Jelani Thurman
North Carolina Tar Heels
86
Great

Jelani Thurman

North Carolina Tar HeelsSolid
TEOffenseGreatTRANSFER · Ohio State
Projected Starter

Is Jelani Thurman starting?

Jelani Thurman is the projected starter at TE for North Carolina Tar Heels.

Redshirt junior · #45 · 6'6", 250 lbs

See full North Carolina Tar Heels depth chart ›
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Depth at TE · North Carolina Tar Heels

  1. 14586Jelani ThurmanStarter
  2. 28464Shamar Easter
  3. 38762Carson Sneed

North Carolina Starting Lineup

Full North Carolina depth chart ›

Top tight ends in the ACC

Desirrio RilesFlorida State · TEElija LoftonMiami · TELuke ReynoldsVirginia Tech · TE

The Story

Making His Case

A 4-star recruit out of Langston Hughes, ranked #105 nationally coming out of high school. This season: 7 catches, 84 yards, 1 TD. That's 4% of the team's production at his spot — good for a 86 overall (Great tier).

Recruit4★ · #105 NatlTeam Share4%
Fairburn, GA
Jersey
#45
Class
RS JR/TR
Height
6'6"
Weight
250 lbs
Transfer
Ohio State

Stats

SeasonRecRec YdsRec TD
—7841

Regular-season totals from public sources. Derived splits (completion %, yards per carry, catch rate) aren't available in our current dataset.

Recruiting Profile

Stars
★★★★☆4-star
Composite
0.9505
National Rank
#105
High School
Langston Hughes
Hometown
Fairburn, GA

Why this rating?

On a 82-rated offense; 48th-percentile production at transfer origin (×1.00 for competition level) put them +4 vs unit starters → 86.

Team offense (SP+)
82
Rating basis
On-field stats
Production (prior school)
Outperforms 48% of peers
Recruiting pedigree
Top 11% recruit
Strength of schedule
Faces easier competition — rating adjusted down (×1.00)
Depth-chart adjustment
+4 for role

2026 projection — based on SP+ (a respected team-efficiency metric; 2026 not published yet, using 2025), 2025 production, recruiting, and the 2026 transfer portal; capped to depth-chart order.

2026 Game Log

Oct 10WPITTYDS 29
REC
6
YDS
29
AVG
4.8
TD
1

Final W 21-17

Oct 3LNDYDS 50
REC
5
YDS
50
AVG
10.0
TD
2

Final L 37-26

Sep 19LCLEMYDS 18
REC
3
YDS
18
AVG
6.0
TD
0

Final L 28-20

Sep 12WETSUYDS 71
REC
4
YDS
71
AVG
17.8
TD
1

Final W 35-3

Aug 29WTCUYDS 94
REC
4
YDS
94
AVG
23.5
TD
0

Final W 15-10

Jelani Thurman's 2026 game-by-game stat log.

The People's Ratings

Is our 86 OVR fair?
86
Great
Vote to see what thousands of fans think

Team Role

7 rec · 84 yds · 1 TD
Usage / Involvement13%
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Overall ratings blend team strength (SP+), on-field production, and recruiting. Higher = more impactful.