UNC Football: Where Tar Heels rank in ESPN’s Early Top 25

The North Carolina Tar Heels’ football program appears in ESPN’s Way Too Early Top 25 rankings for the 2020 college football season

The 2020 college football season is still months away but before we know it, Spring Football games will be taking place on campuses across the nation. In the past few weeks, there has still been some big news in college football with some coaching changes, decisions to go pro and National Signing Day.

With that, ESPN decided this was the perfect time to update their Way Too Early Top 25 for the upcoming season.

The media outlet put out their first addition right after LSU beat Clemson to claim the national championship and it included the Tar Heels. The first option had Clemson at No. 1 overall and that continued into the second version as the Tigers took the top spot.

As for UNC, they were ranked No. 22 in the first version and stayed put at No. 22 in the second version of Mark Schlabach’s rankings. Here is what Schlabach had to say about the Tar Heels in his rankings:

"After going 7-6 in coach Mack Brown’s first season, in which each of the losses were decided by seven points or fewer, the Tar Heels might be the team to beat in the ACC Coastal Division. With sophomore Sam Howell returning, the Tar Heels might have a better quarterback situation than any ACC team outside of Clemson. Howell was named the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2019, throwing for 3,641 yards with 38 touchdowns, the most by a true freshman in FBS history. Nine other offensive starters are also expected back, including star receivers Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome. Brown parlayed UNC’s sudden success into a recruiting class that was ranked No. 16 nationally by ESPN Recruiting. The Tar Heels signed two in-state prospects — Desmond Evans and Myles Murphy — who were ranked the Nos. 1 and 11 defensive ends in the country."

There are a lot of reasons to be excited for this upcoming season as UNC returns the majority of their starters on offense and defense. That includes quarterback Sam Howell, running backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams as well as receivers Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome.

Both Newsome and Brown were over 1,000 yards receiving last season, reaching a big milestone for a Tar Heels’ offense that was much improved.

Along with the offense, UNC brings back some starters on defense as well. Standout linebacker Chazz Surratt is returning for his senior year, a big boost to a defense that welcomes in a Top 20 recruiting class featuring some studs on that side of the ball.

UNC will be tested early though with a road game at UCF and then a neutral site game against Auburn. Both of those games will go a long way in UNC’s chances to be ranked early on.

For more on the UNC Football program, please check back with Keeping It Heel.