UNC Offensive Lineman Austin Blaske Suffers Training Camp Injury

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Austin Blaske, who has earned the reputation as North Carolina’s best and most versatile offensive lineman, has been lost for perhaps as many as two months due to a non-contact foot injury suffered in training camp, multiple sources told Inside Carolina on Sunday.

Sources said the foot is broken, and the sixth-year senior is expected to miss the Tar Heels’ opening games of the approaching college football season, though Blaske and the team are awaiting further evaluation and thus a full diagnosis. An early outlook in terms of the recovery timeline, sources said, would have Blaske aiming to return for UNC’s ACC league opener on Oct. 4 against Clemson, the conference’s preseason favorite.

Blaske started at center for UNC last season. He has worked at center, guard and tackle since new coach Bill Belichick took over the program, amid the Tar Heels’ ongoing search to put together their five most cohesive components on the offensive line.

Troy transfer Daniel King and Rice transfer Chad Lindberg could factor more in the mix on the interior during Blaske’s absence. When UNC began training camp last weekend, Blaske was at right guard in practice drills with the first-team offensive line, beside Holy Cross transfer Christo Kelly at center. Sources said Sunday that UNC’s depth chart along the offensive line — projected starters and their backups — remains in considerable flux ahead of the 2025 season opener, which arrives in three weeks on Sept. 1 against TCU.

Belichick and the Tar Heels picked up a total of eight additions to the offensive line on the transfer market across the winter and spring portal cycles — William Boone (from Prairie View A&M), Jordan Hall (UAB), Miles McVay (Alabama), Jakai Moore (South Carolina), Will O’Steen (Jacksonville State), Kelly, King and Lindberg. Aidan Banfield and Trevyon Green are UNC returnees who started at left guard and left tackle, respectively, last season.

“Competition brings out the best in all of us,” Blaske said four days ago. “I think the completion is going to make guys play harder, play smarter, play faster, because they know that their job is not guaranteed. So I think it’s a good thing that we have competition, because it’s going to bring the best out of that room, and bring the best out of the team.”

The veteran Blaske (6-foot-5, 310 pounds) entered the transfer portal on Dec. 9, then removed his name two days later, when UNC’s surprising hiring of Belichick became confirmed.

He started at center in 12 games last season, missing only Carolina’s defeat of NC Central due to a high-ankle sprain. He played 780 offensive snaps during the 2024 season, per data from Pro Football Focus (PFF). He didn’t allow a sack last season and gave up five pressures, marking the lowest pressure rate allowed among UNC’s starting group. His PFF pass-blocking grade ranked second on the Tar Heels’ offensive line, behind only right guard Willie Lampkin, the All-ACC first-teamer.

Before joining Carolina in January 2024 through the transfer portal, Blaske played in 15 games across three seasons (2021-23) at Georgia. He was a member of the Bulldogs’ back-to-back College Football Playoff national championship teams for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Tommy Ashley and Evan Rogers of Inside Carolina contributed to this report.