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UNC Football: Pass rusher Malaki Hamrick out for the season

By Jordan Falls

Nov 12, 2022; Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown during warm ups before the start of the game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Truist Field. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2022; Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown during warm ups before the start of the game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Truist Field. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports /
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UNC Football has begun spring practice in the last few weeks and unfortunately received some injury news they didn’t already need.

As first reported by Ross Martin with Inside Carolina, the UNC Football program has lost pass rusher Malaki Hamrick for the 2023 season due to a non-contact, lower-body injury.

Hamrick was going to be a sophomore on the field for the Tar Heels next fall, unfortunately, he will most likely be utilizing his medical redshirt year. In his freshman season, he played in all 13 games for the Tar Heels, including 11 games on defense. He was mostly a special teams player but did rack up 9 total tackles on defense as a pass rusher.

North Carolina recently hired Ted Monachino as a defensive analyst to help improve the defense from last season and pass rushing was a topic of discussion in a press conference on Tuesday.

Obviously losing a player like Hamrick hurts along the front seven for the Tar Heels in the depth and returning a player who did play last fall.

UNC will have Tomari Fox returning for the 2023 season to help up front defensively after being ineligible last during the 2022 season. The Carolina defense is certainly an area that needs improvement across all areas. In 2022 Tar Heels ranked #104 in scoring defense, #111 in yards per game, #95 in opponent third down conversion percentage, and #81 in opponent red zone scoring percentage.

The loss to Hamrick will be something the Tar Heels will have to overcome. If there is a positive to this, it’s that it came in the spring and UNC will have the rest of spring practice and the fall to have schemes and personnel in place to replace him.

Next. Former UNC football wideout Signing with NFC South Team. dark

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