UNC football lands 12 players on Phil Steele’s Preseason All-ACC List

Mack Brown’s North Carolina football program is one of the more interesting teams going into this Atlantic Coast Conference season.

After starting 9-1 a year ago, they finished 9-5 and lost four-straight games including the ACC Championship and the Holiday Bowl. But with Drake Maye back for another year, expectations are high in Chapel Hill.

As we sit here in June, Phil Steele has finished putting together his annual preview for the upcoming season. The guide is one of the best that is available and breaks down each team across the country.

For North Carolina, they landed 12 players on Steele’s Preseason All-ACC team, headlined by Maye, linebacker Cedric Gray and punter Ben Kiernan as first-team selections.

Joining them on the list are :

• LB [autotag]Power Echols[/autotag] (2nd team)
• LS [autotag]Drew Little[/autotag] (2nd team)
• WR [autotag]Nate McCollum[/autotag] (3rd team)
• OL[autotag] Corey Gaynor[/autotag] (3rd team)
• RB [autotag]Omarion Hampton[/autotag] (4th team)
• WR [autotag]Devontez Walker[/autotag] (4th team)
• DL [autotag]Myles Murphy[/autotag] (4th team)
• DB [autotag]Alijah Huzzie[/autotag] (4th team)
• K [autotag]Ryan Coe[/autotag] (4th team)

North Carolina had just seven players make the preseason team last year in Steele’s book.

The talent is certainly there for North Carolina to make a run but they have to find consistency. They will be tested early on with a season opener against South Carolina and then non-conference games against Minnesota and Appalachian State before opening up conference play.