Wide receiver Jordan Shipp has barely played, but he’s ready to help lead UNC football
Jordan Shipp knows he hasn’t done anything.
He’s a sophomore. He has only nine collegiate catches to his name, good for a mere 114 yards. He’s recorded one start in the Fenway Bowl, where he had one reception for 2 yards.
But he has emerged as a leader, and the likely starting wide receiver on a North Carolina team drawing more attention than any other program heading into football season. He’s doing it all under six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick, whose presence has made expectations so high that anything short of a national championship feels like a failure.
Shipp has done nothing on a team expected to do everything. And somehow, the 19-year-old doesn’t feel it.
“(Auburn wide receiver) Cam Coleman, guys like that (and) Clemson wide receiver TJ Moore, another ACC guy, they have pressure,” Shipp said. “But look at me. I haven’t done anything much.”
Shipp doesn’t feel the pressure because he’s hardwired to boil the game down to its most simple form: Winning or losing. This thinking was crafted during days spent at Providence Day School in his hometown of Charlotte, where he returned on Wednesday for ACC Kickoff.
The wide receiver left Providence Day with 174 receptions, good for 2,949 career yards and 37 touchdowns. He helped the Chargers win three state championships from 2021-23. During his senior year, Shipp averaged 108.6 yards per game. He suspects he lost four games while he was there.
“(We) just expected to win every game we wanted to,” Shipp said. “We expected to win no matter what was going on. If we had 11 players, we expected to win every game because that’s just how hard we worked.”
Shipp cannot answer as to whether Belichick or Providence Day coach Chad Grier’s practices are more intense. He knows summer workouts at UNC have ramped up, but practices at Providence Day are burned into his memory.
They were hot. There was no indoor option. It was never “sweet.”
“My sophomore year, Coach Grier might be the hardest time I’ve ever had,” Shipp said.
Grier became Shipp’s biggest critic. The coach wasn’t afraid to call out the receiver in front of the entire team.
Those moments molded him as a player. Now, with everybody watching, Shipp feels his most comfortable. The other players can see it, too.
“He’s grown heavily in his leadership even since last year,” senior defensive back Will Hardy said. “He was a leader as a freshman, and now has accepted it his sophomore year.”
According to Hardy, Shipp is a good leader because he looks outside himself. Grier taught the importance of unity, and Shipp tries to embrace that.
So, Shipp will call out players because he’s built the relationships to do that. Players listen because they know he cares.
But then Shipp will do a little more.
When he first met Washington transfer Thaddeus Dixon, Shipp introduced himself almost immediately.
“He didn’t know me from a can of paint,” Dixon said. “I didn’t really know him.”
The defensive back found comfort in Shipp as he learned a new system under Belichick. Dixon saw Shipp as someone he could always talk to. The sophomore knows everything about North Carolina, and often shared his knowledge with Dixon.
Most recently, Hardy and Shipp started a Bible study group. A few days each week, a group of players will get together for 30 to 45 minutes and learn the word. Hardy relies on Shipp to be the “inviter,” since he’s so personable. The senior admires his influence.
“Will started it last year,” Shipp said. “I’ve just been somebody that’s just trying to echo it, and have a different view on the team.”
Two weeks ago, he invited the whole wide receiver room. They all showed up.
“When he’s approaching the game, he’s not doing it for himself,” Hardy said. “He’s really in it to build a team.”
With 39 new players, UNC football needs more unifying than ever. And Shipp is working on that to meet his expectations for this season. He’s used to winning, so that’s what he wants to do. He also sees anything less than a national championship as a failure.
But last week he got a break. The players had the week off.
So, he went back home, and to Providence Day. He saw Grier, and he ran with some of the high school players.
“I feel like I never left,” Shipp said.
And in some ways, he didn’t.
