UNC Football: This, That & the Other

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CHAPEL HILL – One of the interesting and sometimes fun things about covering a college football team during fall camp is the variety of stories that surface. No games are being played, but the media gets plenty of opportunities to speak with players and coaches, so the range of topics is far greater than during the season.

So, with North Carolina two weeks from the start of its 2023 season and the Tar Heels breaking fall camp this weekend, there is plenty of meat on the bone from the last few weeks.

So here is a dive into a trio of topics in the latest This, That & the Other:

One of the names that has come up a lot this month is redshirt freshman defensive end Beau Atkinson. In fact, just watching him in the first practice of camp, and then the first one with full pads on, it was clear Atkinson is a player to keep an eye on.

The same goes for junior Jahvaree Ritzie, who sang Atkinson’s praises earlier this past week.

“Big Beau is doing his thing,” Ritzie said. “I feel like this is gonna be a pretty big year for him. He has a high motor every day. He’s like, ‘I’m getting the ball, I’m getting the ball, I’m getting the ball.’ And we push him to do it.

“And he pushes us to do it, because we all feed off his energy and he feeds off ours. Beau, he’s gonna be that.”

Another name that keeps popping up is another redshirt freshman, Tayon Holloway. A cornerback who has gotten some work at star this month, Holloway is one of the three main corners in the mix for playing time. He had a good spring and a great summer, and has continued that momentum this month.

So, to get a true scouting report on Holloway, we asked former running back-turned defensive back D.J. Jones.

“Tayon has some of the best cover skills I’ve ever seen,” Jones said. “Tayon has worked with me and (DeAndre Boykins) as well, and Tayon has crazy talent, crazy talent.”

Asked about Holloway’s weight, which was around 160 pounds a year ago, he’s listed in the 180s now. None of that matter to Jones, though. Not a necessity with Holloway.

“I don’t know, the boy can play,” Jones said. “It didn’t really matter.”

Sophomore cornerback Marcus Allen’s brother, Derrik, arrived at UNC last winter as a graduate transfer from Georgia Tech. But Marcus didn’t really have to recruit him. Did it help he was already at Carolina? Certainly. But the older Allen wanted to be a part of North Carolina regardless, Marcus says.

“Derrik wanted to come here, so I really didn’t have to do too much,” Marcus said. “It’s amazing to be able to play with my brother. It’s something I wanted to do growing up, and obviously I didn’t have a chance because of age differences. But now it just feels great.”