Heel Tough Blog: Gio Lopez Injury Update Post-UCF

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When Gio Lopez went down on Saturday, it appeared that he may have suffered a serious injury, but according to a report this morning from On3 Sports, that may not necessarily be the case.

According to national college football insider Pete Nakos, the injury that Lopez suffered on Saturday is not a season-ending injury. He was carted off the field in the game against UCF in the third quarter after being tackled awkwardly on a 4th & 1 conversion.

Nakos says that sources indicate Lopez has begun his rehab, but a timetable for his return has not been established yet. The sources have also said they cannot rule out a return in early October, which could mean that he’ll be ready for the Clemson game.

Through the first four games of the season, Lopez has completed 62.7% of his passes for 430 yards and a 3-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio and ran for 69 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries. In the two games against power conference competition, he has completed 15 of his 24 passes for 156 yards and posted a 0-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio and fumbled once.

With his struggles through the first four weeks of the season, this Tar Heel staff has to consider benching him regardless of his injury status. It’s very obvious at this point that Lopez is overwhelmed in this system and is a bad fit for what Freddie Kitchens and Bill Belichick want this offense to be. The staff needs to roll with Johnson for the game against Clemson so they can actually evaluate the rest of this offense, something they haven’t been able to fairly do in the first four weeks of the season.