2018-19 Depth Chart: North Carolina's Starting To Have Good Problems
2018-19 Depth Chart: North Carolina's Starting To Have Good Problems
North Carolina's depth chart for 2018-19 features a number of promising freshmen and sophomores as the Tar Heels start to accrue higher-level talent.
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As Coleman Scott enters his fourth year as the head coach at North Carolina, the program is finally starting to be shaped the way he likes it.
When a program is inherited, the head coach must not only develop their own culture and bring in their own recruits, they also must deal with the guys and scholarship dispersion already in the room. The Tar Heels also recently lost an assistant coach in Neil Erisman, who took over as the first head coach in Arkansas Little Rock history.
But even with the loss of Erisman, assistant coaches Tony Ramos and Bryce Hasseman remain heavy on the recruiting trail, the fruits of which you will see below. Let's check out UNC's current roster broken down by grade and weight class.
Some key questions to think about as we get into this depth chart: What do the Tar Heels do at 125? How will Austin O'Connor fare as the successor to All-American Troy Heilmann? And can Kennedy Monday make a big jump?
On to UNC's roster, which has a few interesting roster battles ready to play out over the next couple years.
125 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
125 | 1 | James Szymanski | SR |
125 | 2 | Joey Melendez | FR |
125 | 3 | Joey Heilmann | FR |
125 | 4 | Jeremiah Derby | FR |
This Season: The Tar Heels have not won a match at the ACC tournament since 2014, when Nathan Kraisser came in as the three seed and left as the champ. Last year, they didn’t even enter a wrestler in the conference championships, so there’s nowhere to go but up. If they don’t want to redshirt him, Melendez makes the most sense as a starter, but with three freshmen at the weight they might just let Szymanski finish out his career.
Long-Term Outlook: Both Melendez and Heilmann were higher rated prospects coming out of high school than Szymanski, who improved from his first two seasons. Although he stumbled last year, Melendez won two state titles in big school Illinois and placed three times at Ironman. Heilmann was a three-time placer in single class New Jersey, finishing fifth as a sophomore, third as a junior, and second as a senior. So while I think Melendez becomes the starter, Heilmann is excellent in his own right and will either push very hard for the spot himself or provide great depth.
133 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
133 | 1 | Gary Wayne Harding | SR |
133 | 2 | Zach Sherman | SO |
133 | 3 | Nick Lirette | JR |
This Season: The transfer of Gary Wayne Harding would seem to indicate that Zach Sherman is redshirting. An NCAA qualifier in 2015 and 2016, he wrestled just one tournament in 2017 and then was Kaid Brock’s backup last year. A Southern Scuffle finals appearance reinforces that Harding could be qualifier level once again, but probably not going to score big points at the national tournament.
Long-Term Outlook: Have to think it’s Sherman through the 2021-22 season. He wound up with a losing record last year but still made it to the big show. It took Coleman Scott and his staff a few years to start getting a certain quality of guy in recruiting, and Sherman is able to lay the groundwork as a multiple-time qualifier (or better) while the coaches start to look for his successor in the current group of high school sophomores. There is also the possibility one of Heilmann or Melendez grow into the weight.
141 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
141 | 1 | AC Headlee | JR |
141 | 2 | Jaime Hernandez | FR |
141 | 3 | Gino Esposito | FR |
141 | 4 | Taylor Day | FR |
This Season: They could let Jaime Hernandez battle with AC Headlee for the starting job, but neither burned up the world last season. It took Headlee two years to grab hold of his spot on the roster, and he promptly responded by finding his way to NCAAs. However, a .500 record and 0-2 performance in Cleveland doesn’t shout lock to start, especially at a program shooting to be in the level of ACC rivals Virginia Tech and NC State. Headlee was a higher rated prospect coming out of high school, but is it wiser to let the younger guy get the reps now since he’ll probably get the job in a year or two anyway?
Long-Term Outlook: They’ll have a similar situation in a few years with Gabe Tagg coming in. Just like Headlee, Tagg will wrestle at Who’s #1 to start his senior year of high school. That makes him a redshirt freshman when Hernandez is a junior. Again, these are the growing pains of trying to become a premier program. To win a team trophy, you need to bring in blue-chip recruits, which means guys lose starting years as the quality of kids coming in goes up and up and up. But between Headlee, Hernandez, and Tagg this will probably an area of relative strength for UNC over the next five to six years.
149 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
149 | 1 | Austin O’Connor | FR |
149 | 2 | Sawyer Davidson | SO |
149 | 3 | Mason Phillips | FR |
This Season: Austin O’Connor will have big shoes to fill coming off of Troy Heilmann’s fourth-place performance to cap his career. The Junior Pan Am champ was, of course, featured heavily in the 149lb redshirt report after a 20-3 season. When we covered the 149 tiers on FRL 310, I had O’Connor in the third tier, among a group of guys who will be fighting for the last one or two All-American spots. So he can place, and certainly his wrestle-off win over Heilmann combined with the guys he beat to win the Junior U.S. Open show an AA-like trajectory, but it might come next year.
Long-Term Outlook: There’s starting to be a pattern here. If O’Connor doesn’t work out, which all indications are right now that he will, they have Super 32 champ Mason Phillips waiting in the wings. More likely, though, is that O’Connor might bump up to 157 if and when Kennedy Monday grows into 165, allowing Phillips to start well before his senior year. Either way, a low priority recruiting-wise for the Tar Heel staff.
157 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
157 | 1 | Kennedy Monday | SO |
157 | 2 | Will MacDonald | SO |
157 | 3 | AJ Rechenmacher | SO |
157 | 4 | Michael Goldfeder | FR |
This Season: Kennedy Monday pulled off the extremely difficult feat of getting teched by someone early in the season and then beating them at NCAAs; he did that against two seed Joey Lavallee. He also pinned eventual third-place finisher Tyler Berger in a dual. So it’s pretty clear Monday’s got a ceiling in the All-American realm, as he also beat previous two-time AA Solomon Chishko. So while most probably won’t pick Monday to place in Pittsburgh this March, he has shown the ability to beat the guys who have made it to the podium.
Long-Term Outlook: Some moving parts here. First, if Monday stays at 157 for his whole career, then they need to start looking at life after him from the high school classes of 2020 and 2021. If Monday bumps up to 165 and O'Connor can get that big, they can delay the search for a successor another year or two.
165 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
165 | 1 | Josh McClure | SO |
165 | 2 | Clay Lautt | SO |
165 | 3 | Joey Mazzara | FR |
This Season: Since Ethan Ramos finished sixth as a redshirt freshman in 2015, this weight has been one of need for the Tar Heels. John Staudenmayer was able to qualify the next year, but they didn't send a guy to the national tournament either of the past two years. McClure and Lautt split the second half of the year, with McClure ultimately getting the nod for ACCs. Neither had a winning record, so it might be a stretch to see either of them making it to Pittsburgh.
Long-Term Outlook: Again, bumping Monday up wouldn't surprise me, but either way I think the coaching staff needs to make this a priority in recruiting. Keep your eyes peeled for Willie's recruiting targets article tomorrow to see who the Tar Heels might be after.
174 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
174 | 1 | Devin Kane | SO |
174 | 2 | Adis Radoncic | SR |
174 | 3 | Hunter Queen | FR |
174 | 4 | Jake Mario | FR |
174 | 5 | Grant Jefferson | FR |
174 | 6 | Ethan Hoffman | FR |
174 | 7 | Lance Armenta | JR |
174 | 8 | Ryan Karoly | FR |
This Season: Well, at least they'll never run out of practice partners. I featured Kane in the 174lb Redshirt Report thanks to his 24-win season ending on a National Collegiate Open title. The Georgia native looks much more seasoned now in his third year on the roster, and he should be able to qualify after falling a little short in his true freshman year.
Long-Term Outlook: Have to think it's Karoly. Although he had a bit of a rough senior year, Karoly was otherwise a blue-chipper for most of high school. If Karoly doesn't show potential in the room this year though, they'll be in the hunt for a 174 just as much as they will be a 165.
184 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
184 | 1 | Chip Ness | SR |
184 | 2 | Elijah Kerr-Brown | JR |
184 | 3 | Nick Mosco | FR |
184 | 4 | Chasen Blair | FR |
This Season: In all likelihood the best weight on the team, both this year and looking forward. It includes their only returning All-American in Chip Ness, as well as two solid redshirt freshmen in Chasen Blair and Nick Mosco. Ness should start the season in the top 10 and, while his overall 2017-18 season did not indicate he was a strong AA candidate, will be in the mix to place once again.
Long-Term Outlook: Blair or Mosco will hold down the fort for a year or two while Devin Winston works his way into the lineup. This will be a low priority in recruiting for the foreseeable future, as Winston has won Cadet Fargo, placed in Akron, and placed in Junior Fargo over the past two summers.
197 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
197 | 1 | Brandon Whitman | FR |
197 | 2 | Mark Chaid | FR |
This Season: Two true freshmen will battle for the starting spot, with Whitman being the clear clubhouse leader. The Michigan native was #47 on the 2018 Big Board and has shown excellent movement on his leg attacks. It's not an easy weight for freshmen to succeed in, but he shouldn't be terribly outclassed and could very well qualify for NCAAs.
Long-Term Outlook: With Whitman having his whole college career ahead of him, they probably won't be focusing too heavy on this weight. I think Whitman develops into an AA by the end of his career, possibly more than once.
285 Pounds
Weight | Spot | Name | Grade |
285 | 1 | Cory Daniel | SR |
285 | 2 | Andrew Gunning | SO |
285 | 3 | Keaton Kluever | FR |
285 | 4 | John Urban | FR |
This Season: Daniel has started the past three seasons for the Tar Heels, and he enters his final season at UNC looking to finally win some matches at NCAAs. A two-time qualifier, the senior season usually proves to be the best for heavyweights.
Long-Term Outlook: Hard to say. Kluever certainly seems poised to take over in the long run, but Gunning could be the man for two years after Daniel graduates. Urban may also be able to drop to 197 if need be.