There is a great sports story happening at the moment that will go unnoticed by most people.

However, this one will make you happy if you followed the career and growth of former Carolina quarterback Darian Durant.

Durant entered his first Canadian Football League game for the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week to replace injured quarterback Marcus Crandell. Durant hasn't played since his senior season in 2004.

Durant guided the Roughriders to victory, but did not establish any eye-popping statistics. What he did do was impress his teammates and coaches with his poise, understanding of the game and overall leadership at quarterback.

"(Durant is) a very disciplined person who understands our offence as well as anyone," Roughriders coach Ken Miller told the Toronto Globe and Mail. "He's calm, collected, and he just executed. I expect his game management this week to be very much the same.

"One reason for the decision to start him this week was the feedback from the players on how he conducted himself on the field and in the huddle and the leadership he showed. The fact that he did that so well was a compelling reason to have him do it again."

With Crandall still out, Durant did start against Hamilton in the latest game. All he did was throw for 347 yards and two touchdowns, including the winning drive in the final minute of a 33-28 victory against the Tiger-Cats on Saturday.

Durant set a slew of records during his five years at Carolina. From the day he stepped on the field as a red-shirt freshman in the second half against Oklahoma in the opening game of 2001, the kid showed he was something special on a football field.

The interesting part of the story is there were times when the Carolina coaching staff wasn't sure it wanted Durant, whether it was the one that recruited him under Carl Torbush or the one that inherited him under John Bunting, and there was one critical moment when Durant wasn't sure he wanted to be a Tar Heel.

Just when it appeared he had established himself as the starter and future star after splitting time with Ronald Curry in 2001, Durant stunned everyone by saying he was going to transfer in the winter following that season.

To this day, most people do not know why Durant was going to leave. He always said he was not sure himself, and Bunting seemed to buy that. So he "left the door cracked," and sure enough, Durant opened it and decided to remain at UNC.

The Tar Heels spent the remainder of his career giving thanks because some bad football teams would have been hopeless without him. Shoot, they didn't have much hope with him, and he was one of the best football players ever to wear a uniform at UNC.

My best guess for one reason Durant considered leaving is he was a South Carolina boy from football country who had a hard time adjusting to basketball-crazy Chapel Hill. Plus, North and South Carolina may share a last name, but that is about where it stops. From the early days as English colonies, the two have never been much alike.

So there may have been some kind of cultural difference that Durant could never articulate. But keeping that door open for Durant was one of the best moves Bunting made in his six seasons as a head coach at UNC.

Durant was always calm under the frenzy surrounding a quarterback, but his growth as a leader and understanding of football as more than his statistics made him even better as time progressed.

One of the proudest moments for Bunting, and probably for Durant, was when the coach brought the team together one day on the practice field and announced Durant had made the All-ACC Honor Roll for his achievements in the classroom from the previous semester.

It's the kind of day that is a watershed moment for a young man who came to school with little but football on his mind and left with a degree. Along the way, he made many friends and became one of the most loved Carolina athletes of this decade, maybe ever.

Just knowing he is succeeding on the professional level will thrill many a Carolina football fan because of all he did for the school during his time on campus. He played with so much heart and passion that it was easy to forgive him for wanting to leave.

That sophomore season after he nearly left, he injured the thumb on his throwing hand when it landed on a helmet of a Virginia player. He had led the Tar Heels to a huge first-half lead when it happened. He could not return, and Carolina eventually lost again in Charlottesville.

Durant did not play in the next four games, and Carolina was miserable.

When the final game of the season rolled around, Durant risked his career and came back early for the season-finale against Duke. He wanted to make sure Carolina did not lose to the Blue Devils.

They did not. Just as he did for his CFL team on Saturday, he led Carolina on a drive in the final moments that ended in victory. Few who were there will ever forget it.

Durant completed a 10-yard pass to Sam Aiken on fourth down with four seconds left in the game to set up Dan Orner's game-winning field goal. The Tar Heels needed all 10 yards, too.

Few of us who watched the youngster from South Carolina who has now grown into a man will ever forget him or how he matured, or what he did for the University of North Carolina.

He was, and is, a special one.