Scott Forbes gives Vance Honeycutt injury update following back spasms

North Carolina fans were holding their collective breath when waiting on Vance Honeycutt’s injury update.

Head coach Scott Forbes at least gave a positive update ahead of the NCAA Regional. Last week, back spasms were the reason the outfielder sat against Wake Forest.

But Honeycutt should feel right at home as the Tar Heels host the regional and he’ll get treatment to get ready to go.

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“He felt great today,” Forbes said. “He felt good enough against Wake Forest on Friday night. But yesterday he felt a little bit better. And then today he told me he’s like, ‘for the most part, I’ll feel as good as I did before the spams.’ So we just keep an eye on it. You know, he has a certain mattress here, which also helps playing at home and we’ll get his treatment. But he looks great. So we’re just getting ready.” 

Once Honeycutt returned to action Friday, he moved a lot better. Forbes just wanted to be careful with his star player.

“He was way better,” Forbes said. “But when you have back spasms, you can happen in the middle of the game. They were able to get it to calm down. He told me that morning that he felt like he was going to be good enough to go. And he could have played against Pitt too. I just felt like getting him one more day.”

In the Chapel Hill Regional, the Tar Heels open play Friday against Long Island University. 

Since UNC had a game Thursday that didn’t totally affect its outcome in the ACC Tournament, Forbes could be careful with Honeycutt.

“There’s no such thing as a meaningless game, but we knew this game wouldn’t advance us to Saturday,” Forbes said. “He warmed up and I think he was like 95 percent. It’s hard for me to play Vance in that game when it’s a back and it’s spasms and I know how back spasms work. I’ve had them before. If you can rest them a little bit and get treatment, chances are pretty good you’re going to be ready to go the next day.”

Honeycutt is one of the most talented players in all of college baseball and his return is massive. Not only did he win ACC Defensive Player of the Year this season, but he won the honor in 2023, too. 

As a freshman, he was named third team All-American by Baseball America.