UNC Football: Pair of Tar Heels Make ESPN Top 100 Players

ESPN college football experts announced their list of the Top 100 players in the nation, and two UNC football players made the list.

This offseason has been filled with question marks for the North Carolina football team.  Who will be the starting quarterback?  How will the Heels replace two draft picks on the offensive line?  Who will step up at running back after the British Brooks injury?

There is no doubt that there is a lot of talent and potential on the Tar Heels roster, but there are also clearly plenty of unknowns.  However, there are two things that UNC fans can feel pretty confident about (barring injury) for the upcoming season.

First off, whoever the Carolina quarterback is, will have one of the most reliable targets in the country in junior wide receiver Josh Downs.  The Suwanee, GA native was recently named to the CBS Sports All-American Second Team earlier today and has a chance to break some Carolina football records this fall.  Downs is a dynamic athlete with great hands, and he will be an explosive weapon for the UNC offense regardless of who lines up behind center.

The other thing Tar Heel fans can count on is that  UNC will have one of the top lockdown defensive backs in the ACC.  Junior Tony Grimes made All-ACC honorable mention last season and was the top-ranked cornerback in the country for his class prior to his decision to reclassify and enroll early at UNC in 2020.

The college football experts at ESPN agree that these two Tar Heels are players to watch coming into the season.  This morning, ESPN’s list of the Top 100 college football players in the country was released.  Both Downs and Grimes were featured in these rankings, with them coming in at 26th and 72nd respectively.

Here is what ESPN had to say about the UNC standouts:

"“For the bulk of the 2021 season, every defense the Tar Heels played knew where the ball was going. Downs was not just the No. 1 target, but often the only reliable pass catcher. And even with all that attention from defenders, he still caught 101 balls for 1,335 yards. While UNC will have a new QB for 2022, it also expects to have a better supporting cast for its star receiver, which could make Downs an even bigger weapon this year.”—-ESPN on UNC WR Josh Downs“Grimes was supposed to still be in high school when he first stepped onto the field for North Carolina in 2020. After reclassifying during the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down high school football in his home state of Virginia, Grimes quickly developed into one of the ACC’s most gifted corners as a true freshman. The 2021 season saw some regression — no TDs allowed in 2020, four in 2021 — but he still held opposing QBs to less than 50% completions while breaking up nine passes.”—-ESPN on UNC CB Tony Grimes"

To nobody’s surprise, Alabama and Ohio State dominated the top of this poll.  These two college football powerhouses are the betting favorites to win the National Championship this season, and they each have two of the top four players in the country according to this list.

The ACC is well represented in this ranking with six players making the Top 25.  Using these rankings, the top ten players in the conference (along with their national ranking) are as follows:

13. Bryan Bresee, DT, Clemson

15. Sean Tucker, RB, Syracuse

18. Myles Murphy, DE, Clemson

19. Devin Leary, QB, NC State

21. Sam Hartman, QB, Wake Forest

25. Tyler Van Dyke, QB, Miami

26. Josh Downs, WR, UNC

29. A.T. Perry, WR, Wake Forest

38. Trenton Simpson, LB, Clemson

47. Malik Cunningham, QB, Louisville

This will be a crucial season for North Carolina as the Heels are looking to bounce back from a very underwhelming 2021.  With a young team that is going to have a lot of inexperienced parts, it is critical to have experienced leaders on both sides of the ball.  Luckily for Mack Brown and company, the Heels will have two of the best in the nation with Downs and Grimes leading the charge.

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