Reflecting on the 2023 UNC Football Season

UNC Football started its 2023 season 6-0 and was on its way to another shot for the ACC Championship. The offense had great energy and the electric combination of running back Omarion Hampton and quarterback Drake Maye connecting with various receivers, including his top target wide receiver Tez Walker, had Carolina knocking down opponents a week at a time.

All this positive momentum came to a screeching halt when Virginia came in and beat UNC at home. Since this loss, the Tar Heels went 2-5 for the remaining regular season games.

After the Virginia game, UNC did not look like the same team. The communication and connection between the offense declined and the defense was inconsistent and gave up double-digit leads in several games.

Each week head coach Mack Brown would comment on what the team needed to work on- mostly the defense continuing to play aggressively for the whole game and the offense doing better on third downs and not turning the ball over. Unfortunately, these comments were never executed in the games.

Maye started the season on the Heisman watch list but started falling out of the discussion further into the season. The conversation of him declaring for the NFL Draft is still in the air and Brown has voiced that he thinks Maye should go in. Transfer QB Max Johnson has already declared that he will be attending UNC next fall, further concluding that Maye will be leaving for the league.  

The transfer portal has some positive and negative attributes about it. It gives stellar players who started their careers at a smaller school the opportunity to play on a larger stage, such as UNC players Alijah Huzzie and Walker. The negative is that it also gives players an "easy way out" of working hard and waiting their turn. Now, in the world of NIL, there are even more complexities with the transfer portal.

Nine UNC players have already entered the transfer portal. It will be interesting to see if more players will go in and who UNC will get from the portal as well.

In the coming weeks, Maye and other seniors will have to decide if they will play in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Dec. 27 against West Virginia.