Heel Tough Blog: Stock Report- East Tennessee State
The Tar Heels handled business on Saturday in Chapel Hill against East Tennessee State when they won 35-3 over Will Healy’s crew. While it may not have been the biggest margin of defeat that we have seen from the program against an FCS program, there were a lot of promising performances across the board. Here is a look at who’s trending up and who’s trending down heading into the game in Death Valley against Clemson.
⇧Jelani Thurman
Thurman followed a breakout performance in Dublin with another strong showing on Saturday. He was the Tar Heels' leading receiver in the game, catching all four of his targets for 71 yards and finding the end zone on a 24-yard catch-and-run, which opened the scoring in the first quarter. While he had a nice day catching the ball, he was even better as a run blocker. He had a couple of massive blocks on some big runs for the team in the first half and graded out as the best run blocker according to Pro Football Focus. After two games, Thurman is the team’s leading receiver and continues to maul dudes in the run game, making him the biggest acquisition that the team made in the portal this offseason.
⇧Jaylen Harvey
With Melkart Abou Jaoude sidelined with a hand injury, the rest of the edge rushers were challenged to step up and Harvey did just that. In the preseason, head coach Bill Belichick talked about Harvey’s quick release off the line of scrimmage and that was on display on Saturday, leading to two sacks and important pressure on the interception that East Tennessee State threw on their first offensive possession. He finished the day with four total tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and four total quarterback pressures, giving him a combined seven pressures through the first two games of the season. He looks like he is exactly what the team was searching for opposite of Abou Jaoude and might even provide the consistency that the spot lacked a year ago.
⇧Xavier Lewis
Lewis was the star of the game in Ireland and followed that up with a strong performance in the home opener. While the stats weren’t nearly as gaudy, he still finished with five total tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and four total quarterback pressures in another productive day. Lewis continues to show how much he has improved this offseason as a run defender and is providing the interior pressure that the team didn’t really get last season all as a former walk-on.
⇧Peyton Seelmann
Seelmann struggled in the season opener against TCU, but rebounded nicely on Saturday. In 31 snaps, Seelmann finished with a team-high ten total tackles, including seven solo tackles, and forced a fumble. He graded out as the team’s top run defender according to PFF and he was better in coverage, despite allowing a long catch to ETSU tight end Charlie Browder. This was a strong rebound effort from him that will hopefully carry over in the trip to Clemson.
⇧Offensive Line
The biggest surprise of Week 1 built on their performance against a group you wanted them to dominate. After a bit of a mediocre performance in run blocking against TCU, the room had a strong performance with all but one player who played 16 snaps or more grading out with a 60.0 or better according to PFF. In pass protection, the group was even better than they were in the opener, allowing just one sack and four total quarterback pressures. Saturday will tell us a lot about where this unit is, but there is plenty of reason to be optimistic heading into.
⇧Cristian Alvarez
Alvarez, a true freshman who enrolled with the team back in the summer, was the biggest story on the offensive line on Saturday afternoon. After being inserted into the game at right guard in the middle of the first quarter, he would play 39 snaps and record some promising grades according to PFF while helping the offense consistently move the ball down the field. He finished the day with a 62.7 run block grade, an 83.6 pass block grade and a 65.9 overall grade. It’s not clear whether the team plans to rotate him in at right guard with Aidan Banfield moving forward, but he looked good enough in this game to be given the chance if something happens to Banfield.
⇧Running Back Room
This room was pretty quiet in the opener, but had a big day on Saturday. Ben Hall led the way carrying the ball four times for 49 yards and catching two passes for 25 yards and a touchdown. Jaylen McGill built off of his flashes in Dublin with 40 yards on five carries and 20 yards receiving on his lone catch. The standout, though, was Demon June who carried the ball seven times for 33 yards and found the end zone three times on the ground. The hope is that this is something that can this group can build on moving forward starting with this week’s game at Clemson.
⇧Billy Edwards Jr.
Edwards had a really solid showing in the opener and took another step in this game. He completed 15 of his 20 pass attempts for 244 yards and two touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over in the second straight game. There were a few throws where you saw the inaccuracy pop up, but it felt like this was a step forward for him from what we saw in Dublin. He has more than proved why he was given the nod to start the season and he certainly gives the Tar Heels a chance to win the game this Saturday at Clemson.
⇧C.J. Sadler
While there was some disappointing off-the-field news that was revealed this week about Sadler, he had a strong performance on Saturday in this game. He started the day with a drop, but caught his final three targets for 66 yards, displaying the yards after catch ability that the team missed so badly a year ago. The hope is that he can build off of this performance whenever he returns to the field.
⇧Greg Smith
The Tar Heels were expecting Smith to be one of the stars of this defense in 2026 and on Saturday he showed you that he is definitely capable of being that. While he may have only finished the day with three total tackles, he made his impact felt by taking the football away twice. He pulled down his first interception of the season on a diving play in the first quarter before recovering a fumble to set the tone in the third quarter. This performance followed a very solid showing in the opener and continues to validate the hype that he received in the preseason.
⇧Jonathan Agumadu
Agumadu saw some significant snaps on Saturday despite Seelmann’s strong performance and put together another good showing. He finished second on the team with six total tackles and brought a level of physicality that we love to see. At this point, it’s safe to say that Agumadu will be rotating in to play some important snaps because of how well he is playing to start the season.
⇧Leroy Jackson
Jackson is another defensive lineman that put together a nice performance on Saturday. He finished with five total tackles, tied for the most amongst defensive linemen for the Tar Heels, and had two total quarterback pressures. After last season's breakout, the hope was that he would take the next step this season and he has seemed to do that in the first two games of the year.
⇧JoJo Troupe
We saw a lot of depth pieces on the field on Saturday and Troupe was the most impressive on the offensive side of the ball. He carried the ball five times for 20 yards, highlighted by a 14-yard run on the final offensive drive of the game for the Tar Heels. Troupe has found a role as a kick returner for the team and with this performance, he may now be the guy that receives snaps if there is an injury in the running back room this year.
⇧Jamarrion Gordon
There were a few depth guys that made an impact in the 4th quarter on Saturday, but Gordon was the best of the group. He finished with three total tackles, the most of anyone that played less than 30 snaps. He will likely remain buried on the depth chart, but this is a nice moment for him that proves there is potential there.
⇩Aeron Burrell
The biggest concern right now about this Tar Heel team has to be the kicking game. While Burrell had a better day punting, he missed his only field goal attempt of the day, a 48-yarder in the 4th quarter. This reinforces the concern that his accuracy is questionable, especially from beyond 40 yards.
⇩Timir Hickman-Collins
Hickman-Collins got a lot of playing time on Saturday and had his ups and downs. While he finished with three total tackles, he missed two others that will need to be made in important situations. If he wants to see more playing time this year, he has to be more reliable as a tackler.
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