UNC Football: See where Athlon Sports ranks Tar Heels for next season

Should the UNC football program begin the 2020 season ranked in the top 25? Athlon Sports thinks so.

With the 2019 NCAA football season nearing completion, Athlon Sports has named its top 25 teams for 2020. Among them are the North Carolina Tar Heels, who Athlon has ranked No. 22 in the nation.

In Mack Brown’s first season back in Chapel Hill since 1997, the Tar Heels came out of nowhere to play in their first bowl game in three years. What’s more is that the Tar Heels captured their first bowl victory since a win over Cincinnati in the 2013 Belk Bowl.

Perhaps the most promising thing of all, however, is that the Tar Heels have one of the best players in the nation in freshman quarterback Sam Howell. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound Monroe, North Carolina native was named ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year in a landslide vote after a season in which he compiled 3,641 yards and 38 touchdowns. Both were tops in the ACC, and he threw just seven interceptions in 13 games.

His 38 touchdown passes this year ranked fourth in the nation behind an elite trio of quarterbacks that includes 2019 Heisman Trophy winner, Joe Burrow. They also put him at third-place on the ACC’s all-time single-season touchdown list. On Friday, he was the recipient of one more prestigious honor: a spot on the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-American team.

Also returning to North Carolina next season is 1,000-yard rusher Michael Carter, and a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Dazz Newsome and Dyami Brown. The standout trio combined for 25 touchdowns on the season, and will play pivotal roles on the UNC offense in 2020. They’re joined by sophomore running back Javonte Williams, who racked up 933 yards and five touchdowns in just 166 carries.

On top of that, North Carolina has the No. 19 recruiting class in the nation according to the 247Sports Team Rankings for 2020. The 26-man class is highlighted by seven 4-star players.

For a complete list of Athlon’s 2020 college football top 25, click here. For everything else on the UNC football program, check back with Keeping It Heel.