Where have today’s North Carolina Tar Heels been hiding throughout college football season?

For the second-consecutive week, UNC delivered a dominant, well-rounded performance that led it to victory. This time, it came against a preseason ACC Championship pick in Florida State, with North Carolina never trailing after the second quarter in a 35-11 win.

It wouldn’t be a Tar Heels victory without a big game from star running back Omarion Hampton, who scored all FIVE of UNC’s touchdowns and is now seven on the program’s career rushing yards list.

Hampton recorded four on the ground: his first giving North Carolina a 6-3, second-quarter lead it never relinquished, his second extending the Tar Heels’ lead to 13-3 two minutes before halftime, his third a 31-yard burst to open UNC’s second-half scoring (3:12 into the third quarter), then his fourth coming on fourth down with 2:50 left in the third quarter.

If you thought Hampton only contributed on the ground, think again. Hampton added North Carolina’s fifth and final touchdown, too, catching a third-down shovel pass from Jacolby Criswell and taking it 49 yards into the end zone. At that point, UNC led 35-11 three minutes into the fourth quarter.

It was the Tar Heels’ defense, though, that made an initial impact on Saturday afternoon.

North Carolina generated SEVEN sacks against Seminoles quarterbacks Brock Glenn and Luke Kromenhoek, with five coming in the first half alone. UNC held FSU to under 100 first-half yards, after doing so the previous week at Virginia, then later ended the game with just 201 total yards allowed.

The Tar Heels won’t be going to the College Football Playoff this year, but they’re suddenly back in bowl game contention after a second-straight convincing win.

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For the second-straight day, the North Carolina Tar Heels’ football program has lost a tight end commit in the 2025 class. Not even 24 hours after Logan Farrell flipped his commitment from UNC to Illinois, fellow tight end Marshall Pritchett is also decommitting.

And Pritchett is heading to the SEC.

After visiting Alabama and being in contact with Crimson Tide coaches, the four-star tight end announced his flip on social media Tuesday afternoon, giving UNC a big loss to their class. The 6-foot-5, 211-pound Georgia native is now a four-star Alabama commit, with Bryan Ellis leading the recruitment.

There has been smoke around a potential flip for the Crimson Tide for weeks now and with the uncertainty of the program at head coach for UNC, those rumors picked up. It also didn’t help that UNC has lost four-straight games and is reeling this season.

 

Pritchett is ranked No. 222 nationally, the No. 15 tight end and No.34 player in the state of Georgia per the 247Sports recruiting rankings. With his flip to Alabama, UNC now has 12 commitments and the 2025 class is ranked 60th nationally.

With uncertainty for the future of the program, it will be interesting to see if other players are being pursued to decommit and look elsewhere.