Keeping It Heel
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Top UNC Football players for 2018: No. 20 Freeman Jones

By Brandon Griffin

CHAPEL HILL, NC - SEPTEMBER 02: Head coach Larry Fedora of the North Carolina Tar Heels watches during their game against the California Golden Bears at Kenan Stadium on September 2, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Cal won 35-30. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - SEPTEMBER 02: Head coach Larry Fedora of the North Carolina Tar Heels watches during their game against the California Golden Bears at Kenan Stadium on September 2, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Cal won 35-30. (Photo by Grant Halverson/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. 20

#25 Dyami Brown | #24 Johnathon Sutton | #23 Matthew Flint | #22 JT Cauthen | #21 Offensive Line

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

The NFL Draft is this week and teams, players, and fans are getting pretty anxious. 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. 20, the first player on this list who made a significant contribution to the team last season.

Position: Place Kicker

Hometown: Bunn, North Carolina

High School: Bunn

Last Season: Jones won the job last season, beating out true freshman Noah Ruggles for the job. The competition was so close that no one was named the starter until about a week before the first game.

Once Jones got the job though, he kept it all season, regardless of how well he did overall. During the season, Jones hit 64 percent of his field goals, going 9-for-14. He also hit 37 of his 38 extra point attempts, good for 97.4 percent, sixth-best in the ACC.

Why he might move up this list: Jones spent the first two seasons of his college career backing up Nick Weiller, so last season was his first doing the job full time. With a season under his belt, it’s possible that Jones improves on his overall accuracy this upcoming year.

Jones also showed good accuracy on kicks inside 40 yards, going 6-of-7 from that range, which was good for 86 percent.

Why he might move down this list: Though Jones showed good accuracy on kicks inside 40 yards, outside 40 yards was much different. On kicks 40 yards or longer, he was just 3-of-7, good for 43 percent.

This led the coaching staff to take more chances on fourth down last season. For a team like the Tar Heels, which may struggle to get into the end zone, a dependable kicker is key to making sure drives don’t end without scores.

Jones’ main competition for the job, Ruggles, has shown good accuracy from longer distances. After being redshirted last season, he may be in great shape to take the job away from Jones this season.

Prediction: I really believe Ruggles is the team’s best option at kicker, evidenced by the fact that I ranked him 25th overall last season. It wouldn’t shock me at all if he took the job this offseason and never looked back.

However, Jones is a senior and has the experience. For arguments sake, let’s say Jones keeps his job and improves overall, going 10-of-14 on field goals and increasing his dependable range overall to around 45 yards.

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