The Tar Heels offseason got underway on Sunday following the conclusion of the season with the loss in the Orange Bowl to Texas A&M. Although it’s only been three days, there are already some major storylines that have come out, one of them being the two veteran defensive linemen that have entered the transfer portal in recent days.
Junior Xach Gill was the first to submit his name in the portal, doing so on and making it official via social media on Sunday evening. In his four years with the Tar Heels, Gill racked up 17 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss and 2.0 sacks while seeing action in 26 games. The former 3✮ defensive tackle was never able to crack the defensive line rotation with the Tar Heels, but hope to do so somewhere else with two years of eligibility remaining.
Sophomore Lancine Turay joined Gill in the portal on Tuesday morning according to a report from Inside Carolina’s Ross Martin. Turay was a part of the Tar Heels for each of the last three years and finishes his career without registering a tackle in his extremely limited playing time. With the COVID-19 rules in place, Turay, a former 3✮ defensive end from the 2018 class, will enter the portal with three years of eligibility remaining.
Losing both guys experience hurts a little, but this is a position where the Tar Heels have loads of depth for the next few seasons. The Tar Heels are not losing any starters on the defensive line due to graduation and every rotational player that played significant reps is expected to return next season, as is Kedrick Bingley-Jones, a talented member of this year’s true freshman class that was lost for the season to injury last spring. The group will also be adding plenty of talent this offseason in early enrollees Keeshawn Silver and Jahvaree Ritzie and late enrollee Trevion Stevenson. This is one position on this Tar Heel team where there were expected to be transfers and was built to sustain them without much issue.