Tomon Fox, North Carolina Football News: Draft Scout Player News

08/22/21 - OLB Tomon Fox, rSr/2022, North Carolina

North Carolina linebacker Tomon Fox has heard most of the stories of Lawrence Taylor's undergraduate days in Chapel Hill, including the one about him allegedly throwing a vending machines off a sixth floor balcony. Most of those tales are wild; some of them may even be true. None of them take away from how dominant he was on the field. And to be clear, when Fox says he wants to emulate Taylor, that's not the part he's talking about. Fox is currently tied with Taylor on the Tar Heels' career sack list with 21, fifth overall. Greg Ellis, who had 32.5 sacks from 1994-97 is the current leader. He's followed by Julius Peppers, who had 30.5 sacks; and Marcus Jones and Quinton Coples, who are tied for third with 24. "It's a great honor just to be mentioned with him," Fox said. "He changed the game of football, the defensive side of football, singlehandedly. I want to be able to have that same kind of impact that he had."

That's the part UNC coach Mack Brown is trying to get Fox to truly understand: the impact. Brown has been stressing the need for Carolina to get quarterback sacks and pressure from its front four without always having to bring extra bodies or blitzing. Fox could be a game changer in that respect. But most of the Tar Heels don't go tracking down footage of players - even Hall of Famers like Taylor - whose careers ended before they were born. "We've tried to help him (understand), I'm not sure he does even though Lawrence is a first-round pick and his picture, it's huge in our locker room," Brown said. "When he breaks that record, I hope it's soon, we'll have Lawrence call him and talk to him. We're actually going to show him some L.T. video from Carolina and from the NFL between now and the Virginia Tech game." - Raleigh News Observer

rSr/2022