CHAPEL HILL — In commending one of the North Carolina football team’s most improved players during preseason practices, coach Mack Brown sounded as if he might be describing a high-profile receiver with an NFL future, not one who totaled four catches last season.
“He’s big, he’s pretty,” Brown said this week, “he can catch, he can run.”
So senior Antoine Green is looking the part as the No. 10 Tar Heels work toward their Sept. 3 opener at Virginia Tech. Whether he and other similarly lesser-recognized teammates can emerge as consistent factors could determine how far this season of high expectations progresses.
North Carolina possesses headlining power in star quarterback Sam Howell, potential breakout weapons in receiver Josh Downs and running back Ty Chandler, all-conference material in linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel, and shutdown confidence in cornerback Tony Grimes.
Their names are known commodities among the Tar Heels, and sure to be highlighted on opponents’ scouting reports. Further down those pages, perhaps overlooked, are players such as Green who might prove to be key contributors this season.
Here we’re taking stock of five possibly underrated players to watch for North Carolina. We’ll start on offense and move our way to the defensive side.
Caleb Hood
Maybe the surprise of training camp, the true freshman Hood has climbed into position to be North Carolina’s second option at running back, behind the starter Chandler.
Hood mostly played quarterback in high school at Richmond County, where he accounted for 86 touchdowns (59 passing and 27 rushing) across his final three seasons. At least 11 other members of the Tar Heels’ 2021 recruiting class were rated higher on national signing day than the three-star prospect Hood.
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Powerfully built at 5-foot-11 and 230 pounds, he’s the son of former North Carolina defensive back Errol Hood, a three-year starter for the Tar Heels from 1998-2001.
“I’m super impressed with him,” Howell said of the younger Hood. “Early on, I probably didn’t think he had a chance to play any meaningful snaps this year, and I think I’ve completely changed my mind now in terms of playing time. I feel really good about Caleb.”
Antoine Green
The senior wideout has played in 26 games during the last three seasons and hauled in three touchdown passes from Howell, including a 68-yarder at Virginia Tech and a 50-yarder against Virginia. Both of those explosive scores were delivered in 2019.
Green started in the Orange Bowl in January and figures to be a first-stringer to begin this season, as the rebuilding receiver group led by Downs must fill a considerable void left by former standouts Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome, who have moved on to the NFL.
Green’s size at 6-2 and 205 pounds and potential drew praise from Brown this week.
“He’s got so much ability,” Brown said. “We’ve always just said, ‘Come on, man, give us some production here.’ And he’s never been very confident. And I’m just seeing that confidence grow.”
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Kaimon Rucker
North Carolina has increased depth for coordinator Jay Bateman to deploy on defense, and the outside linebacker position, where the sophomore Rucker is in the mix, offers a prime example.
Sixth-year seniors Tomon Fox and Tyrone Hopper provide veteran presence and stabilizing force there, while sophomore Desmond Evans is a physical specimen with one of the most promising futures on the team.
The 6-1, 260-pound Rucker played in 10 games last season as a true freshman and showed up in particular against Syracuse (five tackles), Wake Forest (four tackles), Duke (three tackles), and Western Carolina (seven tackles, two stops for losses).
“I’d say one of my biggest strengths is pass rushing,” Rucker said. “They’re going to put me in a lot of situations to where if we need some guys to get to the quarterback, I’m going to be that guy.”
Eugene Asante
The junior Asante never would be confused as an undervalued asset among the Tar Heels. But as Brown has discussed Gemmel’s leadership skills in mentoring true freshman linebackers Power Echols and RaRa Dillworth, it has occurred to him that Asante isn’t exactly overflowing with experience at the position, either.
“He’s got really young linebackers when you think about it, with Power and RaRa,” Brown said of the Gemmel, “and even Asante. Eugene’s only really started one game.”
Asante, a 6-foot, 220-pounder, has played in all 25 games for North Carolina across the previous two seasons. He made two starts last season, supplying seven tackles against Virginia Tech and then a career-high 10 tackles against Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl, after stud linebacker Chazz Surratt opted out of the postseason to focus on the NFL Draft.
On a defense with more prominent pieces and more booming personalities, he quietly might have a chance to lead the Tar Heels in tackles this season.
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Storm Duck
One of the best names in the Atlantic Coast Conference and nationally across college football, the defensive back Duck rapidly was on the rise after capping his true freshman season by supplying five tackles in the 2019 Military Bowl and returning an interception for a touchdown.
Duck broke up two Syracuse passes in the opener last season and posted North Carolina’s top defensive grade at Boston College, before missing the final 10 games of 2020 due to injury and taking a redshirt year.
Brown said Kyler McMichael and Grimes, who became the Tar Heels’ starting cornerbacks along the course of last season, have been pushed by the competitive aspect of Duck’s return to form during this preseason.
“Storm Duck coming back has really pressed that corner group,” Brown said. “So Kyler and Tony Grimes and Storm, ‘Dae Dae’ Hollins, those guys are competing hard to get on the field. And we were trying to find corners two years ago. We didn’t have enough to play. But we need them to stay healthy, they haven’t stayed healthy.”
Adam Smith is a sports reporter for the Burlington Times-News and USA TODAY Network. You can reach him by email at asmith@thetimesnews.com or @adam_smithTN on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Times-News: ‘He’s big, he’s pretty’: Five underrated UNC players who could emerge as key contributors
