They found one in J.B. Copeland, a physical, 6-foot-3 prospect from Navarro College. Exactly how the Tar Heel coaching staff found Copeland, though, is a unique story.
“The best offer I got was to here,” Copeland said. “Coach Papuchis found me on Twitter, they saw my film and they went ahead and offered me.”
Papuchis chuckled when recounting the story of how the social media platform brought the two together.
“We were searching high and low for someone who might fit,” he said. “Social media — you can use it a lot of different ways, and that was kind of how we stumbled upon J.B. We watched his film as a staff and thought he’d be a good fit for us.”
Copeland said he tore his ACL early in his senior season of high school and ended up with one offer: New Mexico State. He played there for one season, but left for Navarro — a junior college in Texas — because he knew he could play for a bigger program.
In 10 games for Navarro, he recorded 116 tackles and five sacks. The Tar Heels reached out with an offer, and Copeland jumped at the opportunity to play for a higher profile school.
“It’s been awesome,” he said. “At New Mexico State, I played against LSU at LSU, and that was the only big game I’d ever played in.
“I knew coming here that the exposure, the fans, the fan base and just the whole atmosphere would be different.”
