After two walk-ons were the only players to enter the portal yesterday, the Tar Heels have their fifth scholarship player that has entered the portal as of this afternoon.
Just one year after transferring into Carolina, graduate kicker Ryan Coe has re-entered his name into the transfer portal. The former Cincinnati and Delaware kicker will have one year of eligibility remaining wherever he lands.
Coe played in just two games this season, hitting all four of his extra points and his lone field goal against South Carolina, before missing a crucial field goal against Appalachian State that could have won them the game in regulation. He listed to with a lower-body injury just before the next week’s game with Minnesota where Noah Burnette would take over the starting placekicking job and never give it back. He was never able to get back on the field even as the kickoff specialist, a role that he also handled in the first two games of the year. Coe finishes his Tar Heel career 8-8 on extra points and 3-4 on field goals.
His departure makes a lot of sense with the year that Burnette was able to put together. After being removed from the starting job after the season last year, he hit 18 of his 19 field goal attempts, the highest percentage of any kicker in the ACC, on his way to second team all-conference honors. Liam Boyd took over the kickoff specialist role and had a solid year for himself, one that he can definitely build on next year. The team also has sophomore Todd Pledger who is expected to be back.