Heel Tough Blog: Tar Heels Officially Lose Two WR With Starting Experience to Portal

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The Tar Heels defections to the transfer portal just keep rolling in and earlier this afternoon, the team lost two receivers with starting experience to the portal.

It started with multiple reports that wide receiver Gavin Blackwell, who was reportedly entering the transfer portal back in December but never did, is officially entering his name into the transfer portal. He will have one year of eligibility remaining wherever he eventually lands.

In his four seasons in Chapel Hill, Blackwell played in 30 games and caught 31 passes for 448 yards and a touchdown. He showed some nice promise as a redshirt freshman in 2022, posting a career-high and 18 catches for 239 yards and a touchdown and setting himself up to compete for a starting job in 2023. He had earned that starting job after shining in spring and fall camp, but lost it after a rough season opener and was never able to get it back, finishing the season with just nine catches for 166 yards. This offseason, he was relegated to a third-string on the initial depth chart and played in just four games, catching four passes for 43 yards.

That was followed by a report later in the evening from Tar Heel Illustrated that said sophomore wide receiver Christian Hamilton has entered the transfer portal. He will have three years of eligibility remaining wherever he eventually lands.

Hamilton, a former 4✮ recruit, played in 12 games during his two seasons in Chapel Hill, starting the first four games this past season at receiver. As a true freshman in 2023, he caught three passes for 28 yards while playing 34 snaps on offense and 6 on special teams. This past season he finished with seven receptions for 159 yards and a touchdown. While he did play 214 snaps on offense, he would have seen way more had he not suffered an upper body injury in the game against James Madison that caused him to give up his starting job. This spring, he was battling to try to regain that starting spot or, at the least, become a consistent part of the rotation at receiver that the young quarterbacks could throw to.

With these entries into the portal, the Tar Heels are going to field a unit in the fall that will be lacking a lot of game experience. It makes you wonder whether or not the team goes back into the portal to try to add that missing experience while they await a ruling on JJ Jones' lawsuit that he has filed seeking an extra year of eligibility.