Heel Tough Blog: Two More Kickers Enter The Portal

Nell Redmond- USA Today Sports

The Tar Heels portal entries just continue to pile in here on Wednesday night and one position that has been hit hard today has been placekicker. The day started with Lucas Osada declaring his intentions this afternoon to enter and has since been followed by two more scholarship guys entering their names as well.

The most significant of those two is junior Liam Boyd, who is back in the portal after transferring from Clemson a couple of years ago. In his two seasons in Chapel Hill, Boyd played in 13 games, with the majority of them coming last season. In 10 games in 2023, Boyd kicked off 66 times and sent 49 of them for touchbacks and also assisted on three tackles. This past year, he was set for a similar role, but suffered a season-ending lower body injury in the NC Central game, only allowing him to see action in three games. In those three games, he sent 13 of his 20 kickoffs for touchbacks and hit a 36-yard field goal in that game against NC Central, the first of his college career.

Along with him, senior DII transfer Jaffer Murphy entered his name into the transfer portal after transferring in back during the winter window. This past season with Lake Erie College (DII), Murphy was 17-17 on extra points, 13-21 on field goals with four of the makes coming from over 50 and one coming from 60 yards away. He kicked off 45 times and 28 of them went for a touchback. In Saturday’s ‘Practice Like a Pro’ event, Murphy attempted one field goal which he missed and sent his lone kickoff for a touchback.

With these departures, it seems clear that Michigan transfer Adam Samaha has beaten out the rest of this group despite it appearing that Boyd took the majority of the kicking reps on Saturday. Regardless, the team is getting a reinforcement in true freshman Guytano Bartolomeo in the fall, but it might be smart to add another body or two to this room before this roster is complete this offseason.