Keeping It Heel
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Top UNC Football players for 2018: No. 23 Matthew Flint

By Brandon Griffin

CHAPEL HILL, NC - NOVEMBER 18: A general view as the sun sets during the game between the Western Carolina Catamounts and the North Carolina Tar Heels at Kenan Stadium on November 18, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - NOVEMBER 18: A general view as the sun sets during the game between the Western Carolina Catamounts and the North Carolina Tar Heels at Kenan Stadium on November 18, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /
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Keeping It Heel continues its countdown of the top 25 football players on the North Carolina Tar Heels’ roster with player No. 23

#25 Dyami Brown | #24 Johnathon Sutton

The college football season kicks off in about five months, and it will be here before we know it.

NFL teams are currently preparing for the NFL Draft which is only a couple of weeks away as players are going through pre-draft interviews. With football on our minds, we decided to take a look at the upcoming season for the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Let’s take a look at player No. 23, a freshmen linebacker who has a chance to make a huge impact in his first season on the team.

Position: Linebacker

Hometown: Gurley, Alabama

High School: Madison County

Last Season: During his senior season in high school, Flint had quite a season. The 6-foot-1 outside linebacker finished the season with 124 tackles and an interception. This earned him a place in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game.

Flint originally committed to Tennessee but later decommitted following the dismissal of head coach Butch Jones.

The Volunteers loss was the Tar Heels gain as Flint eventually committed to UNC thanks in large part to the addition of assistant coach Tommy Thigpen, a former UNC Linebacker who was an assistant at Tennessee under Jones.

Flint ranked as the 33rd best outside linebacker according to ESPN.

Why he might move up this list: There is a huge gap at outside linebacker with the loss of Cayson Collins who graduated this past season. Flint will have a chance to compete right away for the open spot and will be one of the favorites to get it.

He enrolled early after committing to the Tar Heels in January and has already participated in spring practices.

Why he might move down this list: Fellow outside linebacker Kyle Wright will also be competing for playing time. As both are freshmen, there is a chance they may split duties and share the position.

It is also possible that one of them out performs the other and gets most of the reps. If that ends up being Wright, who had nine tackles for loss last season, then Flint would have to wait his turn and might even be redshirted.

The Tar Heels also have several other upper classmen, like Dominique Ross, who may already have a more inside track due to a better familiarity with the system.

Prediction: Flint seems like the kind of guy the Tar Heels need, though it wouldn’t shock me at all if he split reps with Wright during the season and both become starters next season after Cole Holcomb graduates.

With that in mind Flint finishes the season with 44 tackles and an interception.

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