By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Against an overmatched Charlotte program, game one with Conner Harrell directing North Carolina’s offense went smoothly, helped by a young “Bullet” in the backfield.

There is plenty of room to grow for the redshirt sophomore quarterback, who threw his first interception. Despite going without running back Omarion Hampton for most of the game, he led the Tar Heels to a 38–20 victory in their home opener on a steamy Saturday at Kenan Stadium.

“I thought Conner did a lot of good things,” UNC coach Mack Brown said. “This will be a great teachable-moment game for him.”

While Hampton sat, true freshman Davion “Bullet” Gause, ranked as the nation’s 18th-best running back in his recruiting class, showed that he’ll be UNC’s next star runner as he got his first college carries.

Gause, who ran for 4,936 yards at Chaminade-Madonna Prep in Opa-Locka, Fla, hurdled over a defender on one play and was impressive in the running for a game-high 109 yards and one touchdown.

“He’s really cool, he’s mature, he’s tough,” Brown said. “He is not emotional at all. We’ve seen that in the spring. We’ve seen it every day in practice. When you put him in a situation, he looks like an older player and he’s tough. He’s 220 and he’s got really good vision. The question was the long speed, but if you’re getting 10 yards every time you touch it, and thank goodness we had, he had about three or four he could put in there today that made plays.”

Harrell, who was 16 of 25 for 219 yards and a 156 passer rating, showed off his running ability and elusiveness and the options a running quarterback gives UNC. And a 58-yard third-quarter touchdown strike to redshirt freshman wide receiver Christian Hamilton showed off his strong throwing arm.

“I’m sure he was anxious, because this is the first time he’s ever started at home; played a little bit against Campbell in the second half, but he really hadn’t played,” Brown said of Harrell. “And you’re following Drake and Sam, so that’s a load. You’re following Max, who had a great third quarter the other night. That’s a load. And he knows we got a chance to have a really good team, we’ve got to have a quarterback step up so there’s a tremendous amount of pressure, and we’ve got to take that pressure off of him.”

Hampton, who will be an integral part of a big season for UNC (2–0), left the game in the second quarter with a leg injury after running for 77 yards. He was available in the second half but Brown decided not to put him back in.

Other than a few hiccups defending the pass, it was another impressive game for Carolina’s defense, which forced six five three-and-outs and held the 49ers to 49 rushing yards. Tackle Jahvaree Ritzie had two sacks to become the first Tar Heel with five sacks in two games since Kareem Martin in 2013. Amare Campbell and Marcus Allen led UNC with seven tackles.

“Jahvaree is confident,” Brown said “He’s really healthy for the first time, because he’s always had a shoulder, an ankle, he’s always had something. And I think because he’s playing so well at such a high level, and we’re able to substitute for him and keep him fresh that he’s playing with as much
confidence as I’ve seen. And pro scouts were in there the other day just buzzing, saying,
where’d this guy come from?”

After a rough first drive, Harrell had two impressive passes on a nine-play, 94-yard touchdown drive. On a third-and-five at the UNC 11, He scrambled near the end zone and somehow found J.J. Jones for a 13-yard pass play. Harrell connected with Bryson Nesbit in stride down the left sideline for a 30-yard touchdown pass.

Charlotte (0–2) converted on a fourth-and-five at the UNC 45 on a pass from quarterback Max Brown to Jairus Mack, who beat defensive back Kaleb Cost. That netted a 25-yard Kyle Cunanan field goal.

Wide receiver Nate McCollum quickly responded for UNC with a 37-yard touchdown run on a reverse down the left sideline on the fifth play of the next drive, aided by a nice Nesbit block.

Allen manhandled Mack to keep him out of the end zone on third down as UNC made a goal-line stand after Charlotte had a first-and-goal at the Carolina 2. The 49ers settled for a 30-yard Cunanan field goal.

Harrell completed a 13-play, 75-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run with six minutes left in the first half to give UNC the 21–6 edge it had at halftime. Gause ran for 27 rushing yards on the drive.

Charlotte scored on the first drive of the second half on a five-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Deshawn Purdie, who replaced the injured Brown, to Bryce Kennon to slice the lead to eight.

Harrell quickly responded, connecting on a double reverse for the long scoring pass to Hamilton for Harrell’s longest career pass and Hamilton’s first score.

“So the play is really for the tight end, I didn’t want to miss the guy so I kind of looked at the tight
end first, that’s why I was a little late,” Harrell said. “But I got it to him, thank God it was floating up there for a while, it felt like an eternity, but I got it to him and he got his first touchdown.”

After booting four second-half field goals at Minnesota, Noah Burnette nailed a 44-yard third-quarter attempt for his 13th consecutive make before missing from 50 yards out later in the period.

Purdie connected with Henry Rutledge on a 28-yard touchdown pass with 4:51 left for Charlotte against Carolina’s reserves.

NOTES — UNC plays the second of three consecutive home games at 6 p.m. Saturday (ESPN3) against N.C. Central. The Eagles (1–1) lost to Elon 41–19 in their home opener Saturday night. … This was the first time UNC has had a 100-yard rusher in four consecutive home openers since a stretch from 1979 to 1983. … UNC has two consecutive regular-season games when allowing 20 or fewer points for the first time since 2019 (57–7 win over Mercer and an 34–10 win over N.C. State. … Leaving the game with injuries for UNC were center Austin Blaske (first quarter, lower body) and tight end Bryson Nesbit (second quarter, upper body).  Graduate student Zach Greenberg filled in at center. Brown said Blaske could have returned to the game. … Rush position player Kaimon Rucker and running back Darwin Barlow missed the game with lower-body injuries, and Malaki Hamrick was out with an illness. Rucker will have a procedure done that will keep him out for a couple of weeks. … NFL teams scouting at the game were the Giants, Colts and Bills. … UNC was fortunate that Minnesota kicker Dragan Kesich struggled in the opener. He made field-goal attempts of 53 and 47 yards and all six PATs in the Gophers’ 48–0 win over Rhode Island. … The 2005 men’s basketball national champions were honored on the field after the first quarter. … Kicker Casey Barth, UNC’s all-time football points leader, was at the game as the day’s “Kenan Legend.” … The announced attendance was 48,431.

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UNC 38, Charlotte 20

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UNC schedule

Month/ date	Opponent
September
1 (Monday), 8 p.m., ESPN	vs. TCU
6	at Charlotte
13	vs. Richmond
20	at Central Florida
October
4	vs. Clemson
17 (Friday)	at California
25	vs. Virginia
31 (Friday)	at Syracuse
November
8	vs. Stanford
15	at Wake Forest
22	vs. Duke
29	at N.C. State

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletic Communications