The Tar Heels didn’t make things as easy as they should have on Saturday against NC Central in a 45-10 victory. As the team prepares for their final of three straight games at home, here’s a look at who’s trending up and who’s trending down.
⇧Omarion Hampton
Hampton was simply outstanding on Saturday night, putting together one of the best performances of his career so far. His 210 rushing yards are the second-most of his career and the three touchdowns are tied for the most with last year’s game against Appalachian State. The most impressive part of this performance, however, was that 181 of his 210 yards came after contact. The Tar Heels have a truly special running back in their backfield right now and they will need to continue to lean on him until they can find a solution to the quarterback question.
⇧John Copenhaver
Copenhaver was able to make his first substantial contribution as a receiver and it was significant for the success of this struggling passing game. He led the team in receiving on Saturday, catching all six of his targets for 60 yards and a touchdown. The hope is that Copenhaver can make these games more common the rest of the season, especially with the issues that the team is having right now at wide receiver.
⇧Beau Atkinson
Atkinson had a quiet first two games of the season, but he was very good in just about every aspect of the game on Saturday. He finished the game with five total tackles, third-most on the team, and did register a quarterback pressure in 32 snaps. While the team might be hoping for a little more production as a pass rusher, especially with Kaimon Rucker on the shelf, this is still a great starting point for him.
⇧Offensive Line
The Tar Heel offensive line was missing two starters on Saturday, but they were still able to put together a dominant performance. The group paved the way for 330 rushing yards and allowed just two quarterback pressures on 31 dropbacks, one of the best marks in all of college football this past week. Zach Greenberg and Malik McGowan both did a good job in place of Austin Blaske and Aidan Banfield, respectively, and continued to show just how talented and strong the depth in this room is.
⇧Travis Shaw
Shaw has gotten off to an outstanding start this season after slimming down in the offseason and that continued on Saturday. He had a season-high four total tackles and graded out as the team’s top defender and the second-best run defender according to Pro Football Focus. When the staff said in the offseason that Shaw had turned a bit of a corner it was hard to be convinced of that, but he has arguably been the team’s best run defender to start the season.
⇧Kevin Hester Jr.
Speaking of defensive linemen who graded out incredibly well in run defense, this was one of the best performances that we have seen in a while from Hester Jr. Like Shaw, he finished with four total tackles and graded out incredibly in run defense by Pro Football Focus. This is another player who has seemed to benefit from the new defensive line staff makeup and has really taken a step so far this season.
⇧Des Evans
The penalties almost caused us to leave him off this stock report, but we simply couldn’t because of just how impactful he was. He finished with four total tackles, with 3.0 of them being for a loss, including one sack. This was easily the best performance we have seen from Evans in a Tar Heel uniform and continues what has been an outstanding start to his final season in Chapel Hill.
⇧Tyler Thompson
Thompson got his first career start with Rucker sidelined and took advantage of it with a strong performance. He finished with three total tackles and got two quarterback pressures, grading as the team’s top pass rusher on Pro Football Focus. At least, Thompson has earned himself the shot to start again this weekend and could be destined for an increased rotational role if he shows out again.
⇧Jacolby Criswell
Criswell came in and relieved a struggling Conner Harrell and helped lift the Tar Heels to a victory. He was 14-23 for 161 yards and a touchdown through the air and carried the ball for 16 yards on three rush attempts, showing much more poise and command of the offense than his former. Mack Brown has said that both quarterbacks will see action on Saturday, but this should be Criswell’s job to lose heading in.
⇧Charleston French
For a second straight game, the JUCO transfer received some late snaps and he took the most of them. French carried the ball just three times but turned it into 58 yards thanks to a 45-yard run that resulted in his first D1 touchdown. We may not see French a lot moving forward this season, but he has shown some promise in the limited snaps that he has taken in the last two weeks.
⇩Conner Harrell
Harrell had a rough showing, which led to his benching on Saturday. He completed just two of his six pass attempts for 22 yards, nearly turning it over twice while throwing into tight windows and continuing to struggle a bit with his accuracy. The team needs a quarterback that can help them move the football consistently and Harrell has not proven that he can do that, so the staff needs to figure out if Criswell can. With Brown saying that both quarterbacks will play, though, Harrell needs to stay ready.
⇩Wide Receivers
You could go individually, but this entire room is really struggling right now. As the team enters Week 4 of the season, they are one of just six teams in the FBS that doesn’t have a receiver over 100 yards on the season, a pretty damning stat for a room that has been one of the best on the team since Brown’s return to Chapel Hill. The team desperately needs a few of the guys in this room to step up and become guys that the quarterbacks can rely on when they throw their way.
⇩Caleb LaVallee
There weren’t many guys to point to on the defensive side of the ball in terms of who struggled, but LaVallee had another tough showing despite playing just six snaps. He committed one of the team’s astonishing five offsides penalties continuing his early season struggles that have ranged from coverage to tackling issues and now this. Once again, the Tar Heels’ search for serviceable depth at the linebacker seems to have come up empty, at least to this point.
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