title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: With Withers leading the Tar Heels, UNC beat their first opponent, FCS school James Madison by a score of 42–10. Bryn Renner set the single game school record for completion percentage at 95.7%. The Heels then beat Rutgers 24–22, holding the Scarlet Knights to one total yard rushing and 244 yards overall. The week after, the South's Oldest Rivalry was resumed, as Carolina beat Virginia by a score of 28–17. UNC rushed for 222 total yards for an average of 5.4 yards per carry. The Heels then traveled to Atlanta to play No. 25 Georgia Tech, dropping this one 35–28. Georgia Tech had 312 yards rushing and 496 yards total on the day. Next the Heels played East Carolina beating them 35–20. The Heels then proceeded to beat the Louisville by a score of 14–7. Giovani Bernard became the first Tar Heel rusher in 27 years to rush for over 100 yards in four straight games. Bernard extended his streak of 100 yard rushing games to five in UNC's 30–24 loss to Miami. The Heels recovered an onside kick with under a minute to go, but time ran out before they could score. The Heels then traveled to Clemson, South Carolina to face the Clemson Tigers, losing 59–38. It was the second most points given up by the Tar Heels in their 405 ACC games, trailing only the 63 given up in a game against Florida State in 2000. The next game was the homecoming game for the Heels, and they beat Wake Forest 49–24. UNC racked up 506 total yards and caught four interceptions in the game. Next up for the Heels was the rivalry game with NC State in Raleigh, which the Heels lost 13–0. It was the Heels fifth straight loss to the Wolfpack, the first shutout in the series since 1960. Giovani Bernard did break the 1,000 yard rushing mark for the season, but as a team the Heels were held to three total yards rushing. On a Thursday night in Blacksburg, Virginia the Heels lost to Virginia Tech 24–21. Dwight Jones passed the 1,000 yard receiving mark for the season, making the 2011 Tar Heels the first team to have a 1,000 yard receiver and rusher in the same season. UNC closed out the regular season with a home win over arch-rival Duke, winning 37–21. Dwight Jones's 79 receptions and Bryn Renner's 23 TD passes set single season records for the Tar Heels.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: Withers led the Tar Heels to a 7–6 record in his only season, capped with a loss to Missouri in the Independence Bowl. After Withers was thanked for his good service, he was informed that his contract would not be extended beyond the 2011 season.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: Larry Fedora was hired from Southern Miss in late 2011 as the Tar Heels' 34th head football coach, replacing Withers. In his first year as head coach, in a season that the UNC football team was ineligible for the ACC title (due to sanctions from Davis' tenure), a bowl game and a ranking in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, Fedora led the team to an 8–4 record. North Carolina had at least eight victories in four of the five years from 2008 to 2012. The eight wins in 2008 and 2009 were vacated due to NCAA penalty. The last time North Carolina had more than eight victories was in 1997.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: After starting the 2013 season 1–5, Fedora's Tar Heels rebounded to finish 5–1 in their final six regular season games and capped the season with a thrashing of Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl to finish the season with a 7–6 record. After the 2013 season, offensive coordinator Blake Anderson left the Tar Heels to accept the head coaching position at Arkansas State.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: The Tar Heels went into the 2014 season with a new offensive coordinator, Seth Littrell. That year, the Tar Heels were never able to achieve much consistency on defense, giving up over 497 yards per game (111th in the nation, and fourth-worst among Power 5 teams) en route to a 6–6 regular season and a 40–21 loss to Rutgers in the 2014 Quick Lane Bowl. In an effort to address this, Fedora fired defensive coordinator Vic Koenning after the season and hired former Iowa State and Auburn head coach Gene Chizik as defensive coordinator.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: In 2015, Fedora led the Tar Heels to an 11–1 regular season and the team's first ACC Coastal Division championship. The team also finished with a perfect 8–0 record in conference play and were ranked as high as No. 8 in the AP and Coaches' Polls, their highest ranking since 1997. In the 2015 ACC Championship Game, the Tar Heels lost to Clemson by a score of 45–37, despite a controversial onside kick penalty. The Tar Heels then lost in the Russell Athletic Bowl to Baylor 49–38. The Tar Heels finished the season 11–3 (8–0 ACC) and ranked 15th in the country, marking the team's first postseason Top 25 ranking since 1997. After the 2015 season, offensive coordinator Seth Littrell left Carolina to take the head coaching position at North Texas.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: In 2016, Fedora led the Tar Heels to an 8–5 (5–3) record. Carolina began the season with a loss to Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta by a score of 33–24. Carolina then reeled off four straight wins, which included an upset win over No. 12 Florida State in Tallahassee by a score of 37–35 after a game-winning field goal as time expired, snapping the Seminoles' 22-game home winning streak. UNC then suffered an embarrassing home loss to Virginia Tech by a score of 34–3. After losing to NC State in the regular season finale, the Tar Heels, who were led by star quarterback Mitch Trubisky, lost in the Sun Bowl to Stanford by a score of 25–23. Following the 2016 season, defensive coordinator Gene Chizik resigned to spend more time with his family in Auburn, Alabama. Fedora promoted linebackers coach John Papuchis to replace Chizik as defensive coordinator. Fedora's 2017 and 2018 teams struggled mightily. The Tar Heels were unable to find consistent offense, cycling through several starting quarterbacks including LSU transfer Brandon Harris, Chazz Surratt, Nathan Elliott and Cade Fortin. After going 5–18 in those two seasons, Fedora was fired as head coach following the final game of the 2018 season, an overtime loss to rival N.C. State.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: Two days after firing coach Fedora, on November 27, 2018, the school announced Mack Brown would be returning as head coach. Brown's return has been highlighted by a significant uptick in the level of recruiting for the Tar Heels, exemplified by the flipping of current Tar Heel star quarterback Sam Howell from Florida State on signing day for the class of 2019. Howell set multiple school records in three seasons as the starting quarterback. But despite Howell's performance and consecutive top-15 recruiting classes (2021 and 2022), the COVID-shortened 8–4 season in 2020 is so far the best record of Brown's second stint.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: In Brown's first year coaching since the 2013 season at Texas, the Tar Heels finished 6-6 and became bowl eligible for the first time since the 2016 season, clinching bowl eligibility in the final week of the regular season against rival N.C. State. On October 26, 2019, in a win over Duke, he became the school's all-time wins leader, surpassing his first Tar Heel predecessor, Dick Crum. Brown led the team to their first bowl victory in 6 years, a 55–13 blowout over Temple in the Military Bowl. Under the air-raid system of offensive coordinator Phil Longo, freshman quarterback Sam Howell set the school record for passing touchdowns with 38. Howell's 38 passing scores were also a record for ACC true freshmen, and came two shy of tying Jameis Winston for most touchdown passes by a freshman in conference history. Wide receivers Dazz Newsome and Dyami Brown posted 1,000 yard receiving seasons, and running back Michael Carter rushed for 1,003 yards. His backfield counterpart Javonte Williams had a breakout season, rushing for 933 yards and five touchdowns in 2019. Former quarterback Chazz Surratt made a position change to linebacker after Howell's arrival, and earned first team all-conference honors in his first collegiate season as a linebacker.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: The 2020 team finished 8–4 in a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, capped by a 41–27 loss to Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl. This was Carolina's first appearance in a major bowl game since the 1950 Cotton Bowl Classic, and the first ever Orange Bowl berth for the school. Running backs Carter and Williams both rushed for over 1,000 yards in the 2020 season, and wide receiver Dyami Brown posted his second straight 1,000 yard receiving season. Howell set more records in his second season under center, including single game passing touchdowns with six in a come-from-behind victory over Wake Forest. He added a rushing touchdown in the same game, setting the record for total touchdowns in a game with seven. Against Miami in the final week of the regular season, Williams and Carter combined for an FBS 544 rushing yards in the 62–26 blowout of the Hurricanes. Williams' 19 rushing touchdowns on the season tied Don McCauley's single-season record at Carolina.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: The 2021 team began the season ranked in the top ten in national preseason polls and was picked to win the ACC Coastal Division, but underperformed and ended the season with a 6–7 record. The Tar Heels finished fifth in the division, capping the season with a disappointing 38–21 loss to South Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. The 2021 Tar Heel team was one of only two teams in FBS history to have started the season ranked inside the top ten and finish with a losing record. A bright spot in the 2021 season was the emergence of highly touted wide receiver Josh Downs who set single season program records for receptions and receiving yards, finishing the year with 101 catches for 1,335 yards and 8 touchdowns. Running back Ty Chandler, a graduate transfer from Tennessee rushed for 1,092 yards and 13 touchdowns, making Brown's first three seasons back in Chapel Hill produce at least one 1,000 yard receiver and rusher. Following the conclusion of the season, defensive coordinator Jay Bateman and special teams coordinator Jovan Dewitt were let go, as changes needed to be made to continue the upward trajectory of Carolina football, and the defense and special teams had regressed heavily, despite returning several starters and key rotation pieces. Offensive line coach Stacy Searels, whose unit was another that struggled in 2021, also left the Tar Heels in the offseason to return to Georgia, where he had previously served as OL coach from 2007–2010 under head coach Mark Richt. He was replaced by Jack Bicknell Jr., who had previously worked with Tar Heel OC Phil Longo when both were at Ole Miss under head coach Matt Luke.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: The 2022 team entered the season with significant question marks on both sides of the ball, and on special teams. Gene Chizik, Tar Heel defensive coordinator from 2015–16, returned to Chapel Hill to lead the defense after spending five years away from coaching (much like head coach Mack Brown after his departure from Texas in 2013). He brought with him co-DC/defensive backs coach Charlton Warren to rework and improve the Tar Heels' struggling defense. Running backs coach Larry Porter was elevated to Special Teams coordinator, hoping to improve the special teams as well following Dewitt's departure. The Tar Heels brought in graduate transfers Corey Gaynor (Miami) and Spencer Rolland (Harvard) to strengthen their offensive line, and got another in edge rusher Noah Taylor (Virginia) to strengthen the defensive line in Chizik's new scheme. However, the biggest question mark them was who would replace Sam Howell as the Tar Heels' starting quarterback. QB's Jacolby Criswell and Drake Maye spent spring practice and most of training camp in a dead heat battle, which was won by the redshirt freshman Maye. He was announced by the Brown as the team's starting quarterback in Brown's press conference the Monday prior to the Tar Heels' week zero opening game against FAMU.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: In his first start, Maye set multiple records in a 56–24 win. Freshman RB Omarion Hampton ran for over 100 yards against the Rattlers as well, becoming the first Tar Heel running back to achieve that mark in his first career game since legendary Tar Heel Charlie "Choo-Choo" Justice in 1946. Despite rumblings of improvement and progress throughout the offseason, the Tar Heel defense struggled against FAMU and the following week against Appalachian State. Against the Mountaineers, the Tar Heel defense gave up 649 total offensive yards, including 361 passing yards and six touchdown passes for App. quarterback Chase Brice. However, the Tar Heel offense itself gained 567 total offensive yards, the special teams unit returned a Mountaineer onside kick attempt for a touchdown, and the Tar Heels were able to escape Boone with a 63–61 victory in what is considered to be an instant classic. The Tar Heels beat Georgia State the following week to improve to 3–0 on the season for just the third time since 2011. Two weeks later the defense would again struggle in a 45-32 loss against a Notre Dame team that was only 1-2 at the time. After much criticism, the defense responded with their best performance of the year a week later against Virginia Tech in a 41-10 victory for the Tar Heels. A week later, the Tar Heels claimed their fourth straight victory against Miami then later defeated their rivals Duke Blue Devils to keep the Victory Bell in Chapel Hill. Mack Brown is 12-2 against Duke in his career.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: Since starting the football program in 1888, North Carolina has been affiliated with three conferences, along with some stints an independent in the early seasons of Carolina football.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: UNC was independent for most of its earliest years of college football, spending many of the seasons from 1888 to 1921 as a member of no formal athletic conference. The exceptions to this include a brief stint with the informal North Carolina Inter-Collegiate Foot-ball Association from 1888 to 1890 with Duke (then known as Trinity) and Wake Forest, and a few brief stints with the more formally recognized SIAA. The conference was formed in December 1892 when eight colleges from around the South, led by Virginia, attempted to form its first iteration; this association folded by July 1893 due to internal disputes.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: Carolina tried to revive the SIAA, helping reform the association in December 1894. By January 1895, however, UNC left the SIAA, calling the venture "impracticable" due to distance considerations, in addition to the cost of associated travel expenses.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: UNC's Athletic Association voted to rejoin the SIAA in 1899, becoming a member before the 1900 football season. After two more seasons in the Athletic Association, from late in 1899 to May 1902, North Carolina was suspended from the SIAA for playing two players, who were reportedly professionals, in a baseball game in 1902.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: North Carolina has won two division championships. Due to the ACC abandoning the division model for the 2023 season, the Tar Heels will be the final team to win the ACC Coastal Division.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: Duke is North Carolina's biggest basketball rival. The football rivalry between Duke and North Carolina began in 1888, when Duke was known by the name of Trinity. Trinity won the first game in the now-longstanding series. While the basketball rivalry between the two teams overshadows the importance of the football rivalry, they have been known to have some great games every now and then despite. The Victory Bell was introduced for the 1948 match-up, which North Carolina won 20–0. It's tradition for the school that has possession of the bell to paint the bell in the shade of blue of their school. The longest consecutive win streak in the series is a 13-game win streak by the Tar Heels from 1990 to 2002. The all-time series record is 55–35–4 (excluding the two Carolina vacated victories) in favor of the Tar Heels.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: The first football game between the NC State Wolfpack and the Tar Heels occurred in 1894, and the Tar Heels won 44–0. The two schools played every now and then until the formation of the ACC. Since the two teams have been a part of the ACC, they have played every year since 1953. In the past few decades, the rivalry has been more highly contested than the Tar Heels rivalry with Duke. The 1998 and 1999 games were held at Bank of America Stadium, the Tar Heels won both games. The longest consecutive win streak in the series is 9 games, from 1943 to 1955 by the Tar Heels.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: In the 112 meetings between NC State and the Tar Heels, the all-time series is 68–38–6 in favor of the Tar Heels. Since the formation of the ACC in 1953, the Tar Heels hold the edge over the Wolfpack, 37–33, signifying the competitive nature of the rivalry.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: The Tar Heels' rivalry with the Virginia Cavaliers began in 1892, and the rivalry has come to be known as the "South's Oldest Rivalry." The teams played twice during the 1892 season, with the Cavaliers winning the first game and the Tar Heels winning the second. The two teams have played a total of 116 times, more than the two teams have played any other program. It is the fourth most played rivalry game among college football's major conference schools. The all-time series record is 62–54–4, in favor of the Tar Heels.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: Wake Forest and North Carolina have met in 109 meetings, with North Carolina holding a 71-36-2 series lead. The game is known as "The Oldest Rivalry in North Carolina" as the first meeting, held in 1888, was the first college football game played in the state of North Carolina. The two teams met annually from 1919 to 2004 until the ACC created the divisional format in 2005.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: The Battle of the Carolinas is a rivalry that began in 1903. North Carolina holds a 34–20–4 overall leads the series. While no longer a conference rivalry, since South Carolina left the ACC in 1971, the teams still meet occasionally. While South Carolina was an independent (1971-1991), the teams met ten times with each team winning five. Following South Carolina's membership in the SEC the two teams didn't meet for 16 seasons until finally meeting again in 2007 in Chapel Hill. Since that time the two teams have played five times with South Carolina winning four. The most recent meeting was the first postseason meeting between the two programs in the Duke's Mayo Bowl on December 30, 2021 with South Carolina winning 38-21. The two teams are slated to meet for a fourth straight time in Charlotte on September 2, 2023.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: Throughout the course of the Tar Heels' football history, a player has rushed for over 1,000 yards in a season 31 times. The first player to rush for over a 1,000 yards was Don McCauley, who ran for 1,092 yards in the 1969 season. The most recent Tar Heel to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark was Ty Chandler, who ran for 1,092 yards in 2021.


title: North Carolina Tar Heels football

text: Beneath the video board in the east end zone of Kenan Stadium, several Tar Heel greats have their jersey numbers honored.


title: Ennis Esmer

text: Ennis Esmer (born December 29, 1978) is a Turkish-Canadian actor, comedian, voice actor, writer, producer and presenter. He is best known for his roles as Osman 'Oz' Bey in "The Listener", Kurtis 'Maz' Mazhari in "Private Eyes", Nash in "Red Oaks", and as Rich Dotcom in "Blindspot" – a role that was specifically written for him.


title: Ennis Esmer

text: Esmer was born in Ankara, Turkey, before moving to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 3. His father, Demir, and his mother, Alev, were both systems analysts. As a child, Esmer learned English by watching Canadian television – which included programs like Sesame Street and Today's Special. His parents divorced in his early teens, and his father remarried to Esmer's stepmother, Florence. Esmer attended Earl Haig Secondary School, in the Toronto suburb of North York, participating in the Claude Watson Program for gifted arts students. During his time at the school, he took improv and experimental theatre classes, was elected to student council, and produced school assemblies which became miniature talent showcases.


title: Ennis Esmer

text: Esmer then attended the York University drama program for three years but left before completing it. He struggled with the limitations it set on his natural comedic abilities and has said that part of this at the time was an issue of confidence and maturity. However, even after leaving the university and for many years has continued to study and work with David Rotenberg, a York University professor emeritus of Theatre Studies and the artistic director of his own Professional Actor's Lab – and has said that Rotenberg was the person who allowed him to actually work on his dramatic ability without calling his comedic gifts a crutch. Esmer also did some training at Second City and has worked every comedy stage in Toronto.


title: Ennis Esmer

text: Esmer first came to prominence as the writer and host of Toronto 1's short-lived variety series "The Toronto Show" in 2003. His first acting role that got him notice was in 2006, as the temperamental janitor Zoltan in the Gemini Awards-winning "Billable Hours" – this role set a precedent in Esmer's career, as what was originally a one-off appearance was expanded to a recurring role because of the popularity of his take on it. His next major role came in 2009 in "The Listener" as Osman 'Oz' Bey, the best friend of the main character Toby Logan (played by Craig Olejnik). Esmer was nominated once in 2010 for an ACTRA Award, and twice in 2010 and 2011 for Canadian Comedy Awards for this role. In the opposite seasons to shooting "The Listener" in Toronto, Esmer was shooting his role as Eddie, the apartment complex manager, in "The L.A. Complex" in Los Angeles – a situation that would repeat in his career.


title: Ennis Esmer

text: Starting in 2014, Esmer had regular roles in "You Me Her", "Private Eyes", "Red Oaks", and "Blindspot", once again often shooting in opposite or even the same seasons. In Audience Network's polyamorous comedy "You Me Her", he played Dave Amari, best friend and neighbour of Jack Trekarsky, the 'Him' of the title. In Global Television Network/Ion Television's "Private Eyes", he played Kurtis 'Maz' Mazhari, a Detective who helped main characters Matt Shade (played by Jason Priestley) and Angie Everett (played by Cindy Sampson) solve crimes. He would be nominated in 2019 for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards for this latter role.


title: Ennis Esmer

text: In Amazon Studios 1980's set comedy-drama "Red Oaks", he played the Turkish lothario tennis instructor Nash. He said of the role, 'It's fun to play a character who is a pretty decent representation of my ethnicity...His ethnicity doesn't define the role, and he gets to be a full person aside from that, and in fact, because of that.' In NBC's "Blindspot", Esmer again took a role that was an originally a one-off spot in season one, and went first to recurring then series regular in season four. His instinctive improvisational style and delivery made fan-favourite Rich Dotcom what the show creator Martin Gero said was the character that defined the series. Esmer also had a memorable 3-episode arc as Emir Kaplan, the travel blogger who broke Stevie Budd's heart, in season five of the Emmy Award-winning comedy series "Schitt's Creek".


title: Ennis Esmer

text: Esmer has also undertaken several hosting duties in Canada – hosting, among others, the Gemini Awards twice, and the ACTRA Awards, even virtually hosting the feature films section of Directors Guild of Canada Awards in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also presented "Wipeout Canada" and the upcoming "Roast Battle Canada", the Canadian version of "Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle".


title: Ennis Esmer

text: In film, Esmer has worked extensively in Canadian indie short and feature-length films. He started his film career in a bit part as Ronnie in the American film "How to Deal" in 2003. His breakout film role was in 2007's "Young People Fucking", co-written by his longtime friend and later "Blindspot" showrunner Martin Gero and other longtime friend Aaron Abrams. This film was notable not just for winning multiple Genie Awards and nearly sweeping the film category of the Canadian Comedy Awards, but also because of the furor around funding caused politically by its name and perceived content.


title: Ennis Esmer

text: In 2014, Esmer starred in his first lead film role as Leonard Crane, a small-town newspaper reporter, in "Big News from Grand Rock", a comedy-drama about the demise of small-town newspapers – on which he also served as an executive-producer. The same year, he played a supporting role as Sean in the romantic comedy "Dirty Singles", for which he was nominated for an ACTRA Award, and won best male performance at the Canadian Comedy Awards. In 2015, he played a supporting role in sex comedy "How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town", directed by Jeremy Lalonde, again serving as executive-producer. In 2016, he played a supporting role in "Miss Sloane" with Jessica Chastain. That same year, he played Moe, a flight crash investigator, in the television film "Brace for Impact", for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by Supporting Actor in a Drama at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018. Also in 2018, he played the astrophysicist Charlie in "Clara", a science-fiction film which won the Jury Prize at the Austin Film Festival.


title: Ennis Esmer

text: Esmer is in a long-term relationship with Amy Blaxland – a stylist, costume designer and businesswoman.


title: Ennis Esmer

text: For many years, Ennis Esmer has been involved in many charities, both publicly and privately, focusing on homelessness, poverty, sick children, and reading – especially in the Greater Toronto area.


title: Ron Harper Jr.

text: Ronald Harper Jr. (born April 12, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Raptors 905 of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights of the Big Ten Conference. He is the son of former NBA player Ron Harper.


title: Ron Harper Jr.

text: Harper was born in Paterson, New Jersey, while his father, Ron Harper, was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA. He grew up playing basketball under the coaching of his mother, Maria. On the Amateur Athletic Union circuit, Harper competed for Ring City Basketball, a program owned by his parents. Raised in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey & Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, he attended Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, New Jersey. As a junior, Harper averaged 10.1 points and 1.5 rebounds per game while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range. He helped his team win its first Non-Public A state title in 47 years. In his senior season, he averaged 20.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, leading his team to its second straight Non-Public A state championship. He scored a career-high 33 points in a loss to Roselle Catholic High School at the Tournament of Champions final. Harper was named North Jersey Player of the Year by "The Record". He was considered a four-star recruit by Rivals but his only Power Five scholarship offers were from Nebraska and Rutgers. On August 11, 2017, he committed to play college basketball for Rutgers.


title: Ron Harper Jr.

text: In his collegiate debut against Fairleigh Dickinson, he posted 15 points. On March 2, 2019, Harper scored a freshman season-high 27 points for Rutgers in an 86–72 win over Iowa. As a freshman, he averaged 7.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. In the offseason, Harper improved his strength and conditioning, gaining 15 lbs (6.8 kg). During his sophomore season, he became a regular starter. On January 22, 2020, Harper recorded a season-high 29 points and nine rebounds in an 85–80 loss to Iowa. On February 25, he scored 27 points, shooting 5-of-5 from three-point range, in a 72–57 victory over Illinois. As a sophomore, he averaged 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. He earned All-Big Ten Honorable Mention and was named to the Second Team All-Met. On November 27, Harper scored a career-high 30 points with five-three pointers in a 96–75 win over Fairleigh Dickinson. As a junior, Harper helped lead Rutgers to their first NCAA Tournament in 30 years. He averaged 14.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Following the season, Harper declared for the 2021 NBA draft, but ultimately opted to return to Rutgers.


title: Ron Harper Jr.

text: On December 9, 2021, Harper tied his career high of 30 points to go with 10 rebounds against Purdue. He made the game-winning buzzer-beater from just inside halfcourt to give the Scarlet Knights a 70–68 win, giving Rutgers its first victory over a No. 1 ranked team. Harper was named to the Second Team All-Big Ten.


title: Ron Harper Jr.

text: Following Rutgers' loss in the First Four of the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament, Harper announced his intention to forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility and declare for the 2022 NBA draft. He ultimately went undrafted.


title: Ron Harper Jr.

text: On July 14, 2022, after being undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft, Harper signed a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors.


title: Ron Harper Jr.

text: His father, Ron Harper, was an All-American college basketball player at Miami (Ohio) and played in the NBA for 15 seasons, winning five NBA titles. His mother, Maria (née Pizarro), is from Bataan, Philippines and played college basketball for New Orleans, before becoming a coach. Harper's maternal grandfather represented the Philippines in jai alai at the 1968 Summer Olympics.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The Saint is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a series of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books until 1983; two additional works produced without Charteris's participation were published in 1997. The character has also been portrayed in motion pictures, radio dramas, comic strips, comic books and three television series.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Simon Templar is a Robin Hood-like figure known as the Saint – from his initials, per "The Saint Meets the Tiger", and the reader is told that he was given it at the age of nineteen. In addition, per "Knight Templar":


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Templar has aliases, often using the initials S.T. such as "Sebastian Tombs" or "Sugarman Treacle". Blessed with boyish humour, he makes humorous and off-putting remarks and leaves a "calling card" at his "crimes," a stick figure of a man with a halo over his head. This is used as the logo of the books, the films, and the three TV series. He is described as "a buccaneer in the suits of Savile Row, amused, cool, debonair, with hell-for-leather blue eyes and a saintly smile".


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: His origin remains a mystery; he is explicitly British, but in early books (e.g. "Meet the Tiger") there are references which suggest that he had spent some time in the United States battling Prohibition villains. Presumably, his acquaintance with Bronx sidekick Hoppy Uniatz dates from this period. In the books, his income is derived from the pockets of the "ungodly" (as he terms those who live by a lesser moral code than his own), whom he is given to "socking on the boko." There are references to a "ten percent collection fee" to cover expenses when he extracts large sums from victims, the remainder being returned to the owners, given to charity, shared among Templar's colleagues, or some combination of those possibilities.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Templar's targets include corrupt politicians, warmongers, and other low life. "He claims he's a Robin Hood," says one victim, "but to me he's just a robber and a hood." Robin Hood appears to be one inspiration for the character; Templar stories were often promoted as featuring "The Robin Hood of modern crime," and this phrase to describe Templar appears in several stories. A term used by Templar to describe his acquisitions is "boodle," a term also applied to the short story collection.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The Saint has a dark side, as he is willing to ruin the lives of the "ungodly," and even kill them, if he feels that more innocent lives can be saved. In the early books, Templar refers to this as murder, although he considers his actions justified and righteous, a view usually shared by partners and colleagues. Several adventures centre on his intention to kill. (For example, "Arizona" in "The Saint Goes West" has Templar planning to kill a Nazi scientist.)


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: During the 1920s and early 1930s, the Saint is fighting European arms dealers, drug runners, and white slavers while based in his London home. His battles with Rayt Marius mirror the 'four rounds with Carl Petersen' of Bulldog Drummond. During the first half of the 1940s, Charteris cast Templar as a willing operative of the American government, fighting Nazi interests in the United States during World War II.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Beginning with the "Arizona" novella, Templar is fighting his own war against Germany. "The Saint Steps In" reveals that Templar is operating on behalf of a mysterious American government official known as Hamilton who appears again in the next WWII-era Saint book, "The Saint on Guard," and Templar is shown continuing to act as a secret agent for Hamilton in the first post-war novel, "The Saint Sees it Through." The later books move from confidence games, murder mysteries, and wartime espionage, and place Templar as a global adventurer.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: According to "Saint" historian Burl Barer, Charteris made the decision to remove Templar from his usual confidence-game trappings, not to mention his usual co-stars Uniatz, girlfriend Patricia Holm, valet Orace, and police foil Claud Eustace Teal, as they were all inappropriate for the post-war stories he was writing.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Although the Saint functions as an ordinary detective in some stories, others depict ingenious plots to get even with vanity publishers and other rip-off artists, greedy bosses who exploit their workers, con men, etc.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The Saint has many partners, though none last throughout the series. For the first half until the late 1940s, the most recurrent is Patricia Holm, his girlfriend, who was introduced in the first story, the 1928 novel "Meet the Tiger," in which she shows herself a capable adventurer. Holm appeared erratically throughout the series, sometimes disappearing for books at a time. Templar and Holm lived together in a time when common-law relationships were uncommon and, in some areas, illegal.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: They have an easy, non-binding relationship, as Templar is shown flirting with other women from time to time. However, his heart remains true to Holm in the early books, culminating in his considering marriage in the novella "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal," only to have Holm say that she had no interest in marrying. Holm disappeared in the late 1940s, and according to Barer's history of "The Saint," Charteris refused to allow Templar a steady girlfriend, or Holm to return. (However, according to the Saintly Bible website, Charteris did write a film story that would have seen Templar encountering a son he had had with Holm.) Holm's final appearance as a character was in the short stories "Iris," "Lida," and "Luella," contained within the 1948 collection "Saint Errant;" the next direct reference to her does not appear in print until the 1983 novel "Salvage for the Saint."


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Another recurring character, Scotland Yard Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, could be found attempting to put the Saint behind bars, although in some books they work in partnership. In "The Saint in New York," Teal's American counterpart, NYPD Inspector John Henry Fernack, was introduced, and he would become, like Teal, an Inspector Lestrade-like foil and pseudo-nemesis in a number of books, notably the American-based World War II novels of the 1940s.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The Saint had a band of compatriots, including Roger Conway, Norman Kent, Archie Sheridan, Richard "Dicky" Tremayne (a name that appeared in the 1990s TV series, "Twin Peaks"), Peter Quentin, Monty Hayward, and his ex-military valet, Orace.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: In later stories, the dim-witted and constantly soused but reliable American thug Hoppy Uniatz was at Templar's side. Of the Saint's companions, only Norman Kent was killed during an adventure (he sacrifices himself to save Templar in the novel "The Last Hero"); the other males are presumed to have settled down and married (two to former female criminals: Dicky Tremayne to "Straight Audrey" Perowne and Peter Quentin to Kathleen "The Mug" Allfield; Archie Sheridan is mentioned to have married in "The Lawless Lady" in "Enter the Saint," presumably to Lilla McAndrew after the events of the story "The Wonderful War" in "Featuring the Saint)."


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Charteris gave Templar interests and quirks as the series went on. Early talents as an amateur poet and songwriter were displayed, often to taunt villains, though the novella "The Inland Revenue" established that poetry was also a hobby. That story revealed that Templar had written an adventure novel featuring a South American hero not far removed from The Saint himself.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Templar also on occasion would break the fourth wall in an almost metafictional sense, making references to being part of a story and mentioning in one early story how he cannot be killed so early on; the 1960s television series would also have Templar address viewers. Charteris in his narrative also frequently breaks the fourth wall by making references to the "chronicler" of the Saint's adventures and directly addressing the reader. In the story "The Sizzling Saboteur" in "The Saint on Guard" Charteris inserts his own name. In the story "Judith" in "Saint Errant" is the line, "'This,' the Saint said to nobody in particular, 'sounds like one of those stories that fellow Charteris might write.'" Furthermore, in the 1955 story "The Unkind Philanthropist," published in the collection "The Saint on the Spanish Main," Templar states outright that (in his fictional universe) his adventures are indeed written about by a man named Leslie Charteris.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The origins of the Saint can be found in early works by Charteris, some of which predated the first Saint novel, 1928's "Meet the Tiger", or were written after it but before Charteris committed to writing a Saint series. Burl Barer reveals that an obscure early work, "Daredevil", not only featured a heroic lead who shared "Saintly" traits (down to driving the same make of car) but also shared his adventures with Inspector Claud Eustace Teal—a character later a regular in Saint books. Barer writes that several early Saint stories were rewritten from non-Saint stories, including the novel "She Was a Lady", which appeared in magazine form featuring a different lead character.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Charteris utilized three formats for delivering his stories. Besides full-length novels, he wrote novellas for the most part published in magazines, notably developing the character in the pages of the British story-paper "The Thriller" under the tutelage of Monty Hayden, who was developing the ″Desperado″ character type for the magazine, and these were later collected in hardback books collecting two or three stories per volume. He also wrote short stories featuring the character, again mostly for magazines and later compiled into omnibus editions. In later years these short stories carried a common theme, such as the women Templar meets or exotic places he visits. With the exception of "Meet the Tiger", chapter titles of Templar novels usually contain a descriptive phrase describing the events of the chapter; for example, Chapter Four of "Knight Templar" is titled "How Simon Templar dozed in the Green Park and discovered a new use for toothpaste".


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Although Charteris's novels and novellas had more conventional thriller plots than his confidence game short stories, both novels and stories are admired. As in the past, the appeal lies in the vitality of the character, a hero who can go into a brawl and come out with his hair combed and who, faced with death, lights a cigarette and taunts his enemy with the signature phrase "As the actress said to the bishop ..."


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The period of the books begins in the 1920s and moves to the 1970s as the 50 books progress (the character being seemingly ageless). In early books most activities are illegal, although directed at villains. In later books, this becomes less so. In books written during World War II, the Saint was recruited by the government to help track spies and similar undercover work. Later he became a cold warrior fighting Communism. The quality of writing also changes; early books have a freshness which becomes replaced by cynicism in later works. A few Saint stories crossed into science fiction and fantasy, "The Man Who Liked Ants" and the early novel "The Last Hero" being examples; one Saint short story, "The Darker Drink" (also published as "Dawn"), was even published in the October 1952 issue of "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction". When early Saint books were republished in the 1960s to the 1980s, it was not uncommon to see freshly written introductions by Charteris apologizing for the out-of-date tone; according to a Charteris "apology" in a 1969 paperback of "Featuring the Saint", he attempted to update some earlier stories when they were reprinted but gave up and let them sit as period pieces. The 1963 edition of the short story collection "The Happy Highwayman" contains examples of abandoned revisions; in one story published in the 1930s ("The Star Producers"), references to actors of the 1930s were replaced for 1963 with names of current movie stars; another 1930s-era story, "The Man Who Was Lucky", added references to atomic power. Although Templar is depicted as ageless, Charteris occasionally acknowledged the passing of time for those around him, such as in the 1956 short story collection "The Saint Around the World" which features the retirement of Inspector Teal in one story.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Charteris started retiring from writing books following 1963's "The Saint in the Sun". The next book to carry Charteris's name, 1964's "Vendetta for the Saint", was written by science fiction author Harry Harrison, who had worked on the "Saint" comic strip, after which Charteris edited and revised the manuscript. Between 1964 and 1983, another 14 "Saint" books would be published, credited to Charteris but written by others. In his introduction to the first, "The Saint on TV", Charteris called these volumes a team effort in which he oversaw selection of stories, initially adaptations of scripts written for the 1962–1969 TV series "The Saint", and with Fleming Lee writing the adaptations (other authors took over from Lee). Charteris and Lee collaborated on two Saint novels in the 1970s, "The Saint in Pursuit" (based on a story by Charteris for the "Saint" comic strip) and "The Saint and the People Importers". The "team" writers were usually credited on the title page, if not the cover. One later volume, "Catch the Saint", was an experiment in returning The Saint to his period, prior to World War II (as opposed to recent Saint books set in the present day). Several later volumes also adapted scripts from the 1970s revival TV series "Return of the Saint".


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The last "Saint" volume in the line of books starting with "Meet the Tiger" in 1928 was "Salvage for the Saint", published in 1983. According to the Saintly Bible website, every Saint book published between 1928 and 1983 saw the first edition issued by Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom (a company that originally published only religious books) and The Crime Club (an imprint of Doubleday that specialized in mystery and detective fiction) in the United States. For the first 20 years, the books were first published in Britain, with the United States edition following up to a year later. By the late 1940s to early 1950s, this situation had been reversed. In one case—"The Saint to the Rescue"—a British edition did not appear until nearly two years after the American one.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: French language books published over 30 years included translated volumes of Charteris originals as well as novelisations of radio scripts from the English-language radio series and comic strip adaptations. Many of these books credited to Charteris were written by others, including Madeleine Michel-Tyl.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Charteris died in 1993. Two additional Saint novels appeared around the time of the 1997 film starring Val Kilmer: a novelisation of the film (which had little connection to the Charteris stories) and "Capture the Saint", a more faithful work published by The Saint Club and originated by Charteris in 1936. Both books were written by Burl Barer, who in the early 1990s published a history of the character in books, radio, and television.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Charteris wrote 14 novels between 1928 and 1971 (the last two co-written), 34 novellas, and 95 short stories featuring Simon Templar. Between 1963 and 1997, an additional seven novels and fourteen novellas were written by others.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: In 2014, all the Saint books from "Enter the Saint" to "Salvage for the Saint" (but not "Meet the Tiger" nor Burl Barer's "Capture the Saint") were republished in both the United Kingdom and United States.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Several radio drama series were produced in North America, Ireland, and Britain. The earliest was for Radio Éireann's Radio Athlone in 1940 and starred Terence De Marney. Radio Times dated October 11, 1940 refers to "'The Saint' Terence de Marney as the Charteris hero." Both NBC and CBS produced "Saint" series during 1945, starring Edgar Barrier and Brian Aherne. Many early shows were adaptations of published stories, although Charteris wrote several storylines for the series which were novelised as short stories and novellas.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The longest-running radio incarnation was Vincent Price, who played the character in a series between 1947 and 1951 on three networks: CBS, Mutual and NBC. Like "The Whistler", the program had an opening whistle theme with footsteps. Price left in May 1951, to be replaced by Tom Conway, who played the role for several more months; his brother, George Sanders, had played Templar on film. For more about the Saint on American radio, see "The Saint (radio program)".


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The next English-language radio series aired on Springbok Radio in South Africa between 1953 and 1957. These were fresh adaptations of the original stories and starred Tom Meehan. Around 1965 to 1966 the South African version of Lux Radio Theatre produced a single dramatization of "The Saint". The English service of South Africa produced another series radio adventures for six months in 1970–1971. The most recent English-language incarnation was a series of three one-hour-long radio plays on BBC Radio 4 in 1995, all adapted from Charteris novels: "Saint Overboard", "The Saint Closes The Case" and "The Saint Plays With Fire", starring Paul Rhys as Templar.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Not long after creating The Saint, Charteris began a long association with Hollywood as a screenwriter. He was successful in getting a major studio, RKO Radio Pictures, interested in a film based on one of his works. The first, "The Saint in New York" in 1938, based on the 1935 novel of the same name, starred Louis Hayward as Templar and Jonathan Hale as Inspector Henry Fernack, the American counterpart of Mr Teal.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The film was a success and RKO began a Saint series. Some of the films were based on Charteris's original novels or novellas; others were original stories based upon outlines by Charteris. George Sanders took over the leading role. Sanders's offhand manner captured the urbane yet daring qualities of the Saint character, but after five films RKO assigned him to a new series, "The Falcon", in which Sanders played the same kind of debonair adventurer. Charteris saw this as both plagiarism and an attempt to deprive him of royalties, and he sued RKO.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: Hugh Sinclair replaced Sanders in 1941 and portrayed Templar in two films, both produced by RKO's British unit (the second film was ultimately released by Republic Pictures in 1943).


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: In 1953, British Hammer Film Productions produced "The Saint's Return" (known as "The Saint's Girl Friday" in the United States), for which Louis Hayward returned to the role. This was followed by an unsuccessful French production in 1960.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: In the mid-1980s, the "National Enquirer" and other newspapers reported that Roger Moore was planning to produce a movie based on "The Saint" with Pierce Brosnan as Templar, but it was never made. In 1989, six movies were made by Taffner starring Simon Dutton. These were syndicated in the United States as part of a series of films titled "Mystery Wheel of Adventure," while in the United Kingdom they were shown as a series on ITV.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: In 1991, as detailed by Burl Barer in his 1992 history of "The Saint," plans were announced for a series of motion pictures. Ultimately, however, no such franchise appeared. A feature film "The Saint" starring Val Kilmer was released in 1997, but it diverged in style from the Charteris books, although it did revive Templar's use of aliases. Kilmer's Saint is unable to defeat a Russian gangster in hand-to-hand combat and is forced to flee; this would have been unthinkable in a Charteris tale. Whereas the original Saint resorted to aliases that had the initials S.T., Kilmer's character used Christian saints, regardless of initials. This Saint refrained from killing, and even his main enemies live to stand trial, whereas Charteris's version had no qualms about taking another life. Kilmer's Saint is presented as a master of disguise, but Charteris's version hardly used the sophisticated ones shown in this film. The film mirrored aspects of Charteris's own life, notably his origins in the Far East, though not in an orphanage as the film portrayed. Roger Moore features throughout in cameo as the BBC Newsreader heard in Simon Templar's Volvo.


title: The Saint (Simon Templar)

text: The actor Roger Moore brought Simon Templar to the new medium of television in the series "The Saint", which ran from 1962 to 1969, and Moore remains the actor most closely identified with the character. (According to the book "Spy Television" by Wesley Britton, the first actor offered the role was Patrick McGoohan of "Danger Man" and "The Prisoner.")