Francis injured his knee in the second quarter of UNC’s 40-35 win over Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon. He carried the ball twice that quarter, with his final play coming on a 15-yard kickoff return.
“I know everybody at the beginning of the year said, ‘Oh, you’ve got so many running backs,’” Coach Larry Fedora said. “But yeah, he just stuck his foot in the ground, and it was a bad deal.”
Francis has played in every game this season and ends his sophomore campaign with just 12 carries for 26 yards and no touchdowns. He also finishes the year with five receptions for 28 yards.
As a true freshman in 2013-14, Francis had 63 carries for 236 rushing yards, including a rushing touchdown against Old Dominion. He tacked on an additional 11 receptions for 82 yards.
“It was very sad for me. Khris Francis is somebody I’ve been close with since he came in. I remember me and him used to talk about how great it was just to be in the backfield together,” said redshirt junior quarterback Marquise Williams. “It hurts, man, because that’s the one guy I’m close with on this team, and I can stand for that and say that he will get better, and he will come back stronger than ever.”
Francis graduated early from Hillside High School in Durham to enroll early at UNC in January 2013.
Coming out of high school, Francis was rated by ESPN.com as the nation’s 29th-best running back. He earned a berth on the 2013 North Carolina Shrine Bowl team after a senior season that saw him rush 251 times for 2,100 yards and 27 touchdowns.
“I watched him in high school, how he did great things,” Williams said. “Khris is gonna battle back, you know. He’s gonna do what he needs to do to get back, and when he comes back, I know he’s gonna get out there and get after it and start to grind some more.”
