No. 20: George Barclay

No. 20

Name: George Barclay

Position: OG, LB

Jersey #: 99

Years: 1932-34

Honors: Consensus All-America in 1934; All-America in 1933; All-Southern Conference; Number has been retired; Barclay Road in Chapel Hill is named after him.

Notable Stats: NA

In Closing: Carolina’s first All-America, Barclay started both ways for three seasons. Described as a “tremendous blocker and ferocious tackler,” Barclay was literally all over the field every time Carolina played a game. A captain as a senior, Barclay led UNC to the first season in one of UNC’s best stretches ever, a six-year run that saw it go 44-8-4. The Tar Heels were 7-1-1 that final season of Barclay’s.

This period, ignited in large part by Barclay and the teams he played on, are very important in Carolina’s football history. College football was a fast growing sport, but just 10 years earlier UNC adopted the Ram mascot nicknamed “Rameses,” so it was still a bit behind certain other parts of the country. But this period, the six-year run, and a decade later the Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice era firmly put UNC football on the national map for most of more than a decade. Barclay was later UNC’s head coach from 1953-55.

Prior Ranked Heels

30 - Natrone Means

29 - Jack Merritt

28 - Landon Turner

27 - Chris Hanburger

26 - Jeff Saturday

25 - Bob Lacey

24 - Bracey Walker

23 - Ethan Horton

22 - Brian Blados

21 - Leon Johnson