Heel Tough Blog: Projected Depth Chart for Opener vs. TCU

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The Tar Heels open the season on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland against the TCU Horned Frogs as they look to avenge last year’s blowout loss and get an important 2026 season off to a fast start. Just like last year, it appears that Bill Belichick will not release a depth chart prior to kickoff, so we’re going to take our best shot at predicting what things will look like on game day. Here’s our projected two deep for Saturday’s tilt.

Offense

QB

# 9 Billy Edwards Jr., Gr.

# 8 Miles O’Neill, So.

RB

# 7 Benjamin Hall, Jr.

# 0 Demon June, So.

WR-Z

# 1 Jordan Shipp, Jr.

#11 Nathan Leacock, Jr.

WR-X

# 4 Mason Humphrey, Sr.

#83 Carnell Warren, Fr.

WR-SL

# 2 Trech Kekahuna, Jr.

#14 C.J. Sadler, Fr.

TE

#45 Jelani Thurman, Jr.

#87 Carson Sneed, Fr.

LT

#66 Jordan Hall, Jr.

#77 Trey Blue, RFr.

LG

#75 Andrew Threatt, Sr.

#54 Jonah Rodriguez, Jr.

C

#56 Christo Kelly, Gr.

#57 Will Conroy, Fr.

RG

#68 Aidan Banfield, Jr.

#70 Byron Nelson, RFr.

RT

#71 Jacqawn McRoy, So.

#72 Eidan Buchanan, So.

Defense

RUSH

# 9 Melkart Abou Jaoude, Sr.

# 5 Donovan Hoilette Jr., Gr.

NT

# 0 Isaiah Johnson, Sr.

#96 Nicco Maggio, RFr.

DT

#91 Leroy Jackson, So.

#97 Trey Giddens, RFr.

DT/DE

#90 Xavier Lewis, So.

#89 Emmanuel Nwaiwu, RFr.

JACK

#11 Jaylen Harvey, So.

#12 Calvin Thomas, Fr.

MLB

#15 Derek McDonald, Gr.

# 8 Jonathan Agumadu, So.

WLB

#10 Peyton Seelmann, Jr.

#54 Timir Hickman-Collins, So.

BCB

#18 Jaiden Patterson, Jr.

#21 Kenton Dopson III, Fr.

FCB

# 6 Tre Miller, Jr.

# 4 Jalon Thompson, Jr.

NB

# 2 Kaleb Cost, Sr.

# 3 Ade Willie, Sr.

FS

# 7 Peyton Waters, So.

#16 Coleman Bryson, Sr.

BS

# 1 Greg Smith, So.

#24 Javion Butts, RFr.

Special Teams

PK

#92 Aeron Burrell, Jr.

#97 David Green, Fr.

P

#93 Jacob Horvath, Jr.

#91 Adam McCann-Gibbs, Fr.

LS

#48 Gannon Burt, Jr.

#40 Roman Wazni, Fr.

H

#93 Jacob Horvath, Jr.

#91 Adam McCann-Gibbs, Fr.

KR

#27 Jaylen McGill, So.

#24 Jaden Jefferson, Fr.

PR

# 2 Trech Kekahuna, Jr.

#24 Jaden Jefferson, Fr.