The Tar Heels lost three wide receivers during the season to the transfer portal and earlier this evening they lost their first player at the position of the offseason to the portal.
As first reported by Tar Heel Illustrated earlier this evening, sophomore slot receiver Stephen Gosnell has entered the transfer portal after two seasons with the Tar Heel football program. In those two years, Gosnell played in 12 games, catching two passes for 11 yards, both of those coming here this past season. A majority of his snaps came in garbage time during those twelve games and he didn’t have much of an impact on special teams in his time at Carolina either. Gosnell, who’s brother Benji signed his LOI with Virginia Tech just a few weeks ago, will have three years of eligibility remaining.
Gosnell’s departure might means that the Tar Heels have lost four players from the wide receiving corps that began the season, but this move isn’t a devastating one by any means because of the depth that the team has in the slot. Sophomore star Josh Downs is coming off an amazing second season in Chapel Hill and will be hard to take reps from for as long as he is a part of this Tar Heel offense. Behind him, current true freshman Gavin Blackwell and incoming true freshman Tychaun Chapman will now battle it out for backup reps in the slot. While the depth on the outside might not be as strong as it once was, there is nothing to worry about here in the slot, even after this transfer.