Top UNC Football players for 2017: No. 16 Michael Carter

Keeping It Heel continues its countdown of the top 25 players on the North Carolina Tar Heels roster with player No. 16

#25 Noah Ruggles | #24 Tomon Fox | #23 Jordan Cunningham | #22 Tyler Powell

#21 Brandon Fritts | #20 Jonah Melton | #19 Stanton Truitt | #18 Myles Dorn

Keeping It Heel is going to continue to help you countdown the weeks until college football season by revealing our list of the top 25 UNC players for the upcoming season.

Sure, the NBA playoffs are just now heating up as teams battle for the NBA Finals. Hockey is also in late playoff mode. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t need a break for some football action.

And what better way to do that than getting a sneak peek at the future of the Tar Heels.

So let’s get started with player No. 16, a freshman running back who has an entire depth chart wide open to run through.

Position: Running back

Hometown: Navarre, Florida

High School: Navarre

Last Season: Last season, Carter rushed for 2,536 rushing yards as a high school senior. He had 3,345 all-purpose yards and 45 total touchdowns as well.

Carter was named 6A Mr Football in the state of Florida. He was also ranked as the 34th best running back in the country according to ESPN.

He picked UNC over SEC schools Florida, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt. Carter graduated high school early and enrolled at UNC early.

Since he got to practice with the team during the spring, he was also able to participate in the spring game. Carter finished with 31 yards on nine carries, most of which was with the first team.

Why he might move up this list: As I mentioned in the teaser, the entire Tar Heels running back depth chart is wide open. Last season’s top three backs, Elijah Hood, TJ Logan, and Khris Francis, have all left the school.

Only 47 total rushing yards returns this season and 45 of those came from Jordon Brown, who averaged a measly 2.3 yards per carry. In other words, there are a lot of yards to get.

As witnessed by his stats last season, Carter knows how to get yards.

Carter shows good vision and has some speed to break free when a hole opens. Check out the video below:

Additionally, since Fedora arrived in 2012, he has had at least one player rush for at least 500 yards every season. And all but the first season, he has had two players do it each year. On two occasions, he even had a player rush for over 1,000 yards.

With the Tar Heels’ top four rushers from last season gone, Carter could be that player this year.

Why he might move down this list: Carter is going to have to earn his spot on this team. Despite enrolling early, he still wasn’t the top back in the spring game.

Jacob Schmidt and Darius Graves, both juniors, each had more rushing yards. Schmidt and Antonio James each had better yards per carry numbers.

At 5-foot-9 and 185-pounds, Carter is also a lot smaller than the 232-pound Elijah Hood. He is actually identical in size to Auburn transfer Stanton Truitt.

His smaller stature could prevent Carter from being the lead back and open up opportunities for the bigger Schmidt and Graves, who are both 190-plus.

Prediction: Carter will open the season as part of a rotation with Jordon Brown and Stanton Truitt. However, it shouldn’t take Fedora long to see who his best back is.

Carter finishes the season strong, rushing for 800 yards and 10 touchdowns, putting himself in the running for ACC freshmen of the year.

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