When the report appeared on your timeline today that Brandon Fritts had suffered a knee injury, you may have thought someone had simply retweeted a tweet from last spring. However, as a release from the school stated, the senior, who received a sixth season of eligibility this offseason, tore his right ACL in Thursday morning’s third spring practice. An MRI on Friday morning revealed the tear.
Fritts will miss the remainder of spring camp, but is hoping for a fall return after last seasons left knee injury cost him the entirety of the 2018 season. The school says that Fritts will be re-evaluated following spring camp to see if he will be able to return when fall camp opens in August.
“I feel terrible for Brandon, but he’s a tough young man and he’ll work really hard during the rehab process,” said head coach Mack Brown. “He’s been through this before, so that may help him as he navigates the next few months.” Fritts was in good spirits on Friday and is hoping to be back for fall. “I made a commitment to be at North Carolina because I wanted to play with my teammates and this coaching staff, and I’m going to work to try and make that a possibility. I’ve been through the process so I know what to expect.”
Fritts was set to compete for the starting tight end job after flirting with the option of transferring earlier this offseason. In the first four seasons of his career, Fritts caught 47 passes for 439 yards and nine touchdowns.
With him on the shelf, the battle for starting reps at tight end will likely be spread between the two seniors who shared the bulk of the reps a year ago in Carl Tucker and Jake Bargas, while Noah Turner and Garrett Walston will continue to battle for reps behind them.