The Tar Heels hosted their home opener for the 2024 season on Saturday in Kenan Stadium as they met the in-state opponent Charlotte for the first time in program history. While the game was never really in doubt, this was far from a perfect performance, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Here are our biggest takeaways from the Tar Heels’ 38-20 victory over Charlotte.
Conner Harrell Gave You Reasons to Be Confident in Him
Harrell wasn’t perfect, but he had plenty of moments that should have you feeling confident in him. He missed a couple of throws early, but he responded with a couple of nice throws down the field, highlighted by the touchdown throws to Bryson Nesbit and Christian Hamilton. He finished the day with 219 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 16-25 passing. He also was able to show the mobility that we saw from him in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl last year, running for 39 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. If he cleans up some of the missed throws, he has the tools to lead a very successful offense.
Secondary is Officially a Concern
We were hoping that the defensive backfield would bounce back after a less than stellar performance in Week 1. They did not. Blown coverages down the field were the biggest issue for the unit this week. The team allowed 309 yards passing to Charlotte, the most they have thrown for in a game since October 1st, 2022. Big plays were a big part of the success for the Niners, who had eight passing plays of 20 or more yards. Kaleb Cost struggled mightly, giving up a couple of those long passes to Jarius Mack. Marcus Allen has another inconsistent day, as well, letting up a couple of those big plays himself. The safeties tackled much better than they did a year ago, but they did not provide much help over the top in the passing game. This unit has to be better moving forward against what will be tougher quarterback competition in conference play, especially since it limited Geoff Collins from being as aggressive as he would like to be.
Davion Gause is Your RB2
The Tar Heels have been looking for one of the backs behind Omarion Hampton to separate themselves and Gause did that on Saturday. He carried the load for the team on the ground in the final three quarters on Saturday, rushing for 105 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. He was very decisive the entire afternoon and ran through tacklers similar to the way that the guy he replaced does. Even though the injured Darwin Barlow, who missed Saturday’s game, hasn’t really gotten the chance that Gause had on Saturday, it’s going to be hard to take those second string carries from Gause after that performance.
Jahvaree Ritzie is on Fire
After a great performance for Ritzie in the opener, the question was whether or not he would be able to build on it on Saturday. He did just that. While he may not have had as complete of a showing as he did last Thursday, both of his tackles were sacks, giving him five in the first two games. He becomes the first Tar Heel since Kareem Martin in 2013 to have five sacks in a two-game stretch. Him backing up that Week 1 performance has us feeling confident that this new coaching staff has unlocked something and that Ritzie is positioned for a breakout season.
Injuries Added Up Quickly
The bad injury news started in the pregame and just never seemed to come to an end. Moments before the game started, the program announced that star pass rusher Kaimon Rucker was not only out for the game but would be out for multiple weeks because of a procedure he will have on a lower body injury. During the game, the team lost offensive stars Omarion Hampton and Bryson Nesbit to injuries in the first half and neither was able to reenter the game. The offensive line is the unit that may have been hit the hardest, though, as both Austin Blaske and Aidan Banfield exited the game at different points of the first half with lower body injuries. While Banfield returned to the game in the second half, Blaske had to be helped off with what looked like a pretty severe right leg injury. The hope is that the staff was just being cautious with the Hampton and Nesbit injuries, but this was a rough day on that front regardless.
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