Outside of the Friday hiring of running backs coach Larry Porter, it was a relatively quiet week around Tar Heel football. Even with it being rather uneventful, we give you a look at a few storylines that you may have missed from this week.
Carter Shines and Surratt Stays Steady in Mobile
The 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl took place from Mobile, Alabama this week with two Tar Heels in attendance for the prestigious scouting event. Both Michael Carter and Chazz Surratt were among 136 of the top senior draft prospects to be invited to this year’s event and both spent the week under the tutelage of Brian Flores and the Miami Dolphins coaching staff. Surratt had a solid first two days of practice, continuing to impress with his ability to rush the passer, but showing some struggles in coverage that wasn’t exposed that often in the system he played in under Jay Bateman. He missed the final day of practice and the game on Saturday after reportedly tweaking something, but this week doesn’t seem to really have had a major effect on his draft stock. The same can not be said for Michael Carter, who made himself a lot of money with his strong week in Mobile. Carter was a standout in the practices for the National team, earning running back MVP for the team on Friday following the final practice. He carried that strong week of practice with one of the better performances of the day in Saturday’s game. He started his day off with a nice 27-yard run that displayed the elusiveness and burst that makes him such an exciting prospect. He finished the day almost productive running back between both teams, having ten touches on the day for 75 yards and one touchdown. Carter not only impressed scouts with the ball in his hands, but also surprised some with his pass protection ability. Expect him to make a move up boards in the coming weeks.
Drake Maye Joins Keeshawn Silver as a 247Sports 5✮
247Sports released another round of recruiting rankings for the 2021 class on , and among those elevated to 5✮ status was Tar Heel quarterback enrollee Drake Maye. He joined fellow early enrollee Keeshawn Silver as 2021 Tar Heel signees that are rated as 5✮’s on the site, and even jumped Silver in the rankings to become the highest rated commit in the class according to the site. Both Maye and Silver arrived to campus a couple of weeks ago and will be competing to earn roles with the team in the spring.
Former Tar Heel QB T.J. Yates Named Assistant QB Coach with Falcons
New Falcons head coach Arthur Smith, a former Tar Heel, has been piecing together his staff since officially taking the job a little over a week ago. Among the staff hired this week was another former Tar Heel, T.J. Yates, who joins the staff as the passing game specialist. Yates, who was a part of the 2006 team that Smith was a graduate assistant on, was a quarterback for the Falcons during the 2014 season and will leave after one season as the assistant quarterbacks coach with the Houston Texans. Yates is the Tar Heels all-time leading passer, throwing for 9,377 yards and posting a 58-46 touchdown-to-interception ratio in his college career that spanned from 2006-10.
Tar Heels Spread Six Offers Across ‘22 and ‘23 Class
This past week was an active one for the Tar Heels offer-wise, as they handed out five offers total during the week. Three of the five offers came along the offensive line, with 2022 OT Qae'shon Sapp, 2023 OT Monroe Freeling and 2023 OG T.J. Shanahan all receiving offers this week. 2022 3✮ SDE Anthony Smith, 2022 3✮ S Emory Floyd and 2023 WDE Tomarrion Fox were the other prospects to receive offers this week from Mack Brown and the staff.
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