The Tar Heels lost their second player to post-spring attrition on Monday morning. Junior defensive back Welton Spottsville announced via social media that he was entering the transfer portal after spending the first two seasons of his career in Chapel Hill with the Tar Heels.
In his two seasons with the team, Spottsville played in 22 games, appearing primarily on special teams, playing just 61 snaps on offense or defense. Spottsville spent his first season on the Tar Heel roster at wide receiver, but would make the move to defensive back in search of extra snaps last fall. Spottsville finishes his Tar Heel with two total tackles, and 0.5 a tackle for loss. He was competing for a role at nickel corner this spring and was actually the starter for the second team defense in the nickel in last Saturday’s spring game. He will have as many as three years of eligibility remaining.
With Spottsville’s departure the Tar Heels do get a bit thinner at a slot corner position where they don’t have a ton of proven depth. That is probably one of the main reasons that Don Chapman has been cross-training in the nickel this season after Ja’Qurious Conley developed into one of the team’s top defensive players at the spot a year ago. This means that the door opens a bit for true freshman DeAndre Boykins, as well, who had a solid showing in the spring game and will now get an early shot to earn some playing time. The goal for the Tar Heels should be to get Chapman or Boykins to a point where they can move the extremely talented Conley back to safety, an area where the Tar Heels are still searching for consistency.
This is likely another one of the losses that Mack Brown was talking about during the spring. Just like Khadry Jackson, there seems to be some options here to replace him, so there is not much reason to be concerned.
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