More than casual fan seeking forecast for next year

[djones1975]

I have no idea what next year looks like for UNC Football.

Mack Brown has been saved by amazing QB's at this point and I am not convinced about what we have coming in.
Almost all the players that I know by first name are gone. I am not sure who our go to talent will be other than Hampton.
I feel like historically, Mack has had talent coming in, and I am not convinced this is the case this year, and while I see State and others pulling major talent out of the Portal; we don't seem to be.

Are we heades for a 3 win season? Are we better off than I think? Are there plans beyond Mack Brown in the works?
Somebody give me forecast for next year. (I hope it is better than I think).

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

Only my gut feeling and uninformed opinion but:
With no pro prospect quarterback at the helm, l see a losing season UNLESS our defense
is upgraded by the new DC.
l hope l’m way, way off but we are historically mediocre, and l see more of the same.
PROVE ME WRONG, CAROLINA FOOTBALL!

 

[blazers]

Good news, our schedule is really easy.
Bad news, every yr we lose horribly to teams that are huge underdogs to us.
And after game 6 we look worn out.

I think we'll do better than 3 wins, i'd say 5-7 wins unless the QB is fantastic at getting the ball out quickly.

The QB won't have the miraculous throws you saw from Sam -> Dazz/Dyami or Drake -> Downs, but JJ Jones is solid our TE are outstanding. I have a feeling we'll try to focus a little more on the run (somehow we convinced that SoCal RB xfer to come here... so I assume the pitch is that we're going to run more).

It is hard to imagine the OL being improved given the loss of Pounds, Gaynor, Rolland, Montilus. I'm not sure if we're adding enough impact players via the portal. Given how many we've been seeking, it seems the coaches don't love the young guys. We need some young guys taking huge steps forward (Treyvon Green, Adorno, Zach Rice, others) in addition to the xfers being reliable, gelling, etc.

D loses 3 or 4 starters including our best player by far - Cedric Gray. Also loses Myles Murphy, Amari Gainer, Tomari Fox, along with some safeties (Biggers, Chapman). D adds some veterans, only to the secondary: Jakeen Harris (ncsu xfer), DeAndre Boykins, Tyrane Stewart (juco xfer). Gray was a stud.

Unless new coaching makes the DL much more stout I think the D will be poor again. Secondary seems like it could have nice starting pieces: Marcus Allen, Huzzie, Jakeen, Lane, and Boykins (if he lives up to his hype). Huzzie is a better corner than slot/nickel IMO. And Boykins is better against the run than the pass, so hopefully the attacking Geoff Collins D will put Boykins in better spots to be productive. Kaleb Cost and Tyrane for depth, plus we've got a bunch of true frosh safeties that all look to have potential.

 

[WoadBlue]

I assume that Johnson at QB is expected to be a classic old style NFL game manager. Hampton will run the ball over and over. The SC portal RB ill serve well as his back up. Johnson will do lots of play action passing, especially to TEs. If the offense can get a sound OL ready for the season and we can stay healthy, that offense can move the ball and score just not dynamically, nor very quickly. The best part of that comes to pass is that it will rest the D a lot.

So I hope for 7 wins and know that 8-4 is possible.

It seems that the powers that be intend for Mack to stay until he dies. Mack is their perfect hire to maintain mediocre football while having a way to claim they really ant to win big.

 

[blazers]

It is pretty easy to paint the picture of a 5 win season:

OL has two known quantities in Lampkin and Blaske, the others haven't played much at all, or haven't played Div I much. Lampkin didn't look great snapping in the bowl, so does Blaske have to play Center?

If the OL is mistake prone, we're going to in 2 & long, 3 and long, and those aren't as great for Omarion Hampton, our strength.

Cedric Gray was dynamic. He was fantastic when we were aggressive, he was fantastic when we were playing bend-don't-break-do-your-job. Someone a little slower, less explosive and less smart won't be able to fill his shoes and that means people in the secondary where our safeties have been bad. Guys like Hester, Dez, Jahvaree have kinda shown us who they are, no number of safety transfers or healed-up nickelbacks are going to transform last yr's team without Gray into something better.

Some times it is fun to cheer for the underdawg though.

 

[NBBears20124ACHAMPS]

It is pretty easy to paint the picture of a 5 win season:

OL has two known quantities in Lampkin and Blaske, the others haven't played much at all, or haven't played Div I much. Lampkin didn't look great snapping in the bowl, so does Blaske have to play Center?

If the OL is mistake prone, we're going to in 2 & long, 3 and long, and those aren't as great for Omarion Hampton, our strength.

Cedric Gray was dynamic. He was fantastic when we were aggressive, he was fantastic when we were playing bend-don't-break-do-your-job. Someone a little slower, less explosive and less smart won't be able to fill his shoes and that means people in the secondary where our safeties have been bad. Guys like Hester, Dez, Jahvaree have kinda shown us who they are, no number of safety transfers or healed-up nickelbacks are going to transform last yr's team without Gray into something better.

Some times it is fun to cheer for the underdawg though.

Lampkin won awards playing Center in 2022 at Coastal and he admitted UNC recruited him to play Center. Think he was just rusty as he moved back to guard this past year and didn’t get the snapping reps throughout the season before getting thrown back to center for bowl game. Think he’ll be more comfortable heading into 2024 with a whole offseason snapping and getting back into the groove.

You’re right about the DL, IMO. Those same guys coming back don’t move the needle, IMO, regardless of a new scheme/coach.

 

[tarheel0910]

Not sure why we're freaking out about the OL players we lost. Last time I checked, it was basically unanimous that they were bad. It's possible the next guys up could be worse, but I can't picture a huge drop off.

 

[djones1975]

Thanks for all the answers. It seems that we are striving to be bowl eligible next year. Here's hoping for a surprise season.

 

[tarheel0910]

Thanks for all the answers. It seems that we are striving to be bowl eligible next year. Here's hoping for a surprise season.

Striving to be bowl eligible is the perfect motto for Carolina football history.

 

[uncboy10]

I expect the offense to pivot more towards a ground and pound, clock control style. It’s going to revolve around Hampton, with the passing game probably heavily leaning on play action.

The schedule is ridiculously soft. The year starts with Minnesota, Charlotte, NC Central, and JMU. There’s no excuse for starting worse than 3-1. I have a feeling that we roll into ACC play looking semi-decent, but eventually get smacked by FSU and drop at least one to a heavy underdog. Probably see the same death spiral in the back half as we’ve seen the last few years.

I think they win 7, maybe 8. And it’s a schedule where 10-2 would be pretty much a lock for a good team.

 

[sctarheel30]

Gonna say it now undefeated

 

[sctarheel30]

I expect the offense to pivot more towards a ground and pound, clock control style. It’s going to revolve around Hampton, with the passing game probably heavily leaning on play action.

The schedule is ridiculously soft. The year starts with Minnesota, Charlotte, NC Central, and JMU. There’s no excuse for starting worse than 3-1. I have a feeling that we roll into ACC play looking semi-decent, but eventually get smacked by FSU and drop at least one to a heavy underdog. Probably see the same death spiral in the back half as we’ve seen the last few years.

I think they win 7, maybe 8. And it’s a schedule where 10-2 would be pretty much a lock for a good team.

What do you mean 3-1? No way gotta be 4-0