CHAPEL HILL – The news caught Ja’Qurious Conley by surprise last week.

Myles Wolfolk, a graduate student who has two degrees from North Carolina, was ruled academically ineligible Sept. 17 ending his UNC career. The fallout force the Tar Heels' staff to move Trey Morrison from starting nickelback to strong safety in place of Wolfolk and slide Conley into the starting spot at nickel.

After just one game as a college football player, Conley was first on the depth chart. Not bad for a kid who this time last year was doing his thing for Northside High School in Jacksonville, NC.

“I was really emotional,” Conley said about his reaction to the news. “I called my mom and told her, and she’s not really a big football fan, she didn’t really understand. But I started crying and was like, ‘Mom, I’m getting the opportunity to play.’

“She started crying with me – we were on Facetime. We just shared that emotion, and then my dad stepped in and he just made sure I was focused.”

Conley’s meteoric rise through the ranks is in part a byproduct of the chaos rendered by the COVID-19 pandemic enveloping the world. Three Tar Heels opted out in early August, each of whom played in the secondary and two of whom were considered ahead of Conley. Another defensive back entered the transfer portal a few weeks ago and then Wolfolk, a starter and one of the team’s leaders, was ruled ineligible.

If not for those things happening, it’s probable Conley wouldn’t be slated to start the next time Carolina takes the field, Oct. 3 at Boston College. In actuality, he didn’t expect this moment for at least a year or more.

“Honestly, I didn’t even think I’d play my freshman year,” Conley said. “I told my coaches in high school I was ready to be a redshirt freshman. I was ready for this year to be just a year for me to learn everything and sophomore year come in and try to get on the field.”

Yet, what Conley didn’t know was how his new teammates viewed him. Same with the coaches. It didn’t take long for the 6-foot-1, 210-pounder to make an impression.

“Oh man, just the first day of fall camp, I think it was his organic talent that we saw on the first couple of days without even really knowing the schemes,” junior linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel said. “He’s got really good speed at the point of attack, and that’s something we really need at that nickel spot – someone who can cover but also go and fit in the run fit.

"And that’s something I saw from him from the first month he got here that he’s not scared to get and get in the run fit and get physical inside.”

Celebrated wide receiver Dazz Newsome goes against Conley every day in practice and the senior has plenty of respect for what the young buck can do.

“To be a true freshman, he’s extremely talented, he’s extremely natural,” Newsome said. “He needs to work on technique a little more, but the natural ability he’s got it.”

But, as Conley is the first to admit, there’s much more to succeeding on the field than possessing God-given qualities. Football is a mental game, especially at this level.

In high school, Conley relied on being the best athlete on the field times a thousand, but not in the ACC. There, he coud cover for some mistakes. In college, a missed read before or once the ball is snapped could be disastrous. Eleven players on defense must trust each other, because everything breaks down when an older player tries to compensate for a younger player.

So, the mandate for Conley over the last week has been getting up to snuff.

“Really just talking with coach (Jay) Bateman making sure I have all the plays down,” Conley said has been his mission. “Trey Morrison has filled that spot that Wolfolk was in and is becoming my bigger brother and he’s helped me tremendously when it’s come to the plays.”

Gemmel says the newbie is catching on.

“We have certain checks for our two-by-two formations and our three-by-one formations, and a couple of weeks ago he had always asked me, ‘Okay, what do we have in this formation or what do we have during the play,’” Gemmel explained. “Now he’s looking at me telling me what we have, and I just give him the nod like, ‘yeah, okay we’re on the same page.”

Conley played just 23 snaps at nickel in the opener versus Syracuse along with 22 plays on special teams. That’s 45 plays at the college level. But he’s not worried about that.

Things are about to get real for him, and he just may be ready.