The praise keeps coming for Carolina football, all with irony dripping.

Three major stories came out Wednesday, pumping up the Tar Heels for a 2020 season that very much still hangs in the balance.

Larry Brown Sports listed the five programs to watch when and if college football takes the field. No. 5 is Ole Miss and the latest Lane Kiffin resurrection. No. 4 is Tennessee and the Vols’ unexpected recruiting haul. No. 3 is Arizona State and sentimental favorite coach Herm Edwards. No. 2 is Louisville with Scott Satterfield’s second stint.

No. 1 is Carolina and Mack Brown’s continued rebirth, featuring starters and stars returning on both sides of the ball, depth of an incoming recruiting class and promise of a top-five class right behind them. So, yes, the Tar Heels are the No. 1 team to watch, if we indeed get a chance to watch them.

The second story comes from Athlon’s All-American picks, which lists Carolina quarterback Sam Howell as a third-teamer. That is significant because of great quarterbacks coming back all over college football and Brown’s admitted attempts to dumb down the expectations for his recording-breaking sophomore; taking the pressure off the kid with the golden arm could help No. 7 lead UNC to nine or 10 wins, perfectly positioning him as a junior to be the Heisman Trophy favorite for a true national championship contender in 2021.

The recognition we all want to shout from the mountain tops is the third national story, Street & Smith’s naming of Chazz Surratt as a first-team All-American linebacker. Believe me, there is no more heartwarming tale in all of sports, considering where Surratt two years ago – a quarterback who couldn’t cut it in major college football being given another chance on defense. After miraculously turning into an All-ACC linebacker, Surratt is now not only a preseason All-American, but a projected first-round NFL draft pick.

Isn’t the irony of the season both delicious and dreadful all at the same time? Please, dear Lord, let there be games to play.

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: Bailing Out
Roy Williams probably had reasons for the soft statements. Carolina fans reacted strongly to the video of a team party after the win over Duke. Only Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe were in the video, but a statement from players and managers said it was supposed to be a closed event that other students and […]
Chansky's Notebook: Please, Go In!
UNC men's basketball faces what is an early season must-win at Georgia Tech. Art Chansky says a look at the statistics is painful, but not terminal.
Chansky's Notebook: Leaky Steps Up
Dean Smith used to say he’ll be happy with a one-point win. The legendary UNC basketball coach struggled spiritually between playing well according to his teachings, regardless of outcome, and winning no matter how poorly you play. Since his job was to win and he was so competitive, he chose the latter. If he was […]
Chansky's Notebook: Rock(et) Star
Ben Kiernan was UNC’s MVP of the Notre Dame game. When Mack Brown went over the 31-17 loss, he gave mixed reviews to the two main branches of his Tar Heels’ play. He said the offense was good in the first half and then “went dead” in a scoreless second half. He praised the Tar […]
Chansky's Notebook: Goals and Ambitions
Garrison Brooks has both opportunity and pressure. On paper, the ACC looks as weak as it has been in some time due to widespread losses to graduation and early departures to the NBA, and no sure-shot superstars in the incoming recruiting classes. A beneficiary of this development is Brooks, the Carolina senior who was second-team All-ACC last year and earned the league’s […]
Chansky's Notebook: A COVID Debate
Clemson was livid that Florida State wouldn’t play the game. Let’s be lawyers, and make a case for each of the teams that did not play its scheduled game over the weekend. Clemson had traveled to Florida State when it learned a player with mild symptoms who had practiced with the team all week tested […]
Chansky's Notebook: Draft Dodgers
Carolina and Duke players have lost ground in the NBA draft. Like everything else with sports in the COVID era, the NBA draft goes off tonight after being postponed for five months. And if you look at the various mock draft boards, certain things jump off your screen. First of all, about half the names […]
Chansky's Notebook: A Two-Thirds Bet?
What if Phil Mickelson and Mack Brown amended their bet? With the Masters being moved back to this weekend due to COVID, perhaps the three-time champion should revisit the fun bet he made with Carolina’s football coach back in 2003. The famed lefthander was still seeking his first Green Jacket when he partnered with the Texas football coach at the […]
Chansky's Notebook: Kudos To Carolina
UNC teams did a commendable job beating the odds. Who among us thought the ACC would be playing football and other fall sports last summer? With the pandemic upon us and the medical experts still learning, the seasons looked like a long shot. While other conferences pumped the breaks and/or called off football, the ACC […]
Chansky's Notebook: Extra Motivation
Carolina’s schedule could be working to its advantage. When the COVID-revised list of games came out, it looked troublesome for the Tar Heels with Virginia Tech and Florida State basically bookending Notre Dame and Miami with four rivalry games in a row right in the middle. Coaches usually don’t like that because it takes a […]
›