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CHARLOTTE — Even without his best two wide receivers, talented redshirt sophomore quarterback Drake Maye still found a way. And UNC finally found a way to keep pressure on an opposing quarterback. Showing elusiveness and poise in the opener of likely his final college season, Maye led No. 21 North Carolina to a 31–17 opening-game victory Saturday for Coach Mack Brown’s 100th win as UNC’s head coach.
With no news yet on Carolina’s appeal to the NCAA on Tez Walker’s status, Mack Brown says his coaching staff is preparing two game plans. With Walker, the Tar Heels would have one of the best wide receivers in the country with game-changing ability. UNC must adjust its approach if the Kent State transfer can’t play in Saturday’s 7:30 opener in Charlotte against South Carolina (ABC).
No, the seven continents are not breaking apart and re-forming. But the nation’s big-time college sports conferences are, wrecking to shreds the Pac-12 and putting into doubt the long-term future of the Atlantic Coast Conference. What if football were to break away entirely, and become literally its own thing, with its own organizational and competitive structure?
North Carolina is ranked No. 20 in the preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll, with the preseason AP Top 25 poll set to be released next Monday.
Quarterback Drake Maye, last season’s ACC Player of the Year, leads three Carolina players on the preseason All-ACC team announced Wednesday on UNC’s first day of practice and is the Preseason Player of the Year. Joining the 6–4, 230-pound redshirt sophomore are 6–2½, 200-pound Kent State junior transfer wide receiver Tez Walker and 6–2½, 235-pound senior linebacker Cedric Gray. The Tar Heels’ three selections were the third-most after seven for league favorite Clemson and four for Florida State.
In the first non-COVID-19 season without divisions since 2005, the media picked North Carolina — the last Coastal Division champion — on Tuesday to finish third in the ACC. Clemson is the prohibitive favorite to win the league for the eighth time in the last nine seasons.
CHARLOTTE — The prevailing assumption of the college football world, including Carolina coach Mack Brown, is that quarterback Drake Maye’s redshirt sophomore season as a Tar Heel will be his last. Not so fast, says the Heisman Trophy candidate and likely high pick in the 2024 NFL draft if he chooses to enter it. He says he’d consider returning for his redshirt junior season, particularly if UNC falls short of its goals.
CHARLOTTE — Carolina junior quarterback Drake Maye answers media questions during ACC Kickoff on Thursday at The Westin Charlotte.
You’ll see Wes Durham on ACC Network’s biggest games but don’t expect former Carolina defensive back Tre Boston on that channel, which debuts exclusive UNC football content on Thursday.
North Carolina will appear on the football version of ESPN’s College GameDay for the third time when the show will air from Charlotte before the Tar Heels’ Sept. 2 season-opener against South Carolina. It will be the Tar Heels’ first appearance on the show since Sept. 4, 2010, before they lost to LSU in their season opener in Atlanta.
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