Notre Dame Football: North Carolina Tar Heels Q&A (Part 2) — Insider Info from UNC OL Brian Anderson’s Brothers

Well folks, we’re once again to Friday of a game week, and this week I’ve got a special bonus Q&A to share with you on top of the typical Thursday Q&A y’all read yesterday.

In my time at Notre Dame as a student, I lived in Stanford Hall with a young man by the name of Roscoe Anderson. He was my randomly-assigned roommate as a freshman in the fall of 2009, and we ended up living together for 3 years and remain very close friends to this day — I was lucky enough to stand in ‘Scoe’s wedding in April 2021.

Roscoe’s from Montgomery, Alabama, and hails from a family of 4 boys (shout-out to Mrs. Anderson, God bless her soul for putting up with that much testosterone on her own). Roscoe’s the oldest of the Anderson brothers, now married and with a beautiful young daughter, and middle brothers Charlie and Sterling are now off doing adult things as well (Charlie is married and thriving in Houston, while Sterling is also married and crushing his residency post-med school).

The youngest Anderson, Brian, is still finishing up his collegiate career. And when I say collegiate career, I don’t just mean as a student — the most junior Anderson is by far the biggest and strongest member of the Anderson fam, and has been an offensive lineman on the North Carolina Tar Heels football team for 5+ seasons, currently in his 6th year thanks to a redshirt and COVID. He’s just stacking degrees for free and thriving outside in his free time, all while continuing to play the sport he loves for as long as he can:

Notre Dame, as you all know, will travel to Chapel Hill this weekend to face off against the 3-0 Tar Heels.

So, I wanted to use this game happening for the 3rd year in a row as an excuse to once again do a special “Brothers Tell All” Q&A with Roscoe, Charlie, and Sterling to get some insider info on Brian that can hopefully be used by us Irish to get a mental edge over the competition on Saturday.

The 2020 and 2021 versions of this Q&A were, in my opinion, an absolute delight, and this year is no different, as the Brothers Anderson filled me in on Brian’s propensity for earning graduate degrees, how he’d perform on numerous reality and game shows, which sports legends (both real and fictional) he compares to in terms of inspirational/leadership qualities, how many ducks it would take to bring him down in the wilderness, and more.

So, let’s not waste any more time. Here’s the most important Q&A of the week — nay, the weekend — brought to you courtesy of one of the greatest families I know.

Anderson nation, let’s ride.

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1. This is Brian’s 6th year at UNC. How many more years do you expect him to play for the Heels, and when he finally calls it a collegiate career, how many graduate degrees will he have? I’m setting the over/under at 2.5

Roscoe: He’s about the only person I know that can milk out 2 ‘bonus’ years — with the changing football landscape of NIL & conference realignment, who knows what’s possible. I thought Dr. Sterling was going to be the one of us with the most time in school, but B may give him a run for his money — I think he could talk the NCAA into at least another 4 years of eligibility. Brian Anderson, MBA, PhD, JD???

Charlie: I’m thinking 4 more. He’ll disguise himself as a freshman and use an alias in the football facilities to run it back for 4 more years while he finishes up his MBA and completes an additional graduate degree.

Sterling: An interesting rule under NCAA code #9 rule 47 section D: “If an actively enrolled student athlete changes degrees in another accredited college at said university, then he/she may file an extension exemption to the NCAA in order to participate in athletics while completing said degree.” It looks like Brian will stay as long/even longer than Mack’s tenure.

2. As a veteran guy who’s been there a while, how would you describe Brian’s leadership style? Is he giving some great pump-up speeches to the fellas? Which inspiring coach/character in a sports movie would you say he’s most similar to in that regard?

Sterling: He’s definitely a vocal leader on/off the field. Also the kind of guy that lightens the mood in tough situations if needed.

Charlie: He’s definitely been coaching up the young bucks as a player-coach. He reminds me of Bill Russell, Udonis Haslem, Andrew Whitworth, and Jason Kelce combined.

Also Bear Bryant.

Yoda.

Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Roscoe: I think his leadership style has likely evolved over time. In his sixth year, he’s a little more mellow— more wisdom and experience from his time on the team to share with the younger guys. I would describe his leadership style as Mr. Miyagi meets Chubbs Peterson.

3. Now that the Anderson boys have started to become uncles/dads, where does Brian rank in the Anderson Brother Uncle Power Rankings? Please provide some context why you ranked him there.

Charlie: Well, he’s got to be the #1 uncle, right? Guy is living the dream still in college, going after a championship, and eating unlimited Roots Natural Kitchen bowls at their Chapel Hill location (IG @rootsnk #fueledbyroots). If that lifestyle isn’t an inspiration for baby Julia to hit the books or gym to go to college for free, then I don’t know what is.

Sterling: He’s for sure first, he’s a soft teddy bear in the inside and gets along great with kids especially Julia. Unfortunately he may become the favorite uncle, but Charlie and I still have plenty of time for that to change

Roscoe: Brian has proclaimed himself the ‘funcle’ and would put himself at the top of the power rankings, but I can think of 4 others who would beg to differ. It’s a close one — too close to call.

4. Brian’s got some fun NIL/social media activity going on with his Tar Heel Sportsman stuff. If Brian were duck hunting and the ducks were to band together and strike back, how many would it take to bring him down? If you were the leader of the ducks, what would your key strategy/tactic be?

Roscoe: I think a flock of 70 would be tough to manage. If I were the leader, I would have them all take him on at once, and see if I could recruit some geese to join us & tip the scales in our favor.

Sterling: Luckily for the ducks, a plugged shotgun can only hold 3 shots. Lucky for Brian, he has enough tissue to absorb the deadly pecks the ducks may bring him. Over/under 27.5 ducks. I would send the 3 weakest ducks of the flock to sacrifice themselves to allow us to attack while he tries to use those chubby fingers to reload.

Charlie: 350 ducks dive bombing and attacking from all sides. I’m assuming that he’s unarmed in this scenario. His size, strength, quickness, and primal instincts would put up a good fight.

5. If Brian were to compete on Survivor, how far could he make it? On the flip side, what game show or reality show is Brian worst-suited for competing on? Would it be something like The Voice or Dancing With the Stars, or does Brian have a performer side?

Charlie: He would make at least the final 4 as a fan favorite. I think that a challenge requiring nimble movement or squeezing into confined spaces would be his demise on the show. He would be the worst on Big Brother. Being locked in a house full of mouth-breathing idiots would drive him nuts.

Roscoe: I think he could make it pretty far — he’s likable, athletic, and would probably be able to live a few more days than other contestants without food on the island, though that wouldn’t be for long with his hunting and fishing skills. If you were to ask Brian, he would say he could perform well on The Voice or Dancing With the Stars, others may beg to differ. I think he would be worst suited for Fear Factor.

Sterling: He would make it pretty far, he would scheme his way into making Allies with the right people. He would be terrible/hilarious to watch on Wipeout. Even though it seems like he would fail miserably, Brian would more than likely reach the finals on Dancing With the Stars.

6. As an ACC offensive lineman, I’m assuming Brian can navigate his way around a buffet or training table pretty well. What’s the most of something you’ve ever seen Brian consume, what was it, and how much of that same thing do you think you could put down?

Sterling: Brian makes this “mash” all the time at home. He eats about 3-4 of those a day on top of the regular 3-4 meals he normally eats. To put how big the “mash” is into perspective, he eats it straight out of the large mixing bowls because he said 1 serving wouldn’t fit in 1 large dinner bowl……….

Roscoe: In general, I don’t think I’ve seen someone consume more milk growing up than Brian did. With 4 boys in the house I think at one point we were averaging a gallon and a half a day. The rest of us moved off to college, and I think B still drank close to a gallon a day. And the kid can put some food away. With just 1 extra mouth to feed once the rest of us were out of the house, my parents had hoped they would get some more wiggle room in the grocery budget. Never happened.

Charlie: Brian goes hard at a Thanksgiving feast. I saw him one year eat 3 full plates and a half gallon of milk. It had to be over 5 pounds of food.

7. Can Brian play quarterback, and is he interested in making a grad-transfer move this coming offseason? Asking for a friend (Marcus Freeman).

Charlie: I think he’s a decent thrower and can definitely read a defense, but I think Coach Freeman needs to reevaluate doing offseason promos in Vegas that claim “we’re back” before addressing QB issues.

Sterling: Desperate times call for desperate measures. I’d be desperate too if I lost at home to Marshall……

Roscoe: Lol.

8. Brian has teammates named Storm Duck, Diego Pounds, Major Byrd, Deems May, British Brooks, Power Echols, etc. Can you give us an inside scoop and confirm a theory for me: does Mack Brown approach recruiting by looking only for the best and most unique names in the country, and when he can’t find any more, he then collects the most regular-sounding names like Brian Anderson? I think that would be genius.

Charlie: Absolutely. Don’t forget about RaRa Dilworth and Giovanni Biggers.

Roscoe: I would love to confirm your theory, lots of strong candidates for the All-Name team coming out of Chapel Hill recently, but Brian was actually recruited back in 2016 when Larry Fedora was head coach. Not sure what Coach Fedora’s strategy for recruiting players based on names was.

Sterling: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

*crying laughing emoji* *crying laughing emoji* *crying laughing emoji* *crying laughing emoji* *crying laughing emoji* *crying laughing emoji* *crying laughing emoji* *crying laughing emoji* *crying laughing emoji*

Pat Rick Note: Sterling is not a psychopath, he used normal emojis in his response but I’m a simpleton and don’t know how to get emojis into the text in Chorus for this article

9. Do you have any other mildly embarrassing or hilarious fun facts and/or childhood photos you’d like to be published on the internet for all to see?

Sterling: I have a video of Brian accidentally dropping his beard trimmer in the toilet and trying to fish it out bare handed in his undies.

Charlie: I could roast the kid all day with funny stories. I’ll just share his first picture that he posted on Facebook.

Roscoe:

10. Give me your prediction for the game this weekend — will your brother and his squad keep their good times rollin’? Will the Anderson family be there in full force, tailgate and all?

Sterling: Unfortunately we all won’t be there together. I talked to Drake Maye and I will be the starting (armchair) quarterback and lead the Tar Heels to a victory this weekend.

Tar Heels win 38-34.

Charlie: I was dead wrong about my prediction last year. Jack Coan must have read the article. He was fired up. That guy looked like a Heisman contender. I think that UNC squeaks one out like their other games. This team induces heart attacks. ND has shown at times that they have a high ceiling on defense. Their offense has looked a little rough, but we haven’t seen much of Pyne. He’ll be the deciding factor. UNC is coming off a bye, so I think they’ll be more prepared. Even though the defense has been suspect, I think that they do just enough.

42-38 Heels. I wish I could be there, but Our good friends Ryan and Amy are getting married here in Houston this weekend. Shoutout to the Scimecas!

Roscoe: I think the Irish regroup after last week and find some needed rhythm on offense, but the offensive weapons for the Tar Heels end up putting the game just out of reach.

UNC takes it 38-31. We will be there— not missing this one.

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Alright friends, I just want to give a massive shout-out to Roscoe, Charlie, and Sterling for all their fantastic and thoughtful and hilarious answers to my very not-serious questions, as well as to Brian for putting up with me publishing these Q&As three years in a row and being such a great sport.

Just a top-notch and tight-knit crew of brothers right there — the Anderson parents have gotta be PROUD.

I also want to wish good luck to Brian and his teammates on Saturday — not in terms of hoping they emerge victorious, but more so that they all have fun, most of them realize they were gifted with incredible names (looking at you, Diego Pounds), and that they won’t feel too hurt when Drew Pyne begins his Heisman campaign this weekend.

That’s all for this week, folks — as always, Go Irish, Beat Tar Heels!!!!!