North Carolina is bringing back Demon June after he led the team in rushing as a first-year player, and that alone makes him one of the clearest reasons the Tar Heels’ backfield is drawing attention now. June, a sophomore, finished last season with 84 carries for 464 yards and three total touchdowns across 11 games, the kind of opening season that gives a team a place to build.
The timing matters because North Carolina enters the season with its top two rushers back, and June is expected to be central to what comes next. The Tar Heels finished 14th among ACC teams in rushing yards last season, so any step forward in the run game would carry weight for an offense trying to be more reliable under Bobby Petrino.
June’s best moments showed why he is in line for a larger role. He ran for 148 yards against Richmond, the most rushing yards by a North Carolina first-year running back in a game since Michael Carter had 157 against Virginia in 2017. But the numbers also explain why the job is still open to competition. More than half of June’s rushing yards came in two games, and he finished the final four games with 20 carries for 48 yards.
That is where the backfield picture gets complicated. Benjamin Hall is back after finishing last season with 274 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 71 carries, while Jaylen McGill played in 10 games and managed 19 rushing yards on seven carries. Charleston French has 87 yards over his first two seasons at UNC, and Kaleb Jackson arrives after posting 331 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 82 career carries at LSU, even if he had only seven carries for 16 yards across four games last season.
Petrino’s offense is likely to spread the work around rather than lean on one back every week, which means June’s touch total will be shaped as much by efficiency as by reputation. Crew Davis, the lone running back recruit in UNC’s 2026 class, adds another layer after rushing for 2,078 yards and 23 touchdowns as a junior at Iona Preparatory and earning MaxPreps New York Player of the Year honors. The room is deeper now, and that depth is exactly why June’s next step matters: he already proved he can break a game open, but North Carolina still has to find out whether he can do it with steady volume.
