Heel Tough Blog: 2026 Position Previews- DL

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With official visits done for the summer, it is time to turn our attention back to the 2026 team. We’ll do so by giving you our in-depth position previews for this season where we do a deep dive on each position room as we wait for fall camp to start. We continue by shifting over to the defensive side of the football where we’ll take a look at a unit that provides some nice promise for this upcoming season, the defensive line.

Everything in this room begins with one of the nation’s leading sack artists from a year ago, senior Melkart Abou Jaoude. Last year, in 646 snaps a year ago, Abou Jaoude tallied 47 total tackles, 12.0 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks and 42 total quarterback pressures on his way to earning second team All-ACC honors. Taking the next step for him means finding a little bit more consistency after 8.5 tackles for loss and 8.0 sacks came in a three-game stretch. If he can be more consistently productive and reach the double-digit tackle for loss and double-digit sack numbers that he hit last year, he could earn first team All-ACC honors and this defense could have a more reliable year as a whole.

In order to be more reliable, the team will also need to replace the production lost from the departure of Tyler Thompson to the transfer portal. There is a battle currently underway here, but Richmond transfer Donovan Hoilette is the favorite heading into fall camp to win the job. This past season with the Spiders, Hoilette finished with 48 total tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss, 9.0 sacks and 44 quarterback hurries on his way to earning first team All-Patriot honors. The concern is about how he will adjust to the Power 4 level of football after he struggled to make a major impact in the game against the Tar Heels last year, but the production overall from last year is hard to completely overlook. At the least, he will hope to earn the starting role here, even if it means splitting snaps with the challenger here.

Penn State transfer Jaylen Harvey is the guy that will be pushing him for the starting role. Harvey entered the transfer portal after playing 159 snaps a year ago where he collected eight total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack and nine total quarterback pressures. In order to be a part of the rotation this season, the former 4✮ prospect needs to take a major step forward and that is exactly what the staff is expecting he will do. The hope is that we’ll hear more about him than we did in the spring when the team begins fall camp.

In the middle, the team returns two of its four major contributors from last year and they are expected to start this season. Sophomore Leroy Jackson, who started all but one game, should see an expanded role at least early in the season after being one of the breakout players for last year’s squad. In 368 snaps a year ago, Jackson racked up 37 total tackles and three total quarterback pressures, but failed to tally a single tackle for loss. The Tar Heels will need him to win more consistently off the line of scrimmage and find his way into the backfield to make some plays this year, but he is a nice, steadying force to have back in the middle.

Alongside him will be senior Isaiah Johnson, who will provide a little more of the pass rushing presence in the middle. Johnson, who started three games for the team a year ago, collected 40 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and seven total quarterback pressures in 330 snaps. With a year of experience in the system and more snaps expected this season, the staff should be hoping he can expand upon those numbers this upcoming season.

Finding rotational pieces here is going to be an important task for this team in fall camp. Florida transfer Tarvorise Brown seems like the best bet to be a rotation piece as we sit right now. While he may not have played many snaps in his time in Gainesville, he has impressive measurables at 6’7, 296 lbs. and there is a reason why he landed at the Power 4 level out of the JUCO ranks, it’s just a matter of whether it shows up here that will determine how much playing time he gets.

Another guy who may factor into the rotation at defensive tackle, especially early in the season is sophomore Xavier Lewis. While he might be undersized at 6’0, 250 lbs., he was still effective as a pass rusher in the 130 pass rush reps that he played, registering eight total tackles, 0.5 a tackle for loss, 0.5 a sack and 15 total quarterback pressures. If he can produce at that rate again this season, he could reassume that role as the pass rushing specialist.

Four true freshmen will be battling for those backup reps at defensive tackle, as well. Viliami Moala and Trashawn Ruffin are the two guys that stuck out in the spring according to reports because of their size and the hope is that the two will be able to adjust technically to this level to be able to factor in this season. David Jackson III also received some promising reviews in the spring and could challenge for reps if he builds off of that in the spring. Vodney Cleveland is another name to know after how highly-rated he was coming out of high school.

At edge rusher, the only other challenger for reps appears to be sophomore Joseph Mupoyi. Last year, in 124 snaps, Mupoyi finished with seven total tackles and four total quarterback pressures across nine games. The hope is that he can take a step forward this season with another year in the system, because if not the team could look elsewhere to fill the reps that will be needed behind Abou Jaoude, Hoilette and Harvey.

Behind Mupoyi, there are some deeper depth options that will be pushing to become more than that. Sophomore Daniel Anderson on played 21 defensive snaps a year ago, but he was a key contributor on special teams (210 snaps) and has a year in the system under his belt. True freshmen Zavion Griffin-Haynes and Ashton Blatt are worth keeping an eye on to provide some challenge to Mupoyi and Anderson, while redshirt freshman Emmanuel Nwaiwu will be more of the deeper depth in this room than anything.

At defensive tackle, the deeper depth consists of redshirt freshmen Trey Giddens and Nicco Maggio and true freshman Jimmy-Phrisco Alo-Suliafu, who appears like he will be more of a tweener than anything this year at his size.

Projected Depth Chart:

EDGE

# 9 Melkart Abou Jaoude, Sr.

#25 Joseph Mupoyi, Jr.

#92 Jimmy-Phrisco Alo-Suliafu, Fr.

#89 Emmanuel Nwaiwu, RFr.

NT

# 0 Isaiah Johnson, Sr.

#14 Tarvorise Brown, Jr.

#56 Viliami Moala, Fr.

#93 Trashawn Ruffin, Fr.

DT

#91 Leroy Jackson, So.

#90 Xavier Lewis, So.

#94 David Jackson III, Fr.

#96 Nicco Maggio, RFr.

#97 Trey Giddens, RFr.

EDGE

# 5 Donovan Hoilette Jr., Gr.

#11 Jaylen Harvey, So.

#95 Daniel Anderson, So.

#35 Ashton Blatt, Fr.

#29 Zavion Griffin-Haynes, Fr.