Too bad said help won’t be available this season.
UNC secured a huge commitment over the weekend when Wilmington Hoggard OT T.J. Leifheit gave UNC a verbal commitment. Leifheit had offers from Tennessee, USC and LSU but chose the Heels after being on campus this weekend. Having witnessed the state of the current offensive line in person, I imagine Leifheit deduced he could play pretty much right now if he were eligible and decided to pull the trigger. Leifheit joins OT James Hurst, a Scout.com five star recruit out of Indiana and OG Johnnie Farms, currently finishing prep school at Hargrave to form a solid class of offensive linemen.
All three reportedly will be enrolled this spring which means they might be ready to contribute next season.
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Big signing in my book, not just for the Oline but for the sudden perception that BD is losing the recruiting battle in NC.
So next year: Hurst, Leifheit, Farms, Appel and Bodine (center) join the Heels.
Also, expect Carl Gaskins to come back and maybe Dyer if he redshirts. David Collins is true FR being redshirted this year for added depth next year.
Brennan Williams, Travis Bond, Greg Elleby, Cam Holland, Tavares Brown, Alan Pelc, Mike Ingersoll and Jonathon Cooper are playing this year.
We lose Kyle Jolly. The outlook is better as the Heels will have potentially 16 scholarshipped O lineman.
Key questions are how much of the defense returns to go with the improving O-line and does Yates finally get corrective lenses that allow him to see the entire field and correct his depth perception?
Wilson, Tinsley, Hemby and Thomas are the notable losses on defense. I don’t see Brown or Burney jumping to the NFL and neither should Marvin Austin. Robert Quinn is only a sophomore which quite frankly should scare the living crap out of every QB in the ACC.
I am not sure Yates is the starter next year. Renner is going to get his shot in spring practice. I wonder if Paulus might end up transferring.
I agree with the statement about Brown and Burney.
I am concerned about the departures of Austin, Duenta Williams, Carter and Sturdivant. (Concerned from the standpoint of being a selfish fan);-)
I do wonder if Mike will follow Greg to Syracuse?
The people making the most of the in-state recruiting battle would be the N&O. Davis dominated in-state recruiting last year and the biggest loser in that arena is not State but Virginia Tech. Beamer has owned NC recruiting recently and this hurts him more than anyone. Not to say that others don’t get a piece of the pie, just look at Cox in Georgia but this State vs. UNC rivalry is less than the full picture. If we start pulling players from Norfolk/Hampton Roads then we are shopping in VT country. ^We might lose one of the three you post but it seems unlikely. I would also agree that the starter role isn’t really a lock for Yates. Based on the timing for Sexton I’d say it was up in the air this year as well and once it was decided that Yates would get it, he took off for playing time. I would think that Paulus would go ahead and bolt, unless he thinks he can take on Yates and Renner. Obviously it was clear to those guys in Miami what was going to happen with Harris and they left and rightly so, just like Snead sitting behind McCoy in Texas.