Promising Preseason Puts UNC’s Jordan Shipp Ready for Takeoff

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A video clip of receiver Jordan Shipp leaping and extending and hauling in a touchdown catch over defensive back Coleman Bryson in the back of the end zone during a recent North Carolina football practice provided a brief, but enticing, nugget of content on social media.

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And that highlight moment also has served to underline a distinction in preseason experiences and expectations for Shipp, who’s entering his second season with the Tar Heels. Last August, a shoulder injury — a third-degree AC joint sprain — suffered in the early stages of UNC’s training camp hindered his development as a true freshman in 2024.

“I would say really, I didn’t start to feel back at a hundred percent until toward the end of the year,” he said earlier this preseason. “There was no surgery or anything like that. But I could only lift my arm so high. So they sat me down for a little bit. And then once I kind of started to get back, that’s when I started to play a little bit more and more. But at the same time, we had a great receiving corps last year. So there was no need for them to have to rush me back or anything like that.

“I feel like it’s just something that I can’t really complain about. I was able to play on it. I made the plays that I made. I played what I did, and I helped in any ways that I could.”

Now, though, Shipp could be poised to take off and produce in substantial ways. The Tar Heels have turned the corner into the final week of preparation leading toward their highly anticipated 2025 season opener on Sept. 1 against TCU, and coach Bill Belichick’s spotlighted Labor Day debut in prime time.

Along the way, the sophomore Shipp has authored a promising preseason body of work, multiple sources around the UNC program told Inside Carolina, while building an encouraging rapport in practices with transfer quarterback Gio Lopez, the expected starter.

Perhaps look no further for consideration than Shipp’s graceful, toe-tapping touchdown grab in the back of the end zone, after beating the Minnesota transfer Bryson deep. The lefty Lopez launched an over-the-top throw there, and the gliding Shipp went up to reel it in, on a recent night when the Tar Heels held a practice session at Kenan Stadium.

“He’s a problem inside,” a source told IC on Monday, referring to the 6-foot-2 Shipp’s potential in the slot. That’s the area where he operated on more than 88 percent of the offensive snaps he played last season, mostly as a backup to Nate McCollum.

“I just want help my team win,” Shipp said earlier this preseason, when asked to measure where he perhaps might set his ceiling as a college player. “I feel like I can be a great receiver, you know? I feel like I can, depending on the situation that we’re put in, do whatever my team needs me to do. And that’s what I want to do. I feel like when you start talking about, like, personal goals, that’s when things can get kind of mixed up and stuff like that. So I really try not to focus on that. Because, I mean, really, if we’re winning games, that means somebody’s doing something right.”

Shipp played in 12 games as a true freshman last season, logging 162 snaps on offense, 144 of which were in the slot, per data from Pro Football Focus (PFF). His nine catches during the 2024 season, a modest amount to be sure, make him UNC’s second-leading returning receiver behind veteran Kobe Paysour, though Chris Culliver compiled more receiving yards (135) on three fewer grabs than Shipp (114 yards).

The Tar Heels have lost six of their top seven pass-catchers from last season’s 2024 team. Paysour (21 catches for 365 yards) and Michigan State transfer Aziah Johnson (16 catches for 276 yards, two touchdowns) are the only receivers on UNC’s roster who caught at least 10 passes last season on the college level.

Shipp checks in among a group of returnees at receiver for Carolina — such as Alex Taylor, Javarius Green, Paul Billups II and Culliver — who have produced some flashes, but remain largely unproven. UNC transfer portal pickups Jason Robinson Jr. (from Washington), Adrian Wilson (Colorado), Dayton Sneed (Tennessee) and Nathan Leacock (Tennessee, Purdue) have combined for a total of just two catches in their young college football careers.

During game action last season, Shipp’s catches came on throws from Conner Harrell, Jacolby Criswell and Michael Merdinger. All of those quarterbacks have transferred out of the Tar Heels’ program. Now, the South Alabama transfer Lopez is expected to pilot the offense — with sixth-year senior Max Johnson next in line as the backup — as the Tar Heels are seven days away from raising the curtain on their first season under the six-time Super Bowl champion Belichick.

Tommy Ashley of Inside Carolina contributed to this report.