Laszlo Geczo- Imagn Images With the Tar Heels playing their sixth game of the year, we have officially reached the halfway point of the college football season and some Tar Heels are starting to get some midseason recognition. The Sporting News released their midseason All-American team and a Tar Heel who is off to a great start to the season was among those recognized. Sophomore defensive tackle Xavier Lewis is a member of Bill Bender’s All-American team after collecting 30

Charles LeClaire- Imagn Images The Tar Heels came into Saturday afternoon with some major injury issues on the defensive side of the football and suffered two important ones in the secondary during the win over Pittsburgh. It started with nickel corner Kaleb Cost, who ran into the concrete wall behind the end zone on a first quarter pass play where he was making a play on the ball. He crashed hard hitting his right leg and face against the wall, but the broadcast cited the kn

Ashley Tumlin- Imagn Images Despite a rough showing against the Clemson Tigers and calls for a new quarterback from the fanbase, the staff is sticking by fifth year senior Billy Edwards Jr. heading into the game with Notre Dame. Head coach Bill Belichick confirmed that Edwards will be the guy against the Fighting Irish on Monday morning during his presser. When asked if he expects to move forward with Edwards as the starting quarterback, the second-year Tar Heel head coach si

Mike Watters- Imagn Images After missing the first three games of the season because of a battle with the NCAA for eligibility, Tar Heel kicker Rece Verhoff is now officially available to play. Verhoff was one of 97 student athletes that were a part of a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed against the NCAA that was granted by an Indiana judge in Monroe County circuit court on Wednesday afternoon. The lawsuit is challenging the NCAA’s age-based model for players from the

@li.r3d6- Instagram Following an arrest on Tuesday, the university has suspended true freshman wide receiver Keeyun Chapman indefinitely. Chapman was arrested and charged during a traffic stop of fellow true freshman receiver C.J. Sadler on Tuesday night at 9:30 PM at 1050 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Chapel Hill. He was charged with a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon (handgun). In a statement issued by the university on Thursday morning following the resig

Associated Press Another week, another resignation for Tar Heel football. As first reported by Pete Thamel of ESPN, Tar Heel defensive coordinator Steve Belichick has resigned as the program’s defensive coordinator effective October 27th at the end of his medical leave. His resignation comes after he was placed on that leave back in early August after not joining the team for fall camp. The program released a statement to On3 Sports’ Pete Nakos shortly after the news of the r

UNC Football With the Tar Heels dipping into league play this weekend, the team had to submit an injury report to conference on Wednesday. For the Tar Heels, ten players are listed with official designations for this game. Seven players will be inactive in the game, including the two players, Keeyun Chapman and C.J. Sadler, who were charged during a traffic stop on Tuesday. Tight end Jordan Washington, who sustained an injury earlier this offseason, will be out for a third st

@coscj1- Instagram According to Inside Carolina, two Tar Heel football players were charged in a traffic stop that occurred on Tuesday night in Chapel Hill. True freshman wide receiver Keeyun Chapman was charged with a misdemeanor gun charge, while fellow true freshman C.J. Sadler was charged with driving 60 mph in a 35 mph zone, per the police reports obtained by Inside Carolina. Police pulled Sadler over at 1050 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Chapel Hill according to the p

UNC Athletics The Tar Heels are working on building momentum in their 2026 season, where they have gotten off to a 2-0 start, but the program’s 2027 ACC opponents were revealed on Wednesday. While this year’s schedule contains eight conference opponents, the Tar Heels will be one of the teams that will play nine conference games this upcoming season. The program came into the day with four matchups scheduled for next season. The team will host both UCF (September 4th) and Con

Brett Davis- USA Today Sports According to multiple reports, the Tar Heels will not have recruits at Saturday’s home opener in Kenan Stadium against East Tennessee State as part of a penalty for recruiting violations. Anna Adams of TarHeel247 was the first to report the news earlier this morning and it was later confirmed by national analysts from On3 Sports and Inside Carolina’s Don Callahan. A program spokesperson released a statement about the penalty earlier this afternoo

ABC11 As first reported by Pete Thamel of ESPN, Tar Heel general manager Michael Lombardi has resigned from his job in the midst of an ongoing internal investigation into him by the school. In a statement that was released by the school, they said “Michael Lombardi has resigned from his position as General Manager of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s football program. The University will continue its ongoing investigation and will consider all appropriate corr

ABC11 There has been much information on Steve Belichick and his situation since it was announced that he was taking a medical leave, but his status for the opener seems to have been determined. According to a report from On3 Sports and Inside Carolina, the Tar Heels second year coordinator is not expected to be on the sideline in Dublin on Saturday as the team takes on TCU. The younger Belichick has been on medical leave from the team since August 6 and there have been no up

UNC Athletics On Monday morning, the Tar Heels officially named their captains for the 2026 season. The group of seven contains senior edge rusher Melkart Abou Jaoude, senior cornerback Kaleb Cost, junior running back Benjamin Hall, senior Isaiah Johnson, graduate center Christo Kelly, graduate linebacker Derek McDonald and junior wide receiver Jordan Shipp. In 646 snaps a year ago, Abou Jaoude tallied 47 total tackles, 12.0 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks and 42 total quarterba

@uncfootball- Twitter After being declared eligible to play in 2026 earlier this month, Tar Heel fifth-year kicker Rece Verhoff is currently ineligible. His eligibility status flipped on Friday after the Tenth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals granted the NCAA’s stay request in the Wisne vs. NCAA case in the state of Colorado. Now, in order to be deemed eligible, Verhoff and others that were apart of that case will have to head to other states in search of temporary injuncti

@uncfootball- Instagram After a long and well-fought battle to be the starting QB for the Tar Heels against TCU next Saturday, Bill Belichick has named Wisconsin transfer Billy Edwards Jr as the starting QB for Carolina according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Edwards won the job over Texas A&M transfer Miles O’Neill, who had a previous relationship with new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, who in part recruited O’Neill to College Station. Bill Belichick opted to revamp the QB r

Jim Dedmon- Imagn Images After being absent for the first day of fall practice last week, it was revealed on Thursday that Tar Heel defensive coordinator Steve Belichick will be on an indefinite leave of absence from the team. As his father, Bill, announced at the beginning of his presser earlier today, Belichick is currently away from the program due to medical reasons and there is no timetable for his return. When asked further about the situation, Bill said that he hopes t

@UNCFootball- Twitter For a second straight day, a Tar Heel has landed on a preseason award watch list for this season. On Wednesday, the John Mackey Award committee announced their watch list for the 2026 season and the Tar Heels junior tight end Jelani Thurman was amongst those mentioned. Thurman, who transferred from Ohio State earlier this offseason, comes to Chapel Hill following a solid career as a backup for the Buckeyes in the first three years at the college level. I

@UNCFootball- Twitter With the injunction in Colorado from U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney last Friday, members of the 2022 class are receiving an extra year of eligibility in all sports. On Wednesday, the program announced that they will be taking advantage of this ruling to add a key weapon to this team this season. Placekicker Rece Verhoff will be returning to the Tar Heels for a second season after a productive 2025 season where he was an All-ACC honorable mention.

Jim Dedmon- Imagn Images After a relatively quiet offseason off the field as compared to last year, UNC announced in a release this morning that general manager Michael Lombardi has been placed on paid administrative leave, effective immediately. The decision does not come from the athletic department or the football program, but rather UNC Vice Chancellor for Communications and Marketing Dean Stoyer. According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, the leave stems from a HR complaint by a

Jim Dedmon- Imagn Images On Friday, the Tar Heels made their yearly venture to ACC Kickoff in Charlotte as Coach Bill Belichick, defensive end Melkart Abou-Jaoude, center Christo Kelly and wide receiver Jordan Shipp spoke to the media throughout the day. While there may not be nearly as much buzz as there was last year around the head coach and the program as a whole, there were still plenty of storylines that cropped up throughout the day. Here’s a look at the most intriguin