UNC Football: Cade Fortin to play against Virginia Tech?

The Tar Heels could turn to Cade Fortin on Saturday night when they host the Virginia Tech Hokies in primetime at Kenan Memorial Stadium

With the North Carolina Tar Heels ruling Chazz Surratt out for the season with a wrist injury, the Tar Heels will have Nathan Elliott as their primary player at the position. But after that, the Tar Heels will have true freshman Cade Fortin backing him up.

At least we think so.

Just hours after Surratt’s season-ending injury was announced, Tar Heel Illustrated reported that Fortin will not only see playing time against Virginia Tech on Saturday night but there’s a possibility he could start.

THI writer Andrew Jones wrote the piece on Fortin, saying he will indeed play and there’s a chance he could start according to sources. The development is interesting seeing that Elliott has started the first four games of this season but has struggled.

The true freshman Fortin has appeared in one game this season, coming in late during the blowout loss at ECU. Fortin went 3-of-6 for 15 yards and had a rush for 16 yards at the end of the loss.

With the new rule for redshirts this season, Fortin can appear in up to four games without losing his status. That’s something to monitor moving forward if the Tar Heels hope to keep his redshirt status for this season.

UNC welcomes in a tough Virginia Tech team that is 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference but is fresh off a home loss to Notre Dame.

The Hokies have had UNC’s number the past two seasons in blowout fashion and this year may be no different if the Tar Heels fall behind early. With a rare Saturday night game and a visit from transfer quarterback Kelly Bryant, the Tar Heels have a big opportunity to make at least something of this season.

And the start of the Fortin era could get off to a good start.

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