For the second time today, the Tar Heels have lost a player to the transfer portal, this time on the defensive side of the football.
In a social media post by JGP Visuals, it was revealed that sophomore linebacker Deuce Caldwell will enter his name into the portal. Caldwell will have two years of eligibility remaining wherever he lands.
Caldwell played in 25 of the 26 games in the last two seasons after redshirting in his first season. The majority of his time on the field came on special teams where he played 218 snaps over the last two years. Defensively, he saw just 21 snaps in the two years with his most significant action coming in last year's blowout win over the Virginia Tech Hokies. Caldwell finishes his Tar Heel career with eight total tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack.
His departure makes some sense with the amount of linebackers that the team has added to the room in the last two recruiting classes behind the main contributors. True freshman Amare Campbell looks to be the player in line to take over the starting job left behind by Cedric Gray alongside Power Echols and Sebastian Cheeks will get the first crack at the primary backup job. Fellow true freshmen Caleb LaVallee and Michael Short and the trio of Ashton Woods, Evan Bennett and Crews Law will all be looking to push Cheeks and potentially earn that backup role or give the team a couple of options, which would make rotating easier. This group should also be able to produce someone that can fill his role on special teams.