What is North Carolina's Weakest Position Group

North Carolina is a team of unknowns despite the hype around the program with the arrival of Bill Belichick.

The offense loses most of its production from last season and the defense has a lot of new faces. With all of those issues me and fellow Tar Heels On SI beat writer Jeremiah Artacho picked UNC's weakest position group and we broke down why.

Without further ado, here are our takes.

Grant: Wide Receivers

UNC — Sep 21, 2024; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels wide receiver Kobe Paysour (8) with the ball in the first quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

If you had to pick a position — and I almost picked the defensive line too, because of the number of freshmen in the interior defensive line, but I think there are enough good players there. But my biggest concern isn't on defense, it's the receiving corps.

That also includes the tight ends. Kobe Paysour is the most experienced player on this roster. He’s had 72 receptions for 971 yards and seven touchdowns throughout his career. Last season, he caught 22 passes for 369 yards, which is still a strong yards-per-catch average. He’s also really good at contested catches, going 6 for 13. But, notably, he didn’t have a receiving touchdown last year.

Now he’s expected to be the number one receiver, something he’s never been before. Whether he can adopt the mentality of ‘I am the number one receiver’ remains to be seen.

That’s a great situation to watch. I really like Jordan Shipp. I think he has the potential to be the best receiver on the team, especially with the high expectations for him. But last year, he had just nine catches for 160 yards and one touchdown.

I know the quarterback room was unsettled because of Max Johnson’s injury, but still, this group is more unproven potential than certainty.

Isaiah Johnson is similar — 16 catches for 276 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 17.3 yards per catch with a long of 52 yards. He also has great yards after catch, averaging 6.8. But the overall production isn’t huge.

Michigan State had quarterback issues, too, so it’s understandable, but it makes the depth look slimmer. Chris Culliver had six catches for 135 yards and a touchdown — but 96 of those yards came in one game against NC State.

It’s just not a deep receiving corps. Then you have players like Paul Billups, Kennedy Uzumah, Madrid Tucker, Shannard, Clower and Nathan Leacock who haven't played a lot either. Leacock, Billups, and Culver will likely be the first rotational guys.

We’ve seen flashes from Adrian Wilson — he looks like he could be very good — but he’s a true freshman and we haven’t really seen him play. There’s a lot of unproven talent. At tight end, you have Connor Cox and Jake Johnson, but neither has had high production or been the clear number one receiver.

That’s my biggest concern — you have a dynamic player like Gio Lopez, but you can’t rely on running the ball all the time. The offensive line is solid, and you have some decent running backs like Davion Gause, who has potential despite the rest of the backfield being shaky.

But when it comes to receivers, there’s no true number one — no guy on the roster who’s definitively "the guy."

Jeremiah: Running Back

UNC — Nov 23, 2024; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels running back Davion Gause (21) runs for a touchdown against the Boston College Eagles during the second half at Alumni Stadium. | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

“All right, going on the offensive end, the running back room — that is what I feel like is the weakness.

Besides Omarion Hampton obviously leaving, he was a generator for the offense last season in terms of points. He really felt like the only bright spot when it came to scoring touchdowns and creating some kind of offense during each drive.

He was moving the chains for the Tar Heels. But when you look at the running back room, you have Caleb Hood, Davion Gause, Charleston French, Benjamin Hall, Demon June, Jaylen McGill, Jalen Nichols, and Jo Jo Troupe.

Caleb Hood — when he spoke to us during the first media availability on August 2nd, he was asked about how he was a starter and took a lot of snaps at one point in his career earlier on. But then he went into a reserve role and is just trying to find his way, trying to find his footing.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up as the RB1 for the first game of the season against TCU. He looked a lot lighter and leaner when he was up at the podium, as a reporter pointed out.

But in terms of the rest of the running back room, it’s going to be interesting to see how it all pans out. There are a lot of young guys and not a lot of experience, but Caleb Hood is one of those trying to establish a role.

Then you have Davion Gause as another option for Bill Belichick. The running back room is definitely what I’d say is the weakness compared to the rest of the offensive units.”

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