In the midst of an action-packed Tuesday around Tar Heel football, the team’s official roster for the 2022 season was released with official numbers for the summer enrollees being revealed and a few other noteworthy things worth mentioning. Here is a look at the most important tidbits from the release of the 2022 roster.
Two Tar Heels Medically Retire
The biggest news to come out of the roster reveal is the medical retirements of Ethan West and Wisdom Asaboro. West never saw a single defensive snap in his career in Chapel Hill due to injuries that left him active for just two games in his two seasons on campus. For Asaboro, who reclassified and graduated as a junior from high school in the 2019 class, he struggled to find his side of the ball when he came to campus, switching over from the defensive line to the offensive line before last season. He did not play a single snap in 2021, but did see some action in the spring game this year at left tackle. Both guys will remain on scholarship to finish their education, but will no longer be a part of the football program on the field or count against the Tar Heels in terms of scholarship numbers. They join offensive linemen Wyatt Tunall and Trey Zimmerman who medically retired at the start of fall camp who have stepped away from the playing field completely this offseason.
Lejond Cavazos and Keeshawn Silver Listed Under Same Number
This was one thing that got pointed out to me by someone on social media and it is definitely interesting. With both guys presumably setting up for a fall camp where they will challenge for at least rotational reps on the defensive side of the ball, one would imagine someone between the two will be wearing a different number by the conclusion of fall camp. The oddest part of it all right now, though, is that no one seems to have an explanation. Per NCAA rules, players with the same number can not be on the field on the same down for one particular team and only two players are allowed to wear the same number on one roster.
Nineteen New Walk-On’s Listed on Active Roster
This seems like an unusually high number of walk-on’s for the team, especially considering only six of them were confirmed preferred walk-on’s. The position groups bolstered the most by the incoming walk-on class are wide receiver and defensive back where the team adds four players to the room, while the defensive line and linebackers will add three.