Earlier this week, several of us here at Tar Heel Blog mused that UNC running back Demon June needed to be getting more carries as the UNC offense continued to struggle against both good opponents and
bad. He’s been the best back based on both the box scores and the eye test. June seemed to be one of the few players on the roster that had the ability to make defenders miss in open space, while still having the power to shrug off would-be tacklers.
June’s performance in UNC’s 27-10 win over Syracuse should leave little doubt who is Carolina’s best weapon on offense. The freshman running back turned 13 carries into 101 yards rushing while also scoring a touchdown on the ground in the third quarter that snuffed out any chance of a Syracuse comeback. It was only the second 100-yard rushing game by a Tar Heel running back this season, and the first against an FBS opponent (June ran for 148 against FCS opponent Richmond). June also turned two short passes from Gio Lopez into 81 yards and a touchdown, using a nice stiff arm to rumble 73 yards for the TD:
June finished with 182 total yards on offense, by far the season high for any UNC player. He averaged 7.8 yards a carry, outpacing fellow running backs Davion Gause and Benjamin Hall. It is interesting to note that Gause actually got two more carries than June, although most of his work was done in the fourth with the game in hand. Hall left with an ankle injury, so it’ll be interesting to see how the carries are divided up moving forward. In any event, it was nice to finally see the offense show a spark.
An honorable mention goes out to Jordan Shipp; he turned six catches into 64 yards and also scored a touchdown. He served as a reliable set of hands as Lopez mostly stuck to short passes and dump offs to move the ball. Shipp has become more active the last couple games, catching 13 passes for 131 yards and a TD in his last two outings. Hopefully June and Shipp can add to their totals against a beatable Stanford defense.
