CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --- There will be a new twist for North Carolina's bowl preparations this year. Class of 2022 signeesthat have completed their high school coursework, graduated, and intend to enroll at UNC early can participate in team's on-campus bowl practices.
The Tar Heels started bowl practice on Saturday, Dec. 11 and will have 15 practice sessions before facing South Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
Per NCAA rules, an incoming player can practice during an "official vacation period" immediately before initial enrollment as long as the student was accepted by the school in a regular, full-time program of studies, isn't still enrolled at their previous school, and is eligible under school and NCAA requirements.
"What happens is in this rule, when you are through with your work in high school, you have to have acknowledgment from the high school. We have to have a letter in an email that says, 'He is done with his high school work,' then he can come on our campus after signing date," head coach Mack Brown said in a press conference last week. "He can practice with our team here. He can't get bowl gifts, but he can practice. When you leave your campus to go to the bowl site, they cannot go to the bowl site with us. So they would only be practicing on our campus."
UNC will have 11 practices in Chapel Hill before breaking for Christmas and then heading down to Charlotte to practice in the Queen City for the bowl game. The 2022 signees cannot travel with the team to practice in Charlotte.
The names of which 2022 UNC signees will practice with the team over the next two weeks has not been released by UNC yet and much of it will depend on when those players complete high school. A spokesman from UNC did confirm to Inside Carolina that at least a few 2022 signees will take advantage of this bowl practice opportunity.
Nine Tar Heels that will sign with UNC on Wednesday plan to enroll early and might have the opportunity to practice with the team before the bowl game: defensive lineman Travis Shaw, offensive linemen Zach Rice and Trevyon Green, edges Beau Atkinson and Malaki Hamrick, linebackers Sebastian Cheeks and Deuce Caldwell, running back George Pettaway, and quarterback Conner Harrell.
Brown admitted that practice involvement for the 2022 signees and early enrollees in December will not be much more than a glorified walkthrough. The Hall of Fame head coach hopes that developing connections with older players, seeing how the team operates in practice, and getting an early jump oncampus life and class registration will help his young players transition to the college game more easily.
"You have to have an orientation before you can even put pads on," Brown said. "Most of the guys that will come in will be in shorts. They'll get their physical, they'll move into their room, they'll get to practice in shorts, they'll get to do some drills that get to be in the meeting rooms. And it'll help with some of the anxiety that they will have when they would come in January by coming early. And that's what we're hoping.
"I doubt if any will be in pads. They'll probably be here three, four days if they get to come. But still, it'll be kind of an orientation for them. They can get their classes set up for January. They just get ahead. And they like the fact that they leave their stuff in the room and then they don't have to carry it back when they come in January."
Brown also wants to go easy on his early enrollees due to the fact many are slated to play in national events shortly thereafter.
"A lot of these guys are in all-star games," Brown said. "So we'd have to be really, really careful that one of them sprained an ankle or beat a shoulder down and he misses their all-star game as well. So it'll be more of an orientation and get them used to practice and get them around the setup, but they'll probably be in shorts."
With Signing Day just around the corner, UNC's class is currently ranked No. 1 in the ACC and No. 8 in the nation.
