It’s game week in Chapel Hill and that means that Mack Brown and his staff were meeting with the media on Monday as part of their game week activities. Just before Brown’s media availability, the program announced that one of the team’s tight ends was out for the season.
True freshman Julien Randolph will miss the entirety of 2023 after suffering a lower-body injury. Randolph arrived on campus back in the summer and was competing for the fourth tight end spot with redshirt freshman walk-on Deems May III, the son of former Tar Heel tight end Deems May.
Randolph was a 3✮ recruit in this past class according to 247Sports Composite player rankings. Last year, in his senior season at Independence High School in Ashburn, VA, he hauled in 30 passes for 733 yards and nine touchdowns. He also had 38 tackles, seven tackles for loss and four sacks on the defensive side of the football.
This injury will have absolutely no effect on this 2023 Tar Heel team with the trio that will once again control the reps there this season. It does hurt a bit for the future, though, as this won’t allow him to get those valuable practice reps that he would have gotten and will limit him in the weight room as he looks to become a more well-rounded player. The hope is that he can be back next year for the start of spring camp.