CHAPEL HILL – Pat Suddes is one of the most important people in North Carolina’s football program, serving as the program’s General Manager in charge of player personnel.
Among his roles are high school recruiting as well as the transfer portal. He has worked under Nick Saban at Alabama and with the Miami Dolphins, Mack Brown at Texas, plus Auburn and Georgia Tech, which is where he was prior to joining Brown’s UNC staff in February 2022.
Suddes met with the media Wednesday at the Kenan Football Center to discuss the six transfers into the program, plus he took several questions.
Above is video of Suddes’ presser, and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*While UNC has been active in the portal the last couple of offseasons, and intends on being more so in the future, the program still believes the best way to build and maintain is through high school recruiting.
“We still want to be recruiting high school kids,” Suddes said. “There’s different philosophies out there with the portal, just like you see in the NFL, some teams go heavy free agency in the NFL trying to go all in to win a Super Bowl and take a step back the next couple of years.
“I still think in order to sustain success, you have to build it through high school recruiting, and that won’t change here. But the portal has been good for us to add pieces, add depth, add experience to come in. We kind of target these players and positions of areas we need.”
*One player UNC brought in from the portal is safety Jakeen Harris, who has one year of eligibility after spending his career at NC State. Harris suffered a torn pec in the Wolfpack’s opener at UConn last September and missed the remainder of the season.
Suddes said the injury is fully healed and was never a concern. Harris also said Wednesday he has been given 100 percent clearance to do everything with the team.
*Now, here are some bits from what Suddes said about each of UNC’s six transfers:
---Jakeen Harris / 5-10.5, 195, Graduate, Safety, Savannah, Ga. (Benedictine Military/N.C. State, one year left)
“Obviously, that’s an interesting transfer going from an instate rival to here, but that’s the nature of the portal now… You can tell how important football is to him. He’s tough as crap… He has over 40 games of experience, 22 games starting. We needed to bring in a guy with experience.”
---Austin Blaske / 6-5, 310, Graduate, OL, Effingham County, Ga. (South Effingham/Georgia, two years left)
“What we liked on tape is he’s played tackle, played center, and for us, he’ll go through spring where he fits. It will probably be on the interior; center or guard. He’s so smart and so versatile. He’s a plug-and-play guy for us and we’re excited to get him.
“He has a lot of characteristics and traits of a Corey Gaynor, because he’s so tough, he’s smart… He’s already taken over a leadership role.”
---Darwin Barlow / 6-0, 220, Graduate, RB, Newton, Texas (Newton/TCU/USC, one year left)
“We were looking for a running back that had size, we were looking for a running back that had speed, and he fits both those… He was a 10.7 100 meter coming out of high school. With our new offense and the inside zone, just be able to hit it and go…
“For a guy that’s been (in college) for four or five years, he doesn’t have a lot of wear and tear on the body, which at the running back position is always huge… He’s got really, really good hands, so he’s going to be a weapon for us in the backfield.”
---Jake Johnson / 6-5.5, 240, Sophomore, TE Athens, Ga. (Oconee County/Texas A&M, three years left)
Note: Suddes said the Johnsons were independent recruitments, they weren’t a package deal.
“Jake Johnson has ideal length and size… He’s got athleticism and pass-catching ability that we look for at tight end. Obviously, we’ve had a lot of success at the tight end position the last couple of years, and we bring back a lot of those guys, and he’ll just add to that…
“He’s an NFL guy. He’s a prototypical NFL guy. He’s got great hands, natural ability.”
---Max Johnson / 6-5, 225, Graduate, QB, Athens, Ga. (Oconee County/LSU/Texas A&M, two years left)
“We really wanted a guy that was a veteran, we wanted a guy that’s played tough competition, we wanted a guy with some height, and we wanted a guy that’s accurate, and between the ears is a football savant. And that’s what Max is.
“We’re extremely excited to get him, and the best part about getting Max, is it’s only going to make Conner (Harrell) better. We still love Conner, and those two guys are going to battle it out going into the spring.
“But he’s been awesome being here. He’s always on the field with those guys. Really embraced the leadership role and trying to bring guys along to go throw. He’s extremely accurate, he does a great job standing in the pocket taking hits.”
---Howard Sampson / 6-8, 325, Sophomore, OL, Texas (Humble/North Texas, three years left)
“When we were looking for a tackle in the portal, the first thing we looked for is size and length, because that beats anything. You can be have poor footwork, poor technique, but if you have the length to recover and play that position, that just sets you apart.
“He’s got that. Obviously, (offensive line coach) Randy (Clements) recruited him when he was at North Texas, so we had a leg up there as far as the character piece, intelligence piece, all the background, again, which is huge in the portal.”
