thomasville, visit UNC and possibly pick the Tar Heels; then, to see the names few know, the players who might just become next year's freshman all-conference selections and kids who make a genuine difference in building a respected program under Davis and his staff.

One example is running back Jamal Womble of Arizona. South Carolina, Arizona State and UNC recruited him hard; he was not listed atop all the rankings, but he has started to catch people's eye. He got to play in an all-star game, and some say he established himself as the best back there.

The Carolina coaching staff is elated to have him. Those men believe they landed a true winner in this kid.

In the coming weeks and the coming years, that is part of what is going to be so much fun for Carolina fans in having Davis as their coach. He's going to bring players to UNC, just the way Mack Brown did. And when he does, the Tar Heels will win games and return to the postseason.

Enjoy the next month. It's going to be fun to see what Davis and his staff do this time around.