CHAPEL HILL -- Tydreke Powell suspects the moment won't hit him until he walks through the Kenan Stadium tunnel for the final time. North Carolina's football field will be spread out before him, and there will be his aunt and his brother, his two children and his stepfather, waiting to escort him on the Tar Heels' senior day.
"When I start to see those guys when I'm walking out of the tunnel, I know that will be the last time that I step on the field," said Powell, a defensive tackle from Ahoskie. "That will be the last time that they'll see me play in that stadium. I'm getting emotional now thinking about it."
Powell is one of 17 seniors who will play for the final time today in Kenan Stadium, when North Carolina faces Duke (3:30 p.m., FSCR). The Tar Heels' senior class will be remembered as one that helped guide UNC to three consecutive bowl games and 30 victories.
It's also one that endured an NCAA investigation and the firing of Butch Davis.
It was Davis, the Tar Heels' former coach who was fired before the start of preseason practice, who recruited this senior class. And it was this group of seniors who were left to provide stability to a program that had little of that entering their final season.
"They've really brought the fact of staying together, throughout the things that have gone wrong," freshman running back Gio Bernard said of UNC's seniors. "I think a lot of those guys, like Matt (Merletti), when coach Davis got fired and things like that, he was one of the guys to step up and really talk to everybody -- keeping their heads on."
With another victory, UNC's senior class would become the school's most victorious since its 1999 class, which also was a part of 31 wins. But what happened on the field represents just a part -- and perhaps a small part -- of what Powell and his classmates will take away from their time here.
They are a group that entered UNC amid the hype and high expectations that came with the start of the Davis era. As a group, they witnessed firsthand Davis' downfall.
They watched many of their teammates serve suspensions during the 2010 season, when the NCAA began its investigation into impermissible benefits and academic fraud. And then the seniors provided leadership before the start of the 2011 season, after Everett Withers became the interim head coach when Davis lost his job.
"These guys have been through a lot, and they've hung in there (and) been very resilient," Withers said. "With all the things that have gone on, I'm not sure there's many other teams in the country that could have a team stay as focused and try as hard each week and week out as this team."
Withers was asked earlier this week what he'd remember most about the seniors. He talked about the bowl streak. He talked about the 30 victories.
Dwight Jones, a senior receiver from Burlington, talked about something else.
"You know, that (this) was a team that went through a lot," said Jones when asked how he'd describe the legacy of his class. "That they never gave up -- they kept the fight ... just a team that always just kept fighting and kicking and scratching no matter what the things that were coming their way."
Today, after everything, comes one final game. One last time that Powell and Jones and 15 others will emerge from the tunnel. They will be escorted by family and friends and the memories of the last four or five years -- not all of them good.
The Tar Heels have beaten Duke in 20 of the last 21 seasons, including each of the last seven. A victory against the Blue Devils wouldn't be a surprise. But this one might mean more than the rest, given the circumstances.
"We have been through so much as a team," Jones said, "with the adversity last year, then with coach Davis leaving at the beginning of training camp. To come out and get a victory against Duke on senior day, man, in front of this crowd would be very special."
