By Vaughn McClureBrendan Haywood and some of his North Carolina basketball teammates came up with a nickname the minute Julius Peppers stepped foot on the UNC campus.
"We called him 'Features,' " said Haywood, now a center for the Dallas Mavericks. "Just all of his features -- his heads, his hands, his feet -- all of them were so big."
Peppers' bank account is rather large, too, after he signed a six-year contract with the Bears that carries a max value of $91.5 million and included a NFL-record $42 million guaranteed.
"When I found about it I was like, 'Boy, I know who I'm about to ask for a loan,' " Haywood said. "I was just happy that he was able to get such a great deal. He really deserves it, and I hope it works out for him here in Chicago."
Photo: Julius Peppers wrestles for a loose ball during a 2001 North Carolina basketball game vs. Maryland. (Grant Halverson/AP)
Haywood has known Peppers since they were 16-year-old teammates on the
Carolina Warriors AAU basketball squad. Haywood recalled one time when
Peppers jumped over an opposing point guard and threw down a monsterous
dunk.
"He's just a phenomenal athlete," Haywood said. "Whether it was the NBA or the NFL, I knew he was going to be successful because he was so dominant at both sports."
Haywood and Peppers also were teammates at North Carolina when Peppers joined the basketball team as a freshman walk-on. Peppers helped the 2000 Tar Heels to the Final Four, averaging 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in just 21 minutes during the tourney.
"When Julius got to school, I definitely encouraged him to play basketball because I knew he could help us," Haywood said. "We didn't have a lot of depth behind Kris Lang at the power-forward position. Julius was big for us. Down the stretch, he was actually playing, and Kris Lang wasn't. Julius was just a great basketball player but, as everybody knows, he was a better football player."
Like others close to Peppers, it bothers Haywood to hear people criticize his former teammate's work ethic.
"They obviously don't know him," he said. "They don't know that he spends most of his summers in Arizona at that training facility working out and trying to get right.
"If you don't have a good game here or there, they're going to blame it on the highest-paid guy. He wasn't playing well at the beginning of last season and all of a sudden, people are blaming him for not working hard. At the end of the day, he still had a Pro Bowl season. At the end of the day, he's the last one laughing because he was rewarded with a very, very, hefty raise."
"He's just a phenomenal athlete," Haywood said. "Whether it was the NBA or the NFL, I knew he was going to be successful because he was so dominant at both sports."
Haywood and Peppers also were teammates at North Carolina when Peppers joined the basketball team as a freshman walk-on. Peppers helped the 2000 Tar Heels to the Final Four, averaging 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in just 21 minutes during the tourney.
"When Julius got to school, I definitely encouraged him to play basketball because I knew he could help us," Haywood said. "We didn't have a lot of depth behind Kris Lang at the power-forward position. Julius was big for us. Down the stretch, he was actually playing, and Kris Lang wasn't. Julius was just a great basketball player but, as everybody knows, he was a better football player."
Like others close to Peppers, it bothers Haywood to hear people criticize his former teammate's work ethic.
"They obviously don't know him," he said. "They don't know that he spends most of his summers in Arizona at that training facility working out and trying to get right.
"If you don't have a good game here or there, they're going to blame it on the highest-paid guy. He wasn't playing well at the beginning of last season and all of a sudden, people are blaming him for not working hard. At the end of the day, he still had a Pro Bowl season. At the end of the day, he's the last one laughing because he was rewarded with a very, very, hefty raise."
Here's a video of Julius Peppers dunking for North Carolina against Wake Forest:
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