The UNC football program is set to host Florida A&M for the HBCU celebration game this Saturday night with a new era on the horizon.
This will mark the first time Carolina plays week zero as they look to have a better start to the year than their 17-10 defeat to Virginia Tech a season ago.
UNC is 84-43-4 in season-opening games with [autotag]Mack Brown[/autotag] holding a record of 10-3 during his tenure as Carolina head coach.
This will also be the Tar Heels’ 10th time playing in August, holding a 5-4 record in the month.
This will be the first game without quarterback Sam Howell commanding the huddle, officially passing the torch to recently named stater Drake Maye. A new QB isn’t the only change UNC will have stepping on the field this season, as they will also debut new-look defense with Gene Chizik calling the shots.
Carolina will look different this year, and this game can pinpoint what fans can expect this season. We take a look at five things all UNC fans should watch for this weekend. One of those guys that UNC fans can’t wait to suit up is five-star freshman Travis Shaw. It appears we should see some glimpses of Shaw sprinkled throughout the game, so it will be interesting to see how quickly his play adjusts to the collegiate level.
Making it worse for UNC, Caleb Hood and Elijah Green have been sidelined for parts of training camp, opening the door for freshman Omarion Hampton and George Pettaway to receive carries. The good news for UNC is that the depleted core will get their first workload against Florida A&M.