WATCH: North Carolina puts together highlights from first scrimmage
Fall camp is in full swing and plenty of college football programs across the country have already wrapped up their first scrimmages to get an early look at the talent they have on hand. It’s a great time for coaches and fans to learn what playmakers are separating themselves from the pack. The North Carolina Tar Heels finished their first scrimmage on Saturday night in front of 2,000 incoming students. On Sunday night, the school unveiled a highlight video with some clips of the scrimmage.
One quick look at the highlight tape and a number of names jump out at you immediately. One is receiver Andre Greene, Jr., who made a couple of really impressive catches in the scrimmage. He’s a true freshman but do not be deceived by his youth. Greene was one of the most talented receivers in his class and he’s got the film to back that up. According to the On3 Consensus Rankings for the 2022 cycle, he was rated as the No. 12 receiver in the nation coming out of St. Christopher’s School (Richmond, Virginia). He’s been turning heads early in fall camp and look for him to be a household name very, very soon.
Another receiver that shined in the scrimmage was Gavin Blackwell, a 5-foot-11 redshirt freshman receiver out of Sun Valley (Indian Trail, North Carolina). He chose the ‘Heels coming out of high school over offers from Ohio State, Florida, Tennessee, and others. Just the fact that he got an offer from Ohio State should tell you how good he’s going to be. Few have developed receivers in college football the past few years quite like Brian Hartline has for the Buckeyes. In case that wasn’t enough, he dominated the first scrimmage and was all over the highlight tape.
Head coach Mack Brown will play host to the North Carolina fans six times this season, with a couple of compelling home games on the schedule. Notre Dame is most likely the crown jewel, coming to Chapel Hill on Sept. 24 for a big-time showdown. Virginia Tech features as well before in-state rival, North Carolina State, will be the season finale.
There’s still more work to be done for Brown, before his team is ready for the regular season. At least one more scrimmage will take place before fall camp comes to a close. It’s a few more weeks away but the college football season is rapidly approaching.
On3’s Griffin McVeigh also contributed to this article.