Earlier this afternoon, the Tar Heels lost one of their offensive tackles to the transfer portal.
As first reported by Tar Heel Illustrated and confirmed to us by his father, redshirt freshman Triston Miller has entered his name into the transfer portal. The former 4✮ recruit was part of the group of recruits that flipped his commitment back in the 2019 recruiting class following the hire of Mack Brown and looked prime to compete for a rotational role at offensive tackle this season after redshirting last year. However, just prior to the season, Miller opted out following the tragic passing of his older brother. Miller’s father Daryl told us that the move “had nothing to do with UNC” and Triston is simply “wanting a fresh start”.
This is a tough loss for the Tar Heels because of just how much upside this athletic offensive tackle has. The good news is that the entire two deep is back from a year ago, but Miller was likely still part of the plans for the future along the offensive line prior to this move. There are still some promising young prospects at offensive tackle with names like Trey Zimmerman, Cayden Baker and Wyatt Tunall still in place. The overall depth on the offensive line does take another blow, though, as Miller becomes the third offensive lineman to leave the program since August for various reasons, but the group is stool in solid shape. This does make adding an offensive tackle in the 2022 class more important than it already was, however.
With Miller gone, there might be a chance for either Sutton or fellow true freshman Diego Pounds to earn a role early. Baker and Tunall held the backup jobs on the official two deep for the majority of the season and will probably battle for those roles again this offseason and Zimmerman should be fully healed from the shoulder injury that he came to campus with last January. There is no need for a ton of concern, but it always hurt to lose a talent like Miller.
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