Roster-wise, the 2024 UNC football season is going to look significantly different.
Gone are 2023 stars Drake Maye, Devontez Walker and Cedric Gray to the NFL. North Carolina will have a new starting quarterback for the first time in three years, a decision that has yet to be made between Jacolby Criswell, Max Johnson and Conner Harrell, while there isn’t a ton of experience in the wide receiver room behind J.J. Jones and Nate McCollum.
The Tar Heels return plenty of stars, though, headlined by running back Omarion Hampton and jack linebacker Kaimon Rucker. Whichever QB wins the starting job should take advantage of UNC’s deep tight end room, including Bryson Nesbit, John Copenhaver and Texas A&M transfer Jake Johnson.
Just over two months away from North Carolina’s season-opener – Thursday, Aug. 29 at 8 p.m. ET in a rematch with Minnesota – several Tar Heels made college football analyst Phil Steele’s Preseason All-American and All-ACC teams.
Preseason honors are underway, starting with Phil Steele 📘#CarolinaFootball 🏈 #UNCommon pic.twitter.com/L7YqDzxgn6
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) June 12, 2024
Hampton, a Preseason First Team All-American and All-ACC honoree, led the ACC and finished fifth in the country with 1,504 rushing yards last year.
Rucker, a Preseason First Team All-ACC and Fourth Team All-American honoree, led the Tar Heels with 15 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks last season. Nesbit, also a Preseason First Team All-ACC and Fourth Team All-American, paced UNC’s tight end room with 585 receiving yards and finished second overall with five touchdowns.
Alijah Huzzie, a Preseason First Team All-ACC honoree, led North Carolina with three interceptions last year. He also had the Tar Heels’ lone return touchdown.
Power Echols, a 2023 starting linebacker who formed a formidable 1-2 tandem with Gray, recorded 102 tackles last season. That is most amongst returners.
Willie Lampkin, who rounds out the Preseason honors with his Third Team All-ACC Honors, started all 11 games he appeared in last year on the Tar Heels’ offensive line.
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