After a week off for the Tar Heels' second bye, the coaching staff returned to the podium to discuss the season's home stretch, which begins on Saturday in Kenan Stadium. During head coach Mack Brown’s media session, he revealed that one of the team’s running backs will not play the remainder of the season.
Senior running back Caleb Hood is someone tgat the staff is lining up to use a redshirt on to preserve this year of eligibility. Brown says that Hood is intending to return to the program next year.
So far this season, Hood has played in three games, meaning the team will be able to use him in one of the final three games of the regular season if they want, something that Brown seemed to indicate won’t happen unless they absolutely need him. He would be available for a possible bowl game as well regardless of whether he plays another game in the regular season or not.
Hood has spent the majority of the season as the team’s third running back behind workhorse Omarion Hampton and true freshman Davion Gause. In the three games that he has played in, he was on the field for just 11 snaps, carrying the ball six times for one yard and catching three passes for 29 yards.
With fellow senior Darwin Barlow continuing to deal with lower body injuries, there is a good chance that Hood will dress for the remaining games just in case the team needs him. Ideally, though, the team will continue to lean heavily on Hampton and use Gause as the rotational option in the regular and then use Hood in the bowl game if Hampton decides to head to the NFL and sit that game out.