CHAPEL HILL – A dream of sorts has come true for Darwin Barlow.

A native of Newton, TX, Barlow grew up a Texas Longhorns fan and admirer of Mack Brown. Everyone in his family and neighborhood were and still are big Brown and Texas fans.

So, when Barlow entered the transfer portal after spending three years at Southern Cal, North Carolina reached out. Barlow visited, and not long after, he was gonna play for Brown.

“I was a Texas fan as a kid,” Barlow said. “I was getting recruited by them in high school, and then like right at signing day they wanted me to come, but I was with TCU. But I always was a Texas fan. Watching Coach Mack Brown, he has a lot of success. He’s a legend there.

“I mean, I know y’all know that, but just being able to be in his office on the visit, it was just crazy. … I saw all his rings. It’s crazy how many rings he’s got in there.”

Brown gets a lot of mileage out of showing recruits his ring tray. It’s quite impressive. So is the crystal football shining in his fourth-floor office inside the Kenan Football Center. That was from when he led the Longhorns to the national championship in 2005.

Barlow, however, isn’t in Chapel Hill because the wow factor won him over. He’s at UNC to play a final season of college football looking to get another opportunity to show what he can do.

So far, Barlow has had flashes, first in two years at TCU, then three years at USC. He has one more year to play because Barlow redshirted his first year in Fort Worth, then transferred after year number two, which was the Covid year in 2020. So, he got those two seasons back, and after using three in Los Angeles, he’s playing his final year in Chapel Hill.

Barlow has played in 40 college games and rushed for 993 yards and 11 touchdowns. He ran for 428 yards and four touchdowns with a 5.9-yard average per attempt in 2020 at TCU. At Southern Cal, he got lost in the shuffle. His touches dropped from 62 carries in 2021 to 16 in 2022 to eight last season.

A few more Barlow career numbers: 58 first downs rushing; 11 runs of 15-plus yards; 26 runs of 10-plus yards; 632 yards after contact; his long run is 74 yards.

So, what kind of player does UNC have in the 6-foot, 220-pound Barlow?

When his name comes up around the football facilities in Chapel Hill, a constant description is seemingly on replay. His speed.

“Yeah, yeah,” Omarion Hampton replied, when asked if Barlow is superfast. “He’s really fast.”

Speaking of Hampton, with him in Chapel Hill and coming off an All-American season, why would a guy with something to prove find playing for the Tar Heels appealing? It’s not like there’s a battle for RB1 going on.

“They’ve got Omarion and stuff, but (running backs coach Larry) Porter just broke down that Omarion had a lot of carries, and they’re looking to run the ball a lot more this year,” Barlow explained. “Run the ball 60-40. He said they had opportunity here.

“He pulled it up on the computer, gave me the whole presentation. So, it didn’t feel like a pitch, I felt like they were being truthful. They had the facts to back it up.”

A sports communications graduate at Southern Cal, Barlow is enrolled in the program at UNC, which was another part of the appeal.

He wants to win, though. He wants to play an important role on a winning team. He wants the Mack Brown experience, and the Darwin Barlow experience. A dream come true, yes, but there’s more in this for him.