When UNC plays Miami, it will get seven players back from suspension. Here’s who’s returning.

Seven North Carolina football players, who were suspended for 30 percent of the season after selling their team-issued sneakers, will be eligible to play against No. 16 Miami on Thursday.

One of those returning players is redshirt sophomore quarterback Chazz Surratt, who was expected to compete for the starting job this Spring.

Senior defensive end Malik Carney will return for the Miami game too. However, he will sit out against Virginia Tech on Oct. 13. He played in the first game of the season against Cal because his suspension was staggered. He had eight tackles and two sacks.

Surratt and others were suspended for the first three games of the season as punishment for selling their team issued Air Jordan 3’s. Some sold the shoes for as much as $2,500.

The addition of these players will provide more playmakers and much needed depth to a team that has dealt with a few injuries to some key players already this season.

Here are the players who will return Thursday:

• QB Surratt: The 6-3, 215-pound sophomore quarterback started seven games and appeared in nine for UNC. He led the team with 1,342 passing yards, threw eight touchdowns to three interceptions, and ran for five more touchdowns.
  
  
• WR Beau Corrales: The 6-4, 210-pound sophomore appeared in nine games, had nine catches for 143 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 15.9 yards per catch. He had four catches for 64 yards and two touchdowns against Miami last year.
  
  
• OL Brian Anderson: The 6-3, 295-pound offensive lineman from Montgomery, Ala. redshirted during his freshman season. He was ranked the No. 12 center in the country by 247sports coming out of high school.
  
  
• DE Tyrone Hopper: A 6-4, 240 pound sophomore from Roswell, Ga., Hopper appeared in nine games last year for UNC. He finished the year with eight tackles and a sack.
  
  
• OL Quiron Johnson: A 6-2, 315-pound offensive lineman, from Reidsville, N.C., Johnson walked on to the team in 2017 and redshirted.
  
  
• LB Malik Robinson: The 6-foot, 215-pound sophomore appeared in 11 games last season and played mostly special teams. He had six tackles last season.
  
  
• OL Jordon Tucker: A 6-7, 340-pound offensive lineman, from Roswell, Ga., Tucker redshirted during his freshman season. He was the 75th ranked player in Georgia by 247sports.
  
  

UNC initially announced that these players would have to sit out for four games this season. But after UNC’s game against Central Florida was canceled because of Hurricane Florence, UNC officials clarified that those suspensions were for 30 percent of the season.

However, if UNC adds a 12th game to its schedule, which it is actively looking to do, then those players will have to sit out the following game after it is announced.

UNC (1-2) will play Miami (3-1) on the road for a prime time game on Thursday at 8 p.m. The Hurricanes are coming off 31-17 win over Florida International on Saturday. They picked up 488 yards of total offense.

The Tar Heels are also coming off a win, its first of the season. UNC beat Pitt at home on Saturday 38-35. It had 486 yards of total offense, its best offensive performance through three games.

On Saturday, sophomore running back Michael Carter returned from a hand injury and gave the Tar Heels a spark. He scored on a 31-yard touchdown catch with no one around him.

“Usually I’ll have a one-on-one battle, because that all what football is,” Carter said, “but I don’t know where he went. So I didn’t ask any questions. I just went and scored.”

Carter’s playmaking ability gives the Tar Heels another weapon to use on offense. He finished the game with 28 rushing yards and 36 receiving yards.

UNC coach Larry Fedora will have a decision to make at quarterback. Junior quarterback Nathan Elliott struggled during the first two games of the season, throwing four interceptions and only one touchdown.

But he was excellent in UNC’s win against Pitt. Elliott was 22-31, for 313 yards and two touchdowns.

In the past, Fedora has not been afraid to use two quarterbacks throughout a game. He did so last year with Surratt and Brandon Harris early in the season. And he sometimes used two quarterbacks in 2015 with Marquise Williams and Mitch Trubisky.

When asked about that possibility on Saturday, Elliott said he hadn’t even thought about it.

“At the end of the day, as long as we’re winning, I don’t really care what happens,” he said.

This story was originally published September 24, 2018 at 12:30 PM with the headline "When UNC plays Miami, it will get seven players back from suspension. Here’s who’s returning.."