UNC Football: This, That & the Other

CHAPEL HILL – Fall camp for North Carolina football is over, as the Tar Heels are inside of two weeks before opening their season against South Carolina in Charlotte. But we continue to mine information gathered from interviews with numerous players, plus head coach Mack Brown and coordinators Gene Chizik and Chip Lindsey.

In this edition of TTO, we get the low down on true freshman inside linebacker Amare Campbell, Amari Gainer’s brand awareness, and whether or not defensive back D.J. Jones misses playing running back.

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UNC is in need of building depth at inside linebacker, but the arrival of true freshman Amare Campbell may have aided that effort. Campbell enrolled early last winter and had a really solid spring. He had a great summer in PLPs, and has continued that with fall camp starting August 3.

At 6-feet and 230 pounds, the native of Manassas, VA, is pegged as the primary backup to either starting ILB Power Echols or Cedric Gray. Campbell has moved ahead of Sebastian Cheeks.

Junior defensive lineman Jahvaree Ritzie can’t say enough positive things about how Campbell has impressed so far.

“I’ve seen growth from Amare Campbell, he looks good,” Ritzie said. “AC’s been on it. He got a pick the third play of the scrimmage, and that just like opened everybody’s eyes. But we all know he’s special, he will be special, and it’s like he keeps showing it every day that he’s going to be a special dude.”

Amari Gainer is quite prolific on Instagram pushing himself using the fascinating nickname. Whether or IG or Twitter, or X as it’s now called, Gainer uses the platforms to push his personal branding and to take advantage of NIL opportunities

“I’m definitely one of those athletes,” he said, referring to getting himself out there. “It’s very important for the game to build your brand. It’s always important to build your brand. You know what you personify yourself to be, so to be able to go out and be able to put up a persona, because everybody doesn’t see you underneath your helmet.

“So, maybe to have that brand outside of football is so very important. And I’m blessed to be in the era where NIL is.”

Gainer’s name on his Instagram page is “Amari Ferrari Gainer.”

D.J. Jones wanted to get on the field to help his team, so with him seeing a spot in the running backs rotation slipping away, he went to Mack Brown last winter and asked to move over to defense.

Now, Jones had never played defense before at any level. He’s always been a running back. But he wants to play, wants to help, and wants to hit people. So, the move was made to safety and star. With that, a question came up with him the other day: Does DJJ miss playing on offense?

“Offense? Honestly, I haven’t,” he said. “I can say that, truthfully, I don’t miss it just because I’ve been having fun on defense.”