was named by the Rocky Mount Telegram newspaper as one of the 50 Greatest Athletes from the Twin County (Nash and Edgecombe) area. College career Peppers attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he played defensive end for the Tar Heels from 1998 to 2001. As a true freshman in 1998, he was redshirted. Peppers led the nation with 15 quarterback sacks during his sophomore season (2000), and earned first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and second-team All-American honors. Following his junior season in 2001, he was a first-team All-ACC selection and was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American. He also won the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation's top defensive player and the Lombardi Award as the best collegiate lineman and the Bill Willis Trophy as the nation's best defensive lineman. In the three seasons at North Carolina, Peppers started 33 of the 34 games in which he played. He is currently ranked second all-time in UNC history with 30.5 sacks. He accumulated 53 stops behind the line of scrimmage, 167 tackles, 5 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries, 5 forced fumbles, 13 passes deflected, and 42 quarterback pressures (hurries) and returned 2 interceptions and 1 fumble recovery for touchdowns. Basketball While at the University of North Carolina, Peppers was also a walk-on member of the men's basketball team. The North Carolina football coach, Carl Torbush, said he could play football and then be a walk-on for Bill Guthridge on the North Carolina men's basketball team. He was a reserve on the 1999–2000 Tar Heels team that made it to the Final Four. Peppers was also a reserve on the 2000–01 men's basketball team. In the NCAA Tournament, Peppers scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a loss to Penn State in the second round. After the season, Peppers decided to focus solely on football and did not play basketball in his final season. Awards and honors Sporting News Freshman All-American (1999) First-team All-ACC (2000) Second-team Associated Press All-American (2000) Second-team Football News All-American (2000) Division I-A sacks leader (2000) First-team All-ACC (2001) Consensus All-American (2001) Chuck Bednarik Award (2001) Bill Willis Trophy (2001) Lombardi Award (2001) Professional career Peppers was a highly regarded prospect coming into the 2002 NFL draft earning comparisons to Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor for his ability to dominate a football game. Peppers would end up being selected number 2 overall in the