CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina released its depth chart Monday for Saturday’s home game versus Louisville, which visits Kenan Stadium with 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson still at quarterback.
Of note, Brandon Harris remains listed first at quarterback with “or” next to his name with Chazz Surratt listed second. Nathan Elliott remains on the depth chart but is clearly third.
Tyler Powell is also listed on the depth chart at one of the defensive end positions even though he will serve the second of a two-game suspension for an incident that occurred in the offseason.
Some other changes on the depth chart:
*There’s an “OR” next to Nick Polino, meaning the job at left guard is a battle between him and Khaliel Rodgers.
*There is now an “OR” next to Jordon Brown’s name at running back with Michael Carter listed second.
*Redshirt freshman Roscoe Johnson and true freshman Dazz Newsome flipped places at wide receiver behind Thomas Jackson. Johnson is now listed as second team and Newsome, who did not play Saturday versus Cal, is third.
*The “OR” has been removed from placekicker and kickoff specialist, meaning Freeman Jones owns those spots, and at holder where Manny Miles has the job.
*Lastly, M.J. Stewart and Newsome have flipped spots at kickoff returner, which Stewart now one of the two starters there and Newsome listed as a reserve.
UNC head coach Larry Fedora spent most of Monday going back over the Cal game, particularly what he saw on tape at quarterback and about the position moving forward. In addition, he talked a lot about Carter and what went wrong on defense.
Fedora also looked ahead to Louisville, mainly fielding questions about Jackson, who accounted for 92.6 percent of the Cardinals’ total yards in Saturday’s win over Purdue.
Here is the depth chart for the Louisville game with some notes and quotes:
Offense
Left Tackle
75 - Bentley Spain (6-6, 310, Sr.)
67 – Charlie Heck (6-7, 300 Soph.)
Left Guard
58 – Nick Polino (6-4, 290 RS Fr.) OR
64 – Khaliel Rodgers (6-3, 315 Gr.)
Center
54 – Cam Dillard (6-4, 310, Gr.)
55 – Jay-Jay McCargo (5-3, 295 RS Fr.)
Right Guard
76 - R.J. Prince (6-6, 320, Sr.)
70 – Jonathan Trull (6-4, 310 Jr.)
Right Tackle
51 - William Sweet (6-7, 300, Soph.)
72 – Mason Veal (6-5, 305 Soph.)
Comment: The only offensive lineman that drew high praise from Fedora was Dillard. As for the line as a whole, Fedora said the unit graded out “okay.” He went on to say more: “Cam Dillard played really well for his first game with us. I was pleased with some of the things that William Sweet did in his first real game as a starter. It was good to get Khaliel out there. I don’t know that any of them played well enough to win, but they played sound.”
Tight End/Y
82 - Brandon Fritts (6-4, 250, Jr.) OR
86 – Carl Tucker (6-2, 255, Soph.)
80 – Jake Bargas (6-4, 245 Soph.)
Quarterback
6 – Brandon Harris (6-3, 220 Gr.) OR
12 – Chazz Surratt (6-3, 215 RS Fr.)
11 – Nathan Elliott (6-1, 215 Soph.)
Comment: Fedora said both Harris and Surratt “did a nice job with their poise… Their poise, their communication on the field with their teammates, plus with the coaches on the sideline was good. Brandon threw the two picks, which we can’t afford to do. So he’s got to get better in that area. I thought Chazz made some good decisions with the ball and when he was running.”
Tailback
2 – Jordon Brown (5-10, 195 Soph.) OR
8 – Michael Carter (5-9, 195 Fr.)
Comment: Carter made his college debut Saturday and ran for 94 yards on 11 carries while scoring a pair of TDs. He did fumble once, but otherwise Fedora really liked what he saw and said Carter might get more touches moving forward.
“That could happen. That was his first game, he did some really nice things, (and) I thought he did an exceptional job for just handling the situation. Now, there were plenty of things he needs to do better, but for his first college game, we were pleased with where he’s at.”
Wide Receiver
7 - Austin Proehl (5-10, 185, Sr.)
10 – Jordan Cunningham (6-2, 190, Sr.)
13 – Josh Cabrera (6-3, 205 Jr.)
Wide Receiver
48 – Thomas Jackson (5-11, 200, Sr.)
85 – Roscoe Johnson (6-2, 190 RS Fr)
19 – Dazz Newsome (5-11, 175 Fr)
Wide Receiver
17 – Anthony Ratliff-Williams (6-1, 205, Soph.)
21 – Devin Perry (6-2, 200 Jr.)
13 – Josh Cabrera (6-3, 205 Jr.)
Defense
Defensive End
12 – Tomon Fox (6-3, 245 RS Fr.) Or
53 – Malik Carney (6-3, 235, Jr.)
Defensive Tackle
97 - Jalen Dalton (6-6, 295, Jr.) Or
55 – Jason Strowbridge (6-4, 270, Soph.)
Comment: regarding Dalton’s crucial personal foul, Fedora said, “First of all, we handle all of our personal fouls, that’s something that we do extra on this team, and we talked about how it affected our football team.”
Defensive Tackle
92 - Aaron Crawford (6-1, 310, Soph.) Or
49 - Jeremiah Clarke (6-5, 315, Jr.)
Defensive End
95 - Tyler Powell (6-4, 270, Sr.) Or
17 – Dajaun Drennon (6-4, 245, Sr.)
Will Linebacker
36 - Cole Holcomb (6-1, 225, Sr.)
25 – Ayden Bonilla (6-2, 225, Jr.)
Mike Linebacker
10 - Andre Smith (6-0, 240, Jr.)
7 – Jonathan Smith (6-1, 230 Soph.)
Sam Linebacker
23 - Cayson Collins (6-1, 230, Sr.)
3 – Dominique Ross (6-3, 210 Soph.)
Comment: Fedora mentioned again the catastrophic plays the defense allowed, which essentially cost the team the game as much as anything. He was clearly disappointed a veteran group allowed those plays to occur. It was a unit-wide deal, but maybe a bit more toward the secondary.
“It was disappointing in the fact that one, it was guys that have played that relaxed or had a mental breakdown in those situations and we can’t have it. There were too many good things defensively that they did throughout the game… That’s a great example that there’s never a time you can relax, there’s never a time that you don’t fall back on your technique and fundamentals that you’re supposed to play with.”
Fedora said the problems on defense are all correctable.
Cornerback
6 - M.J. Stewart (5-11, 205, Sr.)
5 – Patrice Rene (6-2, 205, Soph.)
Free Safety
1 – Myles Dorn (6-2, 210 Soph.)
16 – D.J. Ford (6-3, 210, Soph.)
Strong Safety
15 - Donnie Miles (5-11, 210, Sr.)
29 - J.K. Britt (6-0, 200, Jr.)
Cornerback
18 – Corey Bell, Jr. (5-9, 185, Jr.)
9 – K.J. Sails (5-11, 175, Soph.)
Comment: The touchdown after Dalton’s personal foul that kept alive a Cal possession was the result of a breakdown in the secondary, notably what Bell did. The Tar Heels got good pressure on Cal QB Ross Bowers, as Malik Carney was about to clobber him from behind, but Bell appeared to get crossed up when the receiver broke from his crossing pattern and Bowers got rid of the ball just before being hit.
Fedora said: “A breakdown. A guy broke underneath (crossing) the route instead of on top of the route, and (it was) a fundamental technique that we teach.”
Nickelback
6 - M.J. Stewart (5-11, 205, Sr.)
18 – Corey Bell, Jr. (5-9, 185, Jr.)
Special Teams
Place-kicker
98 - Freeman Jones (6-0, 210, Jr.)
97 – Noah Ruggles (6-3, 180 Fr.
Kickoff Specialist
98 - Freeman Jones (6-0, 210, Jr.)
97 – Noah Ruggles (6-3, 180 Fr.)
Punter
39 – Tom Sheldon (6-3, 205, Soph.)
91 – Hunter Lent (6-5, 230, Jr.)
Comment: Fedora said, “We were fairly sound in our kicking game. I was pleased with the way our guys performed in our special teams. We did not create a game-changing play but they were pretty sound. We played well enough in that phase to be successful.”
Deep Snapper
41 - Kyle Murphy (6-2, 240, Sr.) - PK
61 - Tommy Bancroft (6-4, 230, Jr.) - P
Holder
16 – Manny Miles (6-0, 215 Jr.)
91 – Hunter Lent (6-5, 230 Jr.)
Kickoff Return
17 – Anthony Ratliff-Williams (6-1, 205, Soph.)
6 - M.J. Stewart (5-11, 205, Sr.)
19 – Dazz Newsome (5-11, 175 Fr.)
Punt Return
7 - Austin Proehl (5-10, 185, Sr.)
6 - M.J. Stewart (5-11, 205, Sr.)
