While the University of North Carolina's men's and women's basketball teams perform during the marquee time of the year for those two high-profile programs, Butch Davis and his football team continue to grind away at spring practice in hopes of turning that program's fortunes this fall.

This is the second spring practice for Davis, his coaching staff and his team. This time the entire team -- coaches and players -- can focus on making the strides necessary to become a better team.

"I think that we've certainly come a lot further than we were a year ago," Davis after a recent practice. "A year ago in spring practice, we spent so much time trying to learn the players, what they could do, what they couldn't do, and basically all the things we introduced to them were in the elementary stage: how to practice, the tempo, the effort, the intensity.

"Obviously this year, because we know the players, we've been able to pinpoint specific things with each individual guy, and say: 'This is something that you need to get better at. If you're going to be a contributor, this is something that you can do to help us.'"

The biggest negative this spring is that starting quarterback T.J. Yates cannot participate after his off-season shoulder surgery. Given the nature of his injury, one cannot be sure he will ever been the same again, because some quarterbacks who come off shoulder surgery never are.

But what has been a tough time for Yates has been an exciting time for Cameron Sexton and Mike Paulus. Sexton, in particular, has taken advantage of the opportunity.

Sources close to the program say that Sexton has clearly been the most consistent quarterback this spring. He hired a personal trainer during the off-season, is in the best shape of his life and has devoted a lot of work toward strengthening his fundamentals for throwing the ball.

"I wish that T.J. was out here because you'd like to see how much last year's 12 games, how much he could grow and build on that," Davis said. "Having said that, I think him not being there has also given Mike Paulus and Cam Sexton more opportunities to grow than had T.J. been there. There's a silver lining to every bad thing, and I think that's it. I think that Mike and Cam have taken a good opportunity presented to them and they've kind of run with it because they've had a chance to get more snaps, more repetitions, more opportunities to be with the starting group.

"We've kind of tried to split the repetitions with those guys, so that if we've got 65 plays in the course of the practice, each one of them is probably going to get 25 to 30 with the first group, and then they're all going to get some with the second and some with the third. It gives them a chance to grow," Davis said. "From that standpoint, I think that Mike had obviously the furthest to go, from the standpoint that he's a true freshman. Basically, he watched and he drilled and he practiced in the fall, but he didn't get the quality of reps that Cam did being the backup quarterback. What it will do is give us a better idea of what those two guys can do, and it will create a lot of position competition in the fall."

The strength of this team should be its defense. Carolina is developing depth at defensive back, and it may have four future professional football players at defensive tackle. Those are Marvin Austin, Cam Thomas, Tydreke Powell and Aleric Mullins. One would need to return to the rosters under Mack Brown in the 1990s to find that many NFL prospects on Carolina's defensive line.

"It's pretty definite we're going to be strong and fast," Powell said. "I feel pretty good about this season. Everybody's going to be rolling."