If it seems like North Carolina senior wide receiver Bobby Blizzard knows the Virginia defensive secondary like a good friend, that's because he does.
Growing up in Hampton, Va., Blizzard attended Hampton High School with Virginia senior cornerback Almondo "Muffin" Curry. The two were close friends, and when it came time to choosing a college to play football for, Blizzard had Virginia written all over him. In 1997 Blizzard orally committed to run patterns for the Cavaliers, but instead retracted on his verbal statement, choosing to play for Kentucky.
After Blizzard's first two years playing for the Wildcats, NCAA violations forced a coaching change in Lexington. Blizzard hightailed out of Kentucky and opted to transfer to ACC-rival North Carolina. After sitting out a year, he played the 2002 season for the Tar Heels, becoming an All-ACC Honorable Mention at wide receiver. Blizzard led the Tar Heels in yards per catch with an average of 15.7 yards and in receiving touchdowns with five on the season.
Coming into this year, Blizzard expected to be a leader for the North Carolina receiving corps.
"This year I think that coming off of last season, I'm going to have the opportunity to get a lot of balls thrown my way," Blizzard said during the preseason.
However, in the early going, a severe viral infection caused him to miss the Tar Heels' games against Syracuse and Wisconsin. Last week, in a tough loss to NC State, Blizzard only caught one pass, showing some rust that accumulated during his battle with the viral infection.
"It was a hard game for me to play because I was a little out of shape" Blizzard said.
In a press conference earlier this week, North Carolina coach John Bunting said Blizzard was progressing in his recovery and he expressed Blizzard's high anticipation for Saturday's showdown with his home state team.
There's no doubt Blizzard marked the Virginia game on his calendar at the beginning of the off-season. He noted the Virginia game last season in Charlottesville was one of the highlights of his career.
"Last year, the Virginia game was the most emotional game I've ever played in my life" Blizzard said.
The high level of sentiment can easily be understood because of the history Blizzard has with several of the Virginia players, most notably Curry.
"I've known Muffin more than half my life," Blizzard said. "It was just a big emotional game playing against the guys I grew up with."
Curry mirrors Blizzard's emotions and expects the game on Saturday in Chapel Hill to be intense. However, Curry knows he can't let their friendship get in the way of the competition.
"It's always exciting playing someone you grew up with and played high school football with," Curry said. "I know he's going to be talking and I'm going to be talking. It's all love, but at the same time I still want to come out on top at the end."
The match-up between the Tar Heel receivers and the Cavalier secondary should be one to keep a close eye on Saturday. North Carolina comes into the game averaging 307.8 passing yards, good for second in the ACC.
With such history and emotion coming into play for both Blizzard and Curry, look for an explosive afternoon.
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