North Carolina Football: Top 3 All-ACC candidates for 2020
By Nick Fiore
North Carolina football is a legit contender for the ACC title this season and beyond and these guys could become instant stars.
The new Mack Brown era was a big success in his first year back in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels may have only gone 7-6 in 2019 but there’s legitimate excitement and believe in the program for the 2020 season and beyond.
Brown landed the 13th-ranked recruiting class in 2020 according to 247Sports, the first top 15 class for UNC since 2009.
Also, the record may be a bit misleading, all six of their losses were by one score, if a couple things went the Heels’ way that record would look a lot better. Carolina’s best performance came against Clemson in a very close 21-20 loss. The Heels scored at the end of the fourth quarter and Brown elected to go for two to secure a win rather than kick the extra point and play in overtime. They came up one yard short of knocking off the defending national champs.
That performance was the most exciting when looking at the future of this program. A very young group went to battle against the best football program in the country and fell just short of a win.
The Tar Heels are returning one of the most talented and now experienced rosters in the ACC. According to ESPN’s returning production metric, UNC is returning the ninth-most production on offense of any program in the country. All the credit for this turnaround shouldn’t go just to Brown, his coordinator hires were excellent and have proven to be two of the best in the conference.
Offensive coordinator Phil Longo brought his own air-raid attack to Chapel Hill and helped lead the Tar Heels to a top 25 passing offense. On defense, Jay Bateman led a big improvement with a young group of guys; the Tar Heels’ defense in 2019 gave up 7.6 less points per game and 62.9 less yards a game in 2019 compared to 2018.
The hype around the 2020 North Carolina Tar Heels is for real, this team can win the Coastal division and play for an ACC title. If they’re going to reach those dreams, these three guys are gonna have to be some of the best in the conference at their position