UNC Football: Tar Heels land graduate transfer kicker

A FCS kicker announced he was transferring to North Carolina on Sunday afternoon, adding another player to the kicking competition for 2020

The North Carolina Tar Heels should be one of the favorites in the Atlantic Coast Conference coastal division for the 2020 season when it kicks off in early September, returning  the majority of their starters from a team that finished 7-6 last season.

UNC ended their 2019 campaign on a high note, beating Temple for their first bowl win since the 2013 season and with that, expectations are high going into 2020. Several publications have the Tar Heels ranked in their “Way Too Early Top 25” and rightfully so. Now, a graduate transfer has decided to make his way to Chapel Hill for next season.

On Sunday, FCS kicker Grayson Atkins made the decision to transfer to North Carolina for next season as he joins the Tar Heels’ special teams unit:

Atkins is a graduate transfer out of Furman and is coming off an impressive 2019 campaign as a junior. He earned first-team AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America honors to go along with All-America honors from the Associated Press. The kicker made 13-of-15 field goal attempts and 48-of-50 PAT for Furman.

The announcement came on Sunday afternoon as UNC wrapped up a big visit weekend with several recruits for the 2021 class. While they haven’t landed a commitment in 2021 from the weekend just yet, adding Atkins to the mix at the kicker position is good news.

Atkins will compete with junior Noah Ruggles and sophomore Jonathan Kim. Both were able to kick last season after Ruggles was benched missing after two overtime field goals vs. Virginia Tech in October. The change didn’t last long as Kim missed an attempt vs. Duke and the Tar Heels went back to Ruggles.

This will be an interesting battle to watch throughout camp and the Summer.

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