Linebackers coming from N.C.

At first, the initials and number -- "LT 56" -- on the tape on Aaron Curry's wrist seem to explain the unusual collection of outstanding college linebackers from the state of North Carolina.

Curry, Wake Forest's preseason All-ACC selection from Fayetteville, is one of a handful of North Carolina-trained linebackers in some of the most prominent places in college football this season.

He grew up a North Carolina fan, watching older brother Chris play for the Tar Heels. Aaron remembers seeing old highlights of a fearsome former linebacker at Kenan Stadium.

"Who's that?" he remembers asking his mother, who attended North Carolina.

"That's Lawrence Taylor."

Curry learned more about Taylor, who revolutionized the linebacker position with his fast, furious rushes toward the quarterback. Curry admired Taylor's speed and willingness to take on huge linemen and fullbacks without concern for his own safety.

"I like the way Lawrence Taylor played, the way he described his playing style," Curry said. "That was key for me. Whoever decides to play linebacker on their own, they don't have all their marbles."

Taylor's influence explains how Curry developed into a player who tied an NCAA season record for linebackers with three interception returns for touchdowns in 2007.

But other top linebackers from North Carolina had different role models, and their rise as a group is difficult to explain.

Impressive roster

Twenty-four linebackers are on the preseason watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Award, which will be presented to the nation's best defensive player by the Charlotte Touchdown Club on Dec. 7.

Three of those linebackers are from North Carolina hometowns. The only state with more is California, which has a population four times North Carolina's and has six linebackers on the watch list. (Football hotbed Florida has three along with North Carolina.)

University of Georgia linebacker Dannell Ellerbe of Hamlet, N.C., was chosen the preseason SEC defensive player of the year by the Blue Ribbon college football yearbook.

Shelby native Brandon Spikes of the University of Florida is rated a first-round pick for the 2009 NFL draft by Footballs future.com.

Bunn's Kerry Neal is at Notre Dame and has emerged as a promising sophomore who's tied for second on the team in tackles for loss.

Other standouts from North Carolina include Florida State senior Derek Nicholson of Winston-Salem, North Carolina sophomore Quan Sturdivant of Oakboro and N.C. State sophomore Nate Irving of Wallace.

Though Irving also admired Taylor and wears his number, other N.C. linebackers had other role models. Neal admires a different former Tar Heel, current Carolina Panther defensive end Julius Peppers.

"He's from Bailey, that's 15, 20 minutes from my hometown," Neal said. "Everybody knows Julius. Julius is like a freak of nature."

Ellerbe started his high school career as a safety and modeled himself after Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins, who attended college south of the border in Clemson.

Spikes' inspiration is old school. He idolized Dick Butkus, the great Chicago Bears linebacker from the 1960s and '70s.

Rivals.com recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said it's hard to explain the sudden sprouting of outstanding North Carolina linebackers.

"I don't know why that is," Farrell said. "Sometimes things like that just work out. Like Pennsylvania, why do they produce so many great quarterbacks?"

North Carolina's linebackers probably won't make the impact of Pennsylvania quarterbacks Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas and Jim Kelly. But they have already been part of some of the most interesting stories in college football this season.