North Carolina’s football team needs a big turnaround season this year, but they’re not off to the best of starts.
The Tar Heels announced that 13 players have been suspended for selling their team-issued special edition Nike Jordan shoes. The violation was self-reported by the school to the NCAA.
Nine players are being suspended four games for the violation; two (Greg Ross and Tre Shaw) will miss two games; and two (Jack Davidson and Jonah Melton) will miss one game.
The players suspended four games include Chazz Surratt, Malik Carney, Brian Anderson, Beau Corrales, Tomon Fox, Tyrone Hopper, Quiron Johnson, Malik Robinson and Jordan Tucker. Because many of the players play the same position, some of the suspensions will be staggered that way the team’s depth chart isn’t in too terrible shape.
Here’s how much each of the players played last year, to give you an idea of what the team will be missing:
Here are 2017 stats and 2017 games played/started, for all 13 players suspended by UNC today.
Four games without a possible starting QB (Surratt) and a top DE(Carney) stand out. In terms of overall team impact, it's more a loss of depth than bona fide starters: pic.twitter.com/eXb9cv0lQd
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) August 6, 2018
Surratt started most of the team’s games at quarterback last year, but he may lose the starting job to Nathan Elliott due to his suspension.
North Carolina went 3-9 last year — by far their worst finish under Larry Fedora.
