UNC Football 2024 BOLD Predictions: 10+ wins for UNC | 2,000+ All-Purpose yards for Omarion Hampton

the football Tar Heels are going to do something this season that's only happened eight times in program history a statement that audacious can only mean one thing it's time for bold predictions you are locked on Tarheels your daily podcast on the UNC Tar Heels part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hey there what's up it's Monday August 26th 202 for welcome into the locked on tar Hills podcast the only daily North Carolina show out there I'm your host Isaac shade and you're joining me at the place to get your Tar Heels content every single day part of the locked on podcast Network I want to thank you for making us your first listen or First Watch to get your Tar Heels content special shout out to all of you every dayers out there and all the members of the lock on Tar Heels Discord family welcome in to all of you this episode's brought to you by the ultimate college football head coach which is a brand new mobile game completely free has no ads and is 100% playable offline use promo code locked on CFB all caps inside the game store to receive a free boost to your program begin your coaching Legacy today coming up on the show it is finally here it's game week for football it ain't coming on Saturday it's going to be Thursday and folks great news we will have either college football or college basketball ball every Saturday from now through April 5th how can you not love it it's the best time of the year come on baby I can smell the chili cooking already coming up on the show today it's gonna be so fun three bold predictions for Carolina football plus two kind of joke bold predictions added in for good measure they're certain to go wrong I love bold predictions because you just shoot your shot but when it fails it's like ah well it was supposed to fail no in all seriousness these are I want to suggest things that while unlikely could happen right like and and I want to base those in some level of Merit and fact they're not just total Fabrications they're based on on a belief that I have based on statistical data or Trends or something um so we'll talk about those plus Coach Brown has made the quarterback situation even more convoluted than it already was but I'll tell you what his former quarterback showed out well on Sunday Night Football last night we'll talk about all that coming up today let's start with these three bold predictions for Carolina football we're going to do the first two right here in segment one number one for the first time in MA Brown 2.0 era and just the ninth time in Carolina history the tar Hills will win 10 or more football games and I know that sounds absolutely wacky because For the First Time In Mac Brown 2.0 there's not a guy named Sam Hell and there's not a guy named Drake may but in those five years that that m brown has been back in that crazy this is year six those five years have been seven wins eight wins six wins nine wins and last year eight wins either of those last two seasons should have gone to double digits but they didn't so how tragically funny and quite frankly frustrating would it be for the he to get 10 wins or more this year for the first time in MA Brown second stint but with neither of those guys as quarterback last double digit season win for the tar Hills was in the 2015 season when Carolina went 11 and three and got jobbed in the ACC Championship game that will always come back as a FR you know there's no saying they would have won but my goodness what an egregious call that ranks right up there with the uh women's soccer team getting uh that that call against UCLA and the championship in 2022 anyway before 2015 the last time Carolina won double digit games was 1997 that was Max last year of round one Turtles win 11 and one in all I said it earlier just eight double digigit win seasons ever in Carolina history let me give you the years of that let's go all the way back to 1914 was the first time it happened and then in 72 80 81 93 96 97 and just once in the 2000s and that was 2015 as we've already said that's it that's the only eight times the tar Hills of everone double digit games but 2024 is going to be number nine and I said all of these aren't just like some random pie in the sky but but based on some level of something number one some of this for me goes back to the fact that Carolina's schedule is quite easy at least on paper thank you very much Georgia Tech uh proved a little bit of you know why you gota actually play the games uh Pro proed that on Saturday but on paper again as a reminder we talked about this last week Carolina is only playing two of the top seven teams in terms of the ACC preseason media poll that's um NC State and that's Florida State so you know there's that the other side of it is that while you lose Drake May and while you lose TZ Walker and Cedric Gray I truly believe that this team has the potential to be a better allaround team and I think that a big part of that is the defense I think the offense will certainly regress at you know at least a a good solid margin and that's because there's no Drake May and with all due respect to Max Johnson and jacobe chrisell and to Connor Harrell whatever order they wind up being in none of them are Drake May and just not going to be but you got a lot of skill guys around them obviously the offensive line is a question but all told I think it's possible so that's bold prediction number one again sure to go wrong the tar Hills will win 10 games by the way I forgot to mention I should go ahead and say I always love like obviously I'm making my bold predictions I want to hear yours right because this is our show this isn't just about me this is all of us as part of the lockon tar Hills family all right bold prediction number two let's go to the defensive side of the ball North Carolina will allow fewer than 25 points per game and be top three in the ACC in defensive points per game and the reason I have to make this a bold prediction is because in the last 10 seasons Carolina has finished allowing under 25 points per game just one two three times three times in the past 10 seasons and one of those oh by the way was 24.9 points and another was 24.6 points so it's been very close and in terms of finishing top three in the ACC in points per game you know how many times that's happened the last 10 seasons zero zero times they finished fourth in 2015 and fifth in 2019 other than that here's the other eight in the last 10 years where Carolina has finished in the ACC in points per game allowed 9th 14th 11th 8th 13 139 14 so other than that fourth and fifth they've not even finished in the top half of the ACC in the past decade y'all that's got to change and I'm GNA say that it starts now last time Carolina was in the top three of the ACCC and points per game allowed 2009 at that point there were 12 teams in the conference instead of 14 and one of those teams was called Maryland that's how long it's been so let me give you the why again because I always want to base it in a level of reality I truly believe this North Carolina defense has the talent to do what needs to be done I think the last couple years it's been a schematic issue the couple years before that um I think it was a too much information issue and so I think the talent is there you've got known entities the likes of Cayman Rucker the likes of power Echo obviously there's more but those are the two names that stand out most prominently you've got Elijah huzzy who should barring injury again not to him but to others go back to his natural position this year with DeAndre boyin back and hopefully healthy and fully ready to go right I I just think I think the back end of the defense is going to be better the front end of the defense should be better and I know you lose said gray but I I think the midpoint the linebackers are going to hold their own as has kind of been the progression the last couple years another reason for this is I I'm sold on Jeff Collins and I know at this point it's just talking it's just on paper and it's just whatever and and we're not going to truly know and might not even know after Thursday night and then probably won't know the next couple weeks after that because of the opponents but I think it's going to be there the probably the biggest question for me is will the depth be there Coach Brown like every football ball coach in America talks talks about wanting to truly be deep truly be at least two deep everywhere at every position the question will be as it's been the past couple years will the Tar Hill coaching staff be able to trust and to play that depth when the rubber meets the road when things get tough when whatever will Travis sha be ready to you know whatever it is and so we're going to have to keep an eye out on that but that friends is my second bold prediction North Carolina will allow fewer than 25 points per game and will be top three in the ACC in points per game allow all right so uh if those predictions weren't bold enough for you Omarian Hampton is going to do something this season that's only happened once in Carolina football history I'm GNA get you ready and tell you about that coming up in just a second but first locked on Tar Heels family I want to take a moment to give you a heads up on a brand new mobile game that I think you're really going to love it's called the ultimate college football head coach in this amazing simulation you get to step into the shoes of a head coach and lead your college football program to Glory I love it can you imagine actually stepping in and being ma Brown from recruiting players and hiring assistant coaches to overseeing training camps handling scholarships all of this you get to control every crucial detail of your program think you can handle the pressure and here's what I really love about the game you're responsible for calling offensive plays so not only will your strategy determine the success of your season but also will shape the future and Legacy of your program ultimate college football head coach is completely free has no ads and is 100% playable offline you can play on the go whenever and however you want and of course I got a special offer for you locked on tar Hills Family use promo code locked on CFB all caps inside the game store to receive a free boost for your program to download the game just visit ultimate cfb.isd two of them I want to get to my third which involves Omari on Hampton but I got two joke bold predictions that are only joking because they're going to be insanely painful if they don't happen so here's the first one number one North Carolina will beat Georgia Tech in football this season oh my word You guys legitimately the tar Hills Have Not beaten Georgia Tech since 2019 they have three straight losses to the yellow jackets they didn't play in 2020 and have lost five of the last six outside of that beating them in 29 I mean it's just crazy and you saw what Georgia Tech did Saturday hopefully that's more about Florida State than it is about Georgia Tech if not it could be four straight and four out of seven I mean six out of seven six out of yeah what on Earth crazy all right so that's a joke bold prediction that maybe not that much of a joke and then the second joke North Carolina will win a bowl game this season the tar Hills have just won Bowl victory since 2014 in that stretch they are one and seven in the postseason and in totality in the 2000s the Tar Heels are have just four four Bowl victories in the 2000s that seems almost impossibly crazy but it's true so joke uh joke bold prediction number two Carolina will win a bowl game in the 2425 season hopefully they're they're playing that game in 2025 that'd be great all right so here's our third serious bold prediction you ready for this one Omari on Hampton the season with 2,000 or more allpurpose yards just the second to ever do so at North Carolina and he may even get it all on the ground not that he's not going to get any uh through the year I just mean he could get 2,000 on the ground and I wouldn't it wouldn't be the craziest thing let let me give you some numbers to so you can kind of put where omaran was at last year last year with Drake Maya's quarterback where there's a lot more going on other than omaran he had 1,726 total allpurpose yards that's the sixth most in Carolina history he had 1,54 of those on the ground which was fifth nationally and the second most in a Carolina single season and 222 yards in the air the only other the only Tar Hill at this point I guess I should say to get 2,000 allpurpose yards in a season trivia time you know it pause it if you want while you think about it but for those who know you know automatically it's Don mccaulay in the 1970 season who just barely got there 2021 all-purpose yards and his even included he had like 66 return yards that season so that's what got him over the hump also similarly the only tarhill that's ever had more rushing yards than Omarion's 1504 last season was Don mcau with 1720 in that 1970 season so I I legitimately think that o could eclip all of that and have the most allpurpose yards in a single season in Carolina history have the most rushing yards in a single season in Carolina history which oh by the way would mean he had two of the top three single season rushing uh seasons in Carolina program history that would be wildly insane but let me give you some rationale again because I I don't want to just like say this and then just like just because I think so omaran this year is going to be the focal point of this offense he's going to be a Bell cow and Carolina's going to rely on him and I know there are some very talented backs and while I would love to say I think I've even talked about this maybe sometime last week like or maybe this was in Discord we were talking about it I would love for o Marion to not have to go much over 20 carries a game because he's getting spelled by his backfield mates who can absolutely do it very talented backfield but I just just think because of how insanely good he is they going to be games when he gets closer to 25 or 30 carries and and that's just going to be the factor I I think some of what plays into it is how much does he get not in the Minnesota game but in those three games after that when Carolina is not playing um like power four Conference teams um so that that's a factor in it as well and and how far ahead does Carolina get meaning how many times does he have to all that kind of stuff uh will factor into that another factor that could bring it down is I think one of the reasons he had such a good season last year even though he wasn't the focal point Drake May was is because Drake May was the focal point it allowed more room for o to run wild will that be the same this year will there be enough in the passing game to take enough attention off of omaran to let him have the room to run another factor in that will the offensive line be able to do enough to clear the he doesn't need much space I'mma tell you that right now but will they be able to give him the space he does need in conjunction with will the passing game do enough it's the same kind of thing of like in basketball you in order for Armando Bott to be able to do what he needs to do in the paint he needs capable three-point Shooters around him it's like that kind of balance that has to happen um so again I he's going to be the Bela it it's just I truly truly believe that now in terms of like can he get 2,000 on the ground in FBS that has not happened not for North Carolina for the entire nation since 2019 that's the last time we had a 2,000 yard rusher on the ground there was three running backs in 2019 that did it chuba hubard JK Dobbins and Jonathan Taylor you heard those names right um and oh by the way Jonathan Taylor had also done it the season before back-to-back 2,000 yard rushing Seasons if you didn't remember and in 2018 he was the only player in the nation to do it so that's that's gonna be a wildly Elite list if Omarion can get on it um but another thing at least in terms of the all-purpose side of this that I didn't mention is you know a lot of the reports from Camp are that he's been working really really hard on his pass catching because he need he knows he needs to be a more complete back to be a a three down every down back at the next level because he's got that he's got the talent and so I think we will see more than that 222 receiving yards this year and that could help offset you know like let's say he could go up to 400 receiving yards that means just just quote unquote 1,600 rushing yards and he's there he's at 2,000 man so I I think I I really truly think he can do this of of the three B predictions I think this one is the most likely to happen would you agree or do you think one of the other two and again I want to hear your bold predictions well speaking of can the passing game help uh draw some of the attention away from omaran the quarterback battle rages on for North Carolina and uh it sounds like we might not even find out who won the battle even during the game on Thursday I'll explain why coming up in just a second right after I tell you about about 5H Hour Energy look y'all just about every day after lunch man I am feeling it it's not turkey is not trip to fan nothing like that it's just that afternoon L man and I need to pick me up and if you're like me and you feel that too good news you're not alone in fact research shows that more than 70% of us hit that wall after lunch well why not let a Five Hour Energy Shot help you leap over that wall instead of crashing into it like I usually do one of the things I've been doing is working on cutting sugar as I get older I'm 40 now and so I love that 5H Hour Energy has zero sugar but it's got a convenient portable size and is the perfect pickme up for getting stuff done the 5H Hour Energy website has flavors Galore watermelon tropical burst grape Berry and more why not go try them all and on the site you have even the option to build your own 12 or 254 pack you choose the flavors and then it's delivered right to your door just go to Five Hour Energy and get some 5H Hour Energy product today you can use my promo code locked on CFB to receive 20% off your order offer is not is only valid excuse me until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions and the code is no good on subscription orders go to Five Hour Energy that's the number five not spelled out.com today because of the nature of Carolina's game being on Thursday evening to kick off the season this week at Minnesota Coach mck Brown met with the media on Friday for his press conference and obviously the biggest question that everyone wants to know about leading up in I guess in addition to really no depth chart okay is the whole quarterback thing of it all which is funny because that plays into the depth chart thing as well interestingly I think because of that it sounded like from Max's comments that they were you know preparing to release the depth chart which would have let us all know about the quarterback situation then they're like no depth chart no quarterback answer yet and from Li I mean Max said so much about the quarterback situation in his press conference and it it was like just when I thought I had a handle on what he was meaning he would explain it a different way and then a different way to where you know was like he was even trying to to read people's minds of what they would think like oh they're planning to play two all season long and they're doing this here's my take away from it all you you can go watch his press conference it's you know always on YouTube you got all that but here's what I I truly believe because of how different these guys skill sets are Coach Brown legitimately doesn't know what to expect from his guys particularly in game one on the road so I think he wants to kind of take a wait and see approach with it at the same time report suggests that Max Johnson has been more consistent history not suggest tells us that Max Johnson has had more opportunities and more reps than Connor Harrell has and jacobe chrisell I guess for that matter if we want to keep him in the conversation so I I think part of it is that Coach Brown could could have some gamesmanship in this of like all right we're not rolling out depth charts so I'm not going to tell Minnesota who my quarterback is but I think legitimately this is an opportunity on the road to find out what both of these dudes are made of but at the same time it's not some throwaway game this is a solid opponent on their home field and success or failure in game one of the season in a lot of ways is going to set and shape the tone for the rest of the season even though it's a non-conference game and doesn't especially now in in the expansion playoff era doesn't win or lose you the entire season as it used to so I think that Carolina is going to try hard to win this game they're not just gonna be like oh let's keep this guy out there even though he's not performing well see see if we can get through it this is a game that Carolina needs to try and win so both are going to get a shot I think Max will get the first shot but whoever has the most success is going to be the one that they stick with and it might be some level of Equitable but wouldn't be surprised at all if it's not and then it might change after that that's the thing you got to get through this week but then in the weeks after as you get kind of some buy games not James Madison that that's a better team but I me we'll see how you handle them but all of that in weeks two and weeks three you have opportunities to really try some things and see which player best puts your team in a position to win and then that that gets you ready for week five when you go to Duke and the rest of the season being ACC because there all that nonon is early this year the whole rest of the smash is ACC so that that's where I'm at I think it'll be mostly Max Johnson I think he'll get the first series but we'll see how he does and probably I would guess if things are going normal we would see Connor harrold maybe third fourth series of the game so that's my thought and we'll see also some news came out that Carolina is bringing back helmet stickers uh which can be gained for a variety of reasons so that'll be fun to say I just always think that's a neat thing uh switching into a little bit of basketball we got just several tidbits here as we're walking through the show big congrats to Paxon woic he tweeted out that this weekend he had two life updates number one quote I completed my Master's Degree at the University of North Carolina and I'm Proud To Be An Alum of such a great University and two quote I also recently signed my first contract to play professional basketball and moved to Poland I'm excited for this eventure with a team uh like whose name I Isaac cannot me cannot pronounce I I tried and I was like I just not even going to try so anyway congrats to Paxon woic um I thought Ross Martin who you know used to write for inside Carolina he said it really well on Twitter this is how how to work the system on Scholarships in the transfer portal ivy league degree from brown one fun season in Chapel Hill lifelong connections with the Carolina basketball family a master's degree from North Carolina and then you go play abroad for a few years and travel the world I mean honestly bro you're doing your young adult life right and I'll add to this after all that if he has any desire to coach his dad is big- time name in the coaching Circle he was an assistant at Carolina and an assistant at Notre Dame has been the assistant for a while now at Michigan State in fact this year he's the associate head coach to Tom mizo and had a couple head coaching stops at Tulsa College of Charleston as well and so um he could follow Paxton could follow in his dad Doug's footsteps if so he wanted to so congrats Paxton really proud of you for that also we talked quarterback battles how about Drake May he's smed in one as well they played the commanders the Patriots did on Sunday night on NBC so that's pretty cool too bad there's no more Sam how because that would have been Sam how against Drake May um unfortunately jacobe brassette got hurt uh I think it was in the first series of the game at least early in the game so Drake has to come in leads a touchdown Drive they were third and 14 on their own eight and of course Drake May picks it up with his feet because that's what Drake May does a lot of the nation's like wow look at what he can do and we're like yeah we we know and you know what else we know he didn't slide of course he didn't slide at the end of it and all the nation's like why don't you slide and we're like we know he doesn't slide um but let a great TD drive hit a couple Crossing routes really nice had a um little dump off great I don't even remember who the back was that scored the touchdown but a nice run and individual play there and to be fair also in the drive Drake Drake missed a little dump off over a back's head um dropped a a snap from the center had a two-minute drill right before halftime where he did everything he needed to do it was his line that was messing him around had a couple of penalties he had a beautiful ball where he moved out of the pocket just before getting to the line of scrimmage through a dime for touchdown it was great um he he even completed a pass early in the second quarter where the center or left guard maybe it was I don't remember stepped on his shoe his shoe came off and he completed a p i mean Drake M come on what are we doing 13 of 20 125 yards one TD no interceptions third uh three rushes for 17 yards um understandably didn't play the second half because if Brett's hurt he's probably your starting quarterback so you don't want him getting injured as well and so we're going to have to watch the severity of Brett's injur injury it could mean Drake Powell being the Patriots opening day starter I again I kind of don't want him to I don't want him to get burned behind this Patriots offensive line we'll see what happens but uh uh Drake May great showing for himself on Sunday night all right quickly and then we'll get out of here weekend wrapup for the first time we have two teams who played this weekend we get to talk about and then it's just going to keep adding on as we get forward and forward both soccer teams were in action uh the women had won on Thursday night against Georgia and then beat a uh Arizona two to nothing Sunday at Doren field now 4 and0 on the season number five in the nation next up will host North Dakota on Thursday for Eastern on AC set network extra both of those goals by the way against Arizona were scored in the final 15 minutes of the game Tessa delose and Olivia Thomas great stuff late unfortunately for the men they could not pull out a late goal they didn't lose but they tied z00 to Cal Baptist reminder College shocker now has no overtime in the regular season so after 90 minutes that's it and that's all unfortunately for the guys this was despite a 25 to4 shots on goal Advantage just couldn't find the back of the net so the men are now 10 and one next up they also play on Thursday against FIU at dorren field after the ladies on acc Network extra at 7:30 so be on the lookout for that and of course also Thursday you know you're going to be watching the football game kicking off 30 minutes after that that on Fox I think this week a whole bunch set up for that we'll have Coach Rob and I tomorrow on the show Coach Kilby and I with another roster preview on Wednesday I think it might be Seth Trimble I can't remember off the top of my head Thursday game Day preview show with our guy Doris cersi that night Cersei why did I say cersi Doris Cersei that night we'll have postgame live reaction Friday wrap up all that good stuff and then it's just that football Rhythm now week after week after week if you want to make sure that you're in on that all the time go ahead and make sure you're subscribed to the show on video and audio if you haven't joined the lock on tels Discord Community man we would love to have you there it's free to join and the link is in the show notes come for the tar Hills stay for the community and a brand new opportunity for you that I want to share with you today it's called the locked on Tar Heels Insider program this is an opportunity for you to text me Isaac shade directly oneon-one and we can have conversation back and forth and also as an added bonus you get free access to all of my charts my stats my data my record my extensive record book that I keep my scholarship stuff everything that I have for the Tar Heels it's all on Google Drive and you get access to it so if you want to join that it's just $5 a month and that's a 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