North Carolina Football: Tar Heels ready for run at ACC title

After an Orange Bowl appearance in 2020, North Carolina Football is gearing towards a return to the ACC Championship for the first time since 2015

Lots of analysts and fans across college football were pretty high on the North Carolina football team heading into last season. The Tar Heels were thought to be a contender to play the Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship game and maybe even be a playoff dark-horse.

None of those things happened, but people might have been expecting too much from North Carolina football last season and the hype might have been a year early. In 2021,  North Carolina will improve enough to make their first appearance in the ACC Championship since 2015.

The question that the Tar Heels are going to have to answer is how are they going to replace so much production leaving the offense?

UNC had two of the best running backs in the country in Javonte Williams and Michael Carter, as well as two big-time wide receivers in Dazz Newsome and Dyami Brown. Tennessee transfer running back Ty Chandler is going to be the guy to replace Williams and Carter and young receiver Josh Downs looks like the next star wideout for UNC. However, that is a lot of production to replace and it won’t be as easy as some think.

The biggest reason for optimism in Chapel Hill is quite obvious. North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell might be the best QB in the country and is one of the favorites for the Heisman trophy.

Howell has been tremendous in his first two seasons starting for the Tar Heels and is poised for his best season yet in 2021. If the young talent the Tar Heels have proves to be capable of stepping up this season, watch out for Howell and North Carolina in 2021.