The Tar Heels injury report for Saturday’s game with NC State won’t be a lengthy one, but it does involve some important offensive players.
Prior to the coaching staff’s press conference on Monday, a spokesperson for the Tar Heel football program stated that the program will be monitoring wide receiver JJ Jones throughout this week in hopes that he can play on Saturday. Jones was injured in this past Saturday’s game against Boston College and had to be carried off by trainers to the locker room with an undisclosed injury. Jones, who leads the team in receiving yards (551) and receiving touchdowns (5), would be a tough loss for a passing game that needs to bounce back after a rough showing this past weekend in Chestnut Hill.
As for the team’s leading receiver at the midway point of the season, tight end Bryson Nesbit, he will remain out for this game as he continues to recover from wrist surgery. In seven games this season, Nesbit caught 24 of his 48 targets for 264 yards and three touchdowns, all of which were first or second on the team at the time of his injury. Missing this game means we have likely seen the last of him on the field for the program with where he sits on a lot of NFL Draft boards right now.
Meanwhile, two other offensive weapons who missed the game against Boston College are expected to be good to go for this week of practice. McCollum, who missed Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury, has caught 20 passes for 243 yards and carried the ball five times for 40 yards and a touchdown in nine games so far this season. Running back Darwin Barlow, who has struggled with a lower-body injury for the majority of the season, has played just four games so far this season, totaling 45 snaps between offense and special teams and carrying the ball four times for 25 yards. While McCollum should be a go if he has a good week of practice, it will be interesting to see if the Tar Heels choose to wait until the bowl game to use Barlow to help him retain a year of eligibility so he can play at the college level again next year.
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