UNC Football loses another defensive back to transfer portal
By Jordan Falls
![MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - JANUARY 02: Ja'Qurious Conley #0 of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrates after a tackle against the Texas A&M Aggies during the first half of the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium on January 02, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - JANUARY 02: Ja'Qurious Conley #0 of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrates after a tackle against the Texas A&M Aggies during the first half of the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium on January 02, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/ba77d158aa28c25ed96654f279d3eb956a54eaac5ed7bf545c725f6071b87423.jpg)
After spring practice has officially wrapped up, the UNC football program has lost another defensive secondary player to the transfer portal.
The UNC football program wrapped up its spring season last Saturday with its annual spring game on April 15th.
Following that game and the conclusion of spring ball, the program has now lost two defensive backs. Last week, Don Chapman and Ladaeson DeAndre “Dae Dae” Hollins entered the portal, and Ja’Qurious Conley followed suit this afternoon.
#UNC’s Ja'Qurious Conley, an explosive defender who traveled a long road back from a major knee injury, has entered the transfer portal. Story: https://t.co/L35OEFlrpS pic.twitter.com/rX36oRDfby
— InsideCarolina (@InsideCarolina) April 24, 2023
College football has two transfer portal windows per calendar year; this is the second for the 2022-2023 season. While the defense has been sub-par in several categories, losing experience in the defensive backfield is not what anyone wants to see.
Conley becomes not only the third Tar Heel player to enter the transfer portal from the secondary but the fifth Tar Heel on the defensive side of the ball to leave. While the Tar Heels certainly need improvement on that side of the ball, losing a player with as much athleticism, talent, and potential as Conley truly hurts.
Hopefully, Conley lands on his feet somewhere that he can be successful and fit into a scheme. As for Gene Chizik and the Tar Heel defense, let’s hope they can find a replacement for Conley as well as the others who have entered the transfer portal to date.
Chizik certainly faces a challenge trying to improve a defense that ranked at the bottom of college football in several major statistical categories.
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