UNC Pembroke made a lot of headlines at the end of the 2023 season for its offense.
The Braves scored 222 points over its last four games, including a 68-point, 637-yard outburst in the finale against Concord.
Don’t overlook the UNCP defense, though. Coach Mark Hall’s team put up back-to-back shutouts during that late-season stretch and only surrendered four touchdowns total from mid-October on. They were stingy.
A key piece of the defensive unit returns to wreak havoc again this fall: redshirt senior defensive end Jamae Blank from Durham (Southern Durham HS).
Blank spent a lot of time in opposing backfields a year ago and looks ready to do so again this fall as the Braves pursue a conference title in their final year in the Mountain East Conference.
As we turn our preseason spotlight toward the D2 ranks today, here are four things to know about the UNCP sack- and tackles-for-loss machine before the Braves’ highly anticipated opener against visiting Wingate in week one:
#6 Jamae Blank
- Class: Redshirt Senior
- Position: Defensive End
- Height: 6-3
- Weight: 225
- Hometown: Durham
- High School (Previous School): Southern Durham HS (Chowan)
1. He compiled a trophy case full of post-season honors in 2023. Blank earned first-team all-Mountain East honors and was crowned the league’s co-Defensive Player of the Year — the first time anyone from UNCP had ever achieved that honor.
He went on to claim a spot on the D2CCA all-region team and then was named a Don Hansen NCAA DII All-American.
Blank started all 10 games for UNC Pembroke and broke the school record for most sacks in a single season (12.5, totaling 88 yards). The sack number ranked second nationally in Division II (behind Wingate’s Marquise Fleming and one spot ahead of Mars Hill’s Damipi Lamboni).
Blank finished with 21.5 tackles-for-loss in all, totaling 110 losses yards for opposing ball-carriers. He had 30 solo tackles and 49 total hits, and broke up six passes. UNCP finished 24th best in Division II football for total defense.
2. Blank followed his head coach from Chowan to UNC Pembroke in 2023. Blank joined a number of former Chowan teammates on the Braves roster last fall after spending three years in Murfreesboro. He earned second-team All-CIAA in 2022 (Chowan’s last year in that conference) after playing in 11 games and finishing second on the team in tackles with 64.
Blank’s 2022 stat sheet included 15.5 tackles-for-loss and three sacks.
3. Blank had a monster senior year at Southern Durham High School, earning all-conference honors for the second year in a row. Blank recorded an amazing 26.5 sacks, with quarterback losses totaling 178 yards. He made 43 tackles-for-loss and 126 total stops.
Blank was all-conference in three sports at Southern, also earning MVP awards in lacrosse and coaches honors in wrestling.
4. Blank and Southern Durham teammates took a bold stand against gun violence. He was featured in multiple stories on a rally held at the school after a string of shootings in his hometown in 2019. “It’s been very troubling,” a then 18-year-old Blank told WRAL-TV. “I have a hard time having fun because, you know, you can just step outside and get shot nowadays.”
—> READ MORE: UNCP picked second – barely – in preseason Mountain East balloting
