CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center to discuss the Tar Heels’ nine-member transfer portal class.
We are unveiling the press conference in three parts: Intro portion that included some questions from the media; video highlights; and the Q&A session.
Above is the first part, in which Brown made introductory comments and fielded some questions.
Among some noteworthy items Brown also offered:
*Center Corey Gaynor has been granted a waiver by the NCAA and will be back next season at UNC. The NCAA essentially deemed his three-game 2021 season at Miami as a non-season and is not counting it against his eligibility.
*WR Justin Olson will enter the portal at some point this afternoon, but he will remain on campus for the spring semester and earn his degree. He will not practice with the team, obviously, but will be open to other schools recruiting him through the portal.
*Ten members of the recruiting class of 2023 have enrolled early and are on campus. They are the same ten players Brown said would come early last month are here. They are: WR Paul Billups; LB Amare Campbell; OL D.J. Geth; OL R.J. Grigsby; WR Christian Hamilton; jack Jaybron Harvey; QB Tad Hudson; OL Nolan McConnell, LB Michael Short; jack Tyler Thompson.
“Michael Short and Amare Campbell went to the bowl game with us, and they couldn’t practice in pads, because they had to have an orientation period by the NCAA where they have to be in shorts for a couple of days to climatize,” Brown said. “So, they were in shorts, (but) they did have some practice out there and had fun and looked good.”
As for the ten early enrollees: “All of those guys are here and they are in school,” Brown said.
*Brown said he isn’t sure if they will sign another high school player for the next signing period that begins on the first Wednesday in February. “We are not headed in that direction, (though) something can always show up,” he said.
*UNC has 19 new players in the program right now, which is far more than Brown has ever had at this time of the year. That is 10 high school early enrollees (noted above) and nine portal transfers.
“Nineteen new guys on your team is pretty significant, and the most by far that we’ve ever had,” Brown said. “I think at one point we had 12 at Texas. Here, I don’t think we’ve had more than eight, maybe ten in the four years.”
*Brown said the transfer portal will have “two more rushes” in which players will enter. Some kids may start school and decide not to go through spring practice, and then after spring practice more kids around the nation will enter.
Brown then went over each of the nine portal members. We posted the roster with UNC’s notes. Brown didn’t say much more about them than what was in the notes.
**************************************************************************************
Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!
***************************************************************************************
