{"id":53517,"date":"2024-05-27T15:31:34","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T20:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=53517"},"modified":"2024-05-27T15:31:34","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T20:31:34","slug":"predicting-ceiling-floor-for-north-carolina-in-2024-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/predicting-ceiling-floor-for-north-carolina-in-2024-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting ceiling, floor for North Carolina in 2024 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Carolina<\/a><\/strong> no longer has a guaranteed future pro at quarterback for the first time in several years, but there\u2019s optimism the Tar Heels could be as good, if not better, than they were a year ago. <\/p>\n

On3\u2019s Andy Staples spoke with Roddy Jones on an On3 YouTube<\/a><\/strong> live stream Memorial Day morning and the two broke down the floor and ceiling of every ACC team, including North Carolina. They don\u2019t see a tremendously wide range of outcomes, but they think the Heels could very well be sniffing ACC title contention if luck breaks right. <\/p>\n

So take a look below at everything Staples and Jones had to say on behalf of North Carolina for this coming season. <\/p>\n

Ceiling: 9-3<\/h2>\n

Staples and Jones both believed themselves to be a bit higher on the Tar Heels than the general consensus. <\/p>\n

\u201cRoddy, I feel like people are very down on North Carolina this year. The more I think about, the more I\u2019m like, \u2018you know what, they might be just as good as last year,’\u201d said Staples. <\/p>\n

Jones was in total agreement, explaining why the UNC personnel is still pretty strong. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know Drake Maye<\/a><\/strong> and his departure leaves a massive hole, and Tez Walker\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> gone, but they got a lot of production from guys like JJ Jones<\/a><\/strong> last year. That tight end room is as good as you\u2019ll find in this league with John Copenhaver<\/a><\/strong>, Bryson Nesbit<\/a><\/strong>, with Jake Johnson<\/a><\/strong> coming over. And they\u2019ve got the best running back in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey feel good about the offensive line, they re-upped on the OL with a bunch of transfers. And then Geoff Collins<\/a><\/strong> on defense is going to be interesting, because he does a lot defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staples also noted the Collins hire as a reason to believe in North Carolina next season. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Geoff Collins defensive coordinator hire is going to prove to be one of the more impactful coordinator hires of the offseason. He\u2019s a good defensive coordinator. When the man\u2019s calling a defense, the defense plays pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Collins hire works out, and that returning talent takes a leap, then Jones can envision a pretty darn good year for the Heels: \u201cI look at this North Carolina team, I think ceiling-wise, they\u2019re probably a 9-3 team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Floor: 7-5<\/h2>\n

When it comes to North Carolina\u2019s window of outcomes, Roddy Jones only sees a few games of difference between the best and worst-case scenarios this coming fall. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the floor is like 7-5. Like, I think this team is right sort of in that 7-9 win range, because the talent\u2019s there, man,\u201d said Jones. Staples was right there with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYep. 9-3 and 7-5 is exactly where I had them too. Got to beat Minnesota in that first game. It\u2019s a little bit of a mystery there, but all the predictions, \u2018Oh, Mack (Brown)<\/a><\/strong> is gonna hang it up after this year because it\u2019s going to be so tough\u2019 \u2014 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be that tough for him this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Andy Staples believes that while this team could have lower expectations and a lower ceiling overall, they may be able to perform better relative to what fans are hoping. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the pressure of having a top-five pick at quarterback is worse than what you\u2019re dealing with this year. I think you\u2019re going in with lower expectations, but you\u2019re probably going in, across the board, with as much talent as you had.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Jones, he just needs to see UNC find a way to beat some teams they\u2019ve recently had trouble with. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just something about some of the teams they play. They can\u2019t beat Georgia Tech, they can\u2019t beat Virginia, they can\u2019t beat NC State. I think they get one of those this year. There\u2019s a boogeyman with some of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Win some of those games, and UNC could very well creep closer to that 9-3 number. <\/p>\n

The post Predicting ceiling, floor for North Carolina in 2024 season<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Carolina no longer has a guaranteed future pro at quarterback for the first time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53553,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53517\/revisions\/53553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}