Countdown almost finished for Barrington Edwards

Barrington Edwards didn’t need to count down the days until he received a chance to become North Carolina’s starting running back. His mother did it for him. Nearly every day last fall, Essita Hawkins would call her son with the same greeting — "you’ve got 300 more days," "you’ve got 299 more days," "you’ve got 298 days." "Sometimes, I said ‘mom, stop counting,’ " Edwards said Saturday, smiling at the memory. "Because when we got into the 200s …" The yearlong wait has dwindled to 27 days for Edwards, the brash yet talented runner who the Tar Heels figure to lean on heavily this fall. (Burlington Times News)