North Carolina Tar Heels
Last year: 7-6 (4-4 ACC), beat Temple, 55-13, in Military Bowl Best win: bowl game Worst loss: Clemson, 21-20, because that would've been a monumental win; every Tar Heels' loss came against a team with a winning record
Coach: Mack Brown (second year in second stint at school, 76-52-1 career at UNC, 251-128-1 overall career)
Starters returning: 19 (10 offense, 7 defense, 2 specialists)
Offensive player to watch: QB Sam Howell. Howell was fantastic as a true freshman in 2019, completing 61.4 percent of his passes for 3,641 yards (second in ACC), 38 TDs (led ACC, fourth nationally), and just seven interceptions. He gained 281 yards rushing and one score but lost 246 because of 36 sacks, so his line must protect him better. Otherwise, the only nitpick I'd say is he should be more accurate than 61 percent, and he probably will be this year. Even so, in 2019, he didn't throw picks when he was off.
Defensive player to watch: LB Chazz Surratt. The older brother of Wake Forest WR Sage (who opted out of the season) and a quarterback-turned-linebacker, Surratt was all-ACC last season as a junior in just his first crack at the position, tallying 115 tackles (second in ACC), 15 for losses, 6.5 sacks, one INT, three breakups, 10 QB hits, and a forced fumble.
Special teams player to watch: K Grayson Atkins. A graduate transfer from Furman, Atkins made 13 of 15 field goals last season, significantly better than Noah Ruggles, who, as a sophomore in 2019, made 19 of 27.
Schedule: vs. Syracuse, vs. Charlotte, bye, at Boston College, vs. Virginia Tech, at Florida State, vs. N.C. State, at Virginia, at Duke, vs. Wake Forest, bye, vs. Notre Dame, at Miami.
Win-loss prediction: 8-3 or 9-2. I'm not quite as big a believer in UNC as some, but I still think the Tar Heels could be going places and would probably be the favorite in the Coastal if divisions were being used this season. But since they aren't, I see them battling for third behind Clemson and Notre Dame. The Tigers aren't on the schedule for the Heels, but the Irish are. The home matchup with the Hokies is huge and is one of the highlights of the ACC slate given the predictions for each team and the wild, six-overtime victory for Tech in their 2019 meeting. Of course, both that game and the Notre Dame game in Chapel Hill would be even better with fans, but alas. The only other possible trip-ups I see are at Virginia, at Florida State, and at Miami. If the OL play doesn't improve, where there are three returning starters, that could hurt the team, but otherwise, the offense can win shootouts. In addition to Howell, it brings back RBs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams, who combined for almost 2,000 yards last season and eight TDs, and wideouts Dazz Newsome (72 catches, 10 TDs) and Dyami Brown (51 catches, 12 TDs, ACC-topping 20.3 yards per reception). The defense was pretty good last year while giving up 23.7 ppg, especially considering some of the injuries in the secondary. Even then, UNC was second in the league with 14 picks. The defense adds DE Desmond Evans, an ESPN five-star recruit, and the Tar Heels overall have welcomed in the No. 16-rated recruiting class as Brown shows off his best skill -- talking to/persuading people. All six of UNC's losses in '19 came by single digits, including that nearly ginormous upset versus Clemson, when Brown rolled the dice and went for the win, having the team go for two after its final TD. North Carolina won its final two games against FBS competition -- N.C. State and Temple -- by an average score of 48-11.5. If the Heels can just get it done in close contests, they should be very good, and 10 wins isn't out of the question.
Comments
Post a Comment