TarHeel247 75% Off Fall Football Kickoff/Labor Day Sale
CHAPEL HILL – Jordan Shipp remembers what North Carolina looked like at this point a year ago.
The Tar Heels were preparing for their first season under Bill Belichick with a roster that had undergone significant turnover throughout the offseason. Shipp said UNC essentially had one team during the spring and another by the summer, leaving only a matter of months to build the relationships necessary before taking the field.
A year later, Shipp believes the difference is noticeable.
“I feel like this team is a lot closer because we had so much more time together,” Shipp said. “We had a good seven months together.”
Shipp enters his junior season as one of the most established players in North Carolina’s offense. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Charlotte native started all 12 games in 2025 and led the Tar Heels with 60 receptions, 671 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
His role has also expanded beyond production. Shipp was voted one of North Carolina’s seven captains by his teammates, giving him an increased leadership role within a young receiver room.
Here are some key things Shipp said during his game-week media availability:
*Shipp said last year’s loss to TCU hasn’t been forgotten, but he doesn’t view Saturday’s rematch as a revenge game. Rather than dwelling on the result, he said the focus is on correcting the details that contributed to it, including limiting explosive plays, creating more offensively, establishing the run and controlling the line of scrimmage.
“They beat us last year. It is what it is,” Shipp said. “They beat us last year, so we go back and go fix it.”
The international stage isn’t changing his approach, either. The trip will mark the first time Shipp and his family have traveled outside the country, but the receiver made clear that winning remains the priority.
“I’m not really going for a vacation,” Shipp said. “I’m trying to do whatever we can to go win a football game.”
*Shipp believes Billy Edwards Jr.‘s experience helped separate him in North Carolina’s quarterback competition. While he expressed confidence in the entire room, Shipp pointed to Edwards’ ability to recognize coverages and communicate adjustments as advantages that come with playing experience.
“One thing you can’t teach is experience,” Shipp said.
Shipp said that experience has shown itself in small details during practice, with Edwards recognizing what the defense is doing and communicating adjustments to routes, depth and timing with his receivers.
*Shipp said Bobby Petrino’s offense hasn’t changed his approach to his own role. After leading UNC in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns last season, Shipp made clear that individual production isn’t his primary focus.
“If that’s catching 100 passes this year or catching one, if I got to go block every play or run every route, whatever it is, everything in between, whatever I have to do to make sure that we get more wins, that’s what I’m going to do,” Shipp said.
Shipp also praised Petrino’s track record, saying his past success makes it easy to trust the offense he has installed.
*As one of the veterans in a young receiver room, Shipp has watched the position group grow throughout camp. He declined to single out individual freshmen but said the group made it a goal to become the best position room on the team and bring the most energy to practice.
Shipp said six or seven freshmen joined the room, and what impressed him was seeing contributions throughout the entire group rather than from only one or two newcomers. Several earned opportunities against the first-team defense during camp and continued making plays.
“To bring in, I think we had like seven freshmen, six or seven freshmen, and all of them making plays in different ways, that’s very special,” Shipp said.