Category: Football

On recruiting trail, Brown deals with programs that pay players to come and competitors who tell recruits he’s going to quit

CHAPEL HILL — Between schools cheating in the NIL game and the competition telling recruits that Coach Mack Brown is going to retire, the veteran coach battles plenty that he can’t control on the recruiting trail. Brown says that he’s in the best shape in 20 years and wouldn’t be recruiting Class of 2026 players if he expected to stop coaching any time soon. But the talk from rival coaches isn’t likely to stop for the Hall of Fame coach who will turn 72 before the Sept. 2 opener against South Carolina in Charlotte.

Former UNC, NFL DB Boston teams with wife in TV series restoring homes damaged by storms

Tre Boston continues to advance his television career since the former UNC defensive back retired from the NFL. After serving as a co-host for the ACC Network’s “ACC PM” last football season, he and his wife Cierra are the new hosts for a series on The Weather Channel called “FAST: Home Rescue,” which begins its second season on June 18 at 10 p.m.

Colts pick Downs in third round; highest for UNC wide receiver in 13 years

Wide receiver Josh Downs will continue his football career with the Indianapolis Colts, who took him Friday with the 16th pick of the third round and the 79th overall selection at the NFL Draft in Kansas City, becoming the 10th Carolina player drafted in the last three years. That’s the highest a UNC wide receiver has gone since Greg Little was the 27th second-round pick and 57th overall selection of the Cleveland Browns in 2010. Downs was the ninth ACC player selected.

Wrestler O’Connor, diver Vazquez take top honors at Rammys; Maye pass Top Play

Two individual national champions — wrestler Austin O’Connor and diver Aranza Vazquez — earned Athlete of the Year honors at the Rammy Awards on Monday night at Memorial Hall. The awards program recognizes excellence in Carolina athletics over the previous year. Women’s basketball center Malu Tshitenge of women’s basketball and football defensive lineman Kaimon Rucker were the hosts for the event, which was back at Memorial Hall for the first time since 2019.

One AI chatbot experiment’s response to prompts about UNC sports are amusing, confusing and often inaccurate

The possibilities with artificial intelligence are fascinating, but the chatbots, such as Google’s Bard, still have a long way to go regarding accuracy. After watching this story on Sunday’s episode of “60 Minutes,” I was curious about what sorts of stories Bard would produce from prompts related to Carolina sports. Some were interesting, many were amusing, and accuracy left much to be desired.

UNC has challenging schedule; Brown suggests order of games ‘unfair’

Carolina opens the season Sept. 2 against South Carolina in Charlotte and finishes with road games against N.C. State and Clemson in what Coach Mack Brown calls one of the toughest schedules in school history. Brown already knew which ACC teams his Tar Heels (9–5, 6–2 ACC last season) would face, but he didn’t like the way the league allocated those games in what probably will be quarterback Drake Maye’s final college season.

Carolina student seating isn’t nearly as good as years ago, but getting tickets is easier

Today’s Carolina students have no idea how much better seats their predecessors enjoyed at Tar Heels games decades ago — or how much easier ticket distribution is for them. The university has to take care of Rams Club members who support the athletics programs. But college sports should be all about the athletes and their fellow students, and it’s too bad that UNC students don’t get better seats at games.

Maye has second-best Heisman odds for 2023

Southern Cal quarterback Caleb Williams is the favorite to repeat as Heisman Trophy winner, but North Carolina redshirt sophomore quarterback Drake Maye has the second-best odds to win the prestigious trophy. Williams odds are at +400, followed by Maye at +1,000, with three other quarterbacks at +1,200 —  Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., Oregon’s Bo Nix and Florida State’s Jordan Travis.