The 2021 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

as a member of Coastal Division of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) for the

2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 152nd season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The r ...

. The Tar Heels were led by head coach

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American college football coach. He is currently in his second stint as the head football coach for the University of North Carolina, where he first coached from 1988 until departing in 1997, whe ...

, who was in the third season of his second stint at North Carolina and his 13th overall season at the university. The team played their home games at

Kenan Memorial Stadium Kenan Memorial Stadium is a stadium located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and is the home field of the North Carolina Tar Heels. It is primarily used for football. The stadium opened in 1927 and holds 50,500 people. It is located near the center ...

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

Offseason

Coaching changes

Larry Porter was hired in January for his second stint as the Tar Heels' running backs coach, replacing

Robert Gillespie Robert James Gillespie (born 9 November 1933 in Lille, France) is a British actor, director and writer. Notable acting credits include '' Keep It in the Family'' (1980), '' At the Earth's Core'' (1976) and ''Force 10 from Navarone'' (1978). Lat ...

, who departed for the same position at

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. Porter's first tenure at UNC came under previous head coach

Larry Fedora Herbert Lawrence Fedora (born September 10, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is the former coach and general manager for the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League (USFL). He previously served as head c ...

from 2014-2016. He was also given the title of Assistant Special teams coordinator. Former Tar Heel and NFL running back

Natrone Means Natrone Jermaine Means (born April 26, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Diego Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Carolina Panthers from 1993 to 20 ...

was also hired in the offseason as an offensive analyst.

Departures

NFL Draft

The following Tar Heels were selected in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Transfers

The Tar Heels lost sixteen players from the 2020 season. †Denotes player who was listed as a senior by UNC, and chose to transfer elsewhere for the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Additions

Incoming transfers

Recruiting class

North Carolina signed 19 players in the 2021 class. The Tar Heels' class finished 14th in the

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

football recruiting rankings, 16th in the

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

rankings, and 7th in the ESPN recruiting rankings. Eleven signees were ranked in the ESPN 300 top prospect list.

Schedule

The game against Wake Forest, a fellow member of the

, was played as a non-conference game and did not count in the league standings. This was done because the two

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

otherwise only play once every six years due to conference divisional alignment. The Duke's Mayo Bowl was the 59th edition of the

North Carolina–South Carolina football rivalry The North Carolina–South Carolina football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the North Carolina Tar Heels football team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and South Carolina Gamecocks football team of the ...

. The two teams are next scheduled to kick off the 2023 season, also at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

Game summaries

At Virginia Tech

Georgia State

Virginia

At Georgia Tech

Duke

Florida State

Miami

At No. 11 Notre Dame

No. 9 Wake Forest

At No. 25 Pittsburgh

Wofford

At No. 20 N.C. State

vs. South Carolina (Duke's Mayo Bowl)

Rankings

Players drafted into the NFL

References

{{North Carolina Tar Heels football navbox

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

North Carolina Tar Heels football seasons

North Carolina Tar Heels football The North Carolina Tar Heels football team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the sport of American football or Gridiron Football. The Tar Heels play in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate ...