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The North Carolina Tar Heels knew that going into their 2024 college football season, they’d be replacing a ton of production from the previous year.
UNC had to find someone who could fill Drake Maye’s shoes at quarterback, but ended up spinning around the carousel between Max Johnson (broken leg), Conner Harrell (ineffective play) and Jacolby Criswell, who started a majority of 2024. North Carolina also needed to find a top wide receiver, given Tez Walker went to the NFL Draft just like Maye.
Though the Tar Heels clinched bowl eligibility, they endured another unsurprising late-season collapses and finished 6-7 this time, their second losing record in four years.
Despite the lack on on-field success, several UNC standouts played well enough to earn chances at playing professional football.
North Carolina star running back Omarion Hampton, linebacker Power Echols, defensive back Alijah Huzzie, tight end Bryston Nesbit, defensive lineman Jahvaree Ritzie and star edge rusher Kaimon Rucker all earned invites to the 2025 NFL Combine, which starts on Thursday, February 27.
Hampton proved again why he’s amongst the best running backs in college football, running for a career-high 1,660 rushing yards and tying 2023’s career-high with 15 rushing touchdowns. 2024 was Hampton’s second-straight campaign over 1,000 yards.
Even though he missed some game action with an injury, Rucker continued to show why he’s an unstoppable force on the Tar Heels’ D-Line: recording six sacks, generating eight tackles for loss, 16 solo tackles (30 total), registering three quarterback hurries, a pass breakup and even intercepting one pass.
Echols, the leader of UNC’s linebacking corps, stood out by recording 76 total tackles (second-most on team) in 2024. Echols’ 43 solo tackles were third-most on North Carolina, while he also added 1.5 TFLs, six pass…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/six-unc-football-starters-invited-233702249.html
Author : Tar Heels Wire
Publish date : 2025-02-13 23:37:00
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