Defense and the UNC football team don’t go well together.
We thought they did early in the season, as the Tar Heels jumped out to a 6-0 record and beat most opponents with relative ease. A 9-sack performance against South Carolina and holding Syracuse to single-digits had Tar Heel Nation believing – had UNC finally solved its historically, underperforming unit?
Think again.
In consecutive weeks, a pair of struggling UVA and Georgia Tech programs combined for over 1,000 yards against Carolina. We thought the woes went away with back-to-back wins against Campbell and Duke, but they resurfaced against a pair of middle-of-the-road offenses in Clemson and N.C. State.
With UNC having not much left to play for, expect for its first bowl victory since 2019, defensive coordinator Gene Chizik plans to give more playing time to a trio of freshman – Kaleb Cost, Tre Miller and Amare Campbell.
“Kaleb Cost is gonna be a guy you see more of than you’ve been seeing all year,” Chizik told Inside Carolina. “It’s a great opportunity for him – he gets three weeks to get ready. You’ll see Try Miller –we planned on playing him more earlier in the year, and then he had some health issues that set him back. Every time he seemed like he was going to move forward, he’d take a step back. We expect to see and play him a good bit at the corner spot. That’s great opportunities for him there. Amari Campbell, who is a guy that we probably should’ve played more during the year, he’s going to get his opportunity. Three young guys that are all freshmen, you’re going to see a god bit of. They’ve had good work and we expect them to play well. It’ll be interesting.”
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Campbell, a linebacker, registered 10 tackles (eight solo, one for loss) across 10 games. He also made a highlight play in UNC’s win over Syracuse, intercepting a Garrett Shrader pass and returning it 19 yards.
Miller, a defensive back, recorded a lone tackle in the Campbell game. According to UNC’s official stats, Cost has not appeared in a game this year.
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