The long wait for North Carolina’s 2019 football roster is over, as the program finally made it public Wednesday afternoon.
As we reported a couple of weeks ago, numerous players that had eligibility remaining are no longer with the program. That number went from 18 to 19 and the list is posted near the end of this piece.
Here are some notes about the 2019 roster:
*Ten players have changed numbers: Dazz Newsome from 19 to 5; Greg Ross from 35 ro 10; Roscoe Johnson from 85 to 11; Beau Corrales from 88 to 15; Dyami Brown from 21 to 2; Antoine Green from 13 to 3; Trey Morrison from 27 to 4; Xach Gill from 34 to 90; Corey Bell from 18 to 9 and Chazz Surratt from 12 to 21.
Bell as moved from cornerback to wide receiver and Surratt has moved from quarterback to linebacker. Furthermore, Tomon Fox and Jake Lawler are now listed as a linebacker and no loner defensive end.
The freshmen numbers:
1 - Khafre Brown, WR,
14 - Emery Simmons, WR
17 – Welton Spotsville, WR
83 – Justin Olson, WR
88 – Kamari Morales, TE
23 – Josh Henderson, RB
7 – Sam Howell, QB
91 – Ben Kiernan, P
51 – Wyatt Tunall, OL
54 – Ty Murray, OL
71 – Triston Miller, OL
72 – Asim Richards, OL
8 – Khadry Jackson, LB
41 – Eugene Asante, LB
56 – Tomari Fox, DL
93 – Kristian Varner, DL
94 – Wisdom Asaboro, DL
95 – Brant Lawless-Sherrill, DL
98 – Kevin Hester, DL
9 – Cam’Ron Kelly, DB
13 – Don Chapman, DB
20 – Obi Egbuna, DB
27 – Giovanni Biggers, DB
29 – Storm Duck, DB
61 – Drew Little, DS
The 19 players not on the roster that had eligibility remaining:
*Running back Jordan Brown graduated and transferred to Kansas State. Cornerback K.J. Sails transferred to South Florida and wide receiver Thomas Jackson graduated and transferred to Louisville, though Jackson told THI last November his football days likely were over. In fact, he went through senior introductions before the last home game.
*Other transfers: LB Kayne Roberts (UT-Chattanooga); LB Kyle Wright (Georgia State); OL Tyler Pritchett (Jacksonville State); DB Caleb Rozar (Alabama State); and LB Malik Robinson (remains in the transfer portal).
*DB C.J. Cotman, OL Jonah Melton and OL Jay-Jay McCargo retired from football under the medical hardship status. They remain on scholarship but are not counted against the program’s limit of 85.
*Running back Antwuan Branch and DL Gavin Lewis did not report back to UNC for the spring semester and are no longer a part of the program.
*Additionally, WR/KR Anthony Ratliff-Williams and OL William Sweet entered the NFL draft, QB Nathan Elliott graduated and accepted a job as a GA at Arkansas State, OL Mason Veal graduated and decided to no longer play football and Jonathan Sutton, who suffered a bad knee injury last season, also decided to not play football any longer.
Any other possible attrition has either not been announced by UNC or has not been uncovered by THI.
*In addition, a new name not on the roster we didn’t know of a few weeks ago is running back Devon Lawrence, a former 4-star prospect from Wake Forest (NC) high School.
