Greg McElroy says the 'jury is out' on North Carolina's 2023 season

After a season in which the Tar Heels started off 9-1, only to finish 9-5, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy says the ‘jury is out’ on North Carolina‘s 2023 season.

The Tar Heels have some excellent pieces returning, like star quarterback Drake Maye. But McElroy has one major question that the program must answer this offseason.

“The jury is out right now on North Carolina,” he said. “Can you win a bare-knuckle brawl? That’s the question. And the answer to me right now is a little bit fleeting.”

Out is offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who departed this offseason to join Luke Fickell‘s inaugural staff at Wisconsin. In is Chip Lindsey, a long-time Gus Malzahn disciple.

McElroy likes the collection of talent Lindsey will have at his disposal.

“He’s got great playmakers, he’s got great skill, he’s got a great quarterback,” McElroy said on the ESPN College Football YouTube channel. “No one’s denying that. But will they be more physical? Because if they’re not, when they face off against teams that are wanting to get into a street fight, things are not going to go well for North Carolina.”

Unfortunately, McElroy points out, there are several opponents on the schedule during North Carolina’s 2023 season that might attempt to turn things into a boxing match.

“If you get into a team that wants to make it a dogfight, are you capable of handling it?” McElroy wondered. “I can tell you this: South Carolina is going to try to make it a rock fight. Appalachian State, same exact way. Minnesota? We know what they’re all about. Then you look at some of the other teams they’re going to face. At Pitt, Pitt loses some pieces, but you know Pitt’s going to be really, really tough and really, really physical. You know that.

“Those are your first four opponents, I might add. First four. Now I don’t think they’re going to go 0-4 by any stretch of the imagination, but every single one of those first four games is loseable if you don’t play well.”

Again, North Carolina was a team that succumbed to a bad stretch late last season, losing consecutive games to Georgia Tech, NC State, Clemson and Oregon.

As good as Maye is, he’ll need some help during North Carolina’s 2023 season.

“I think you have to get off to a really good start. You absolutely have to,” McElroy said. “Then the final two games of the year, maybe the toughest two games of the year on the schedule, you go to Clemson and you go to NC State. NC State I think has a chance to be quite a bit better in some areas than they were a year ago.

“So either way I think it’s a really tough schedule for North Carolina and I am cautiously pessimistic based on how they finished last year and whether they’re going to be able to acknowledge some of their shortcomings and get those things alleviated in the spring, throughout the summer and then ultimately into fall camp.”