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

University of North Carolina Athletics The Tar Heels opened the 2026 college football season in style, upsetting TCU 15-10 in Dublin to validate the growth of the program under Bill Belichick, who spent the off-season communicating a message about improved chemistry and cohesiveness. Like in most sports, analytics and advanced metrics help us evaluate how a team or a player performed in a certain setting, and football is no different in the age of PFF, along with NextGen Stat

UNC Athletics After a rough first season to say the least for Bill Belichick in Chapel Hill, expectations were low for the Tar Heels heading into a season-opening matchup with TCU in Dublin, Ireland. While it may not have been the prettiest football you will see this season, Saturday finally felt like Bill Belichick football and the Tar Heels did enough to pull out a hard-earned upset and create some excitement for the possibilities of what this season could be. Here are our

Grant Halverson- Getty Images The Tar Heels begin Year 2 under Bill Belichick on Saturday in the Aer Lingus Classic in Dublin, Ireland where they will look to avenge last year’s season opening loss to the TCU Horned Frogs. With a team that is in a much different spot than they were a year ago at this time, there is a budding confidence that the team will at least put together a better showing than they did last year and possibly even pull the upset. Here’s is a look at everyt

Grant Halverson- Getty Images The Tar Heels open the season on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland against the TCU Horned Frogs as they look to avenge last year’s blowout loss and get an important 2026 season off to a fast start. Just like last year, it appears that Bill Belichick will not release a depth chart prior to kickoff, so we’re going to take our best shot at predicting what things will look like on game day. Here’s our projected two deep for Saturday’s tilt. Offense QB # 9

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

We are officially less than one week away from the Tar Heels opening the season in Ireland against TCU and it is time to do a couple of our favorite preseason prediction articles. We’ll start by giving you our five breakout players for this upcoming season. Anthony Jelani Thurman @uncfootball- Instagram There might not be a player on the roster that has received more positive buzz about them than Thurman this offseason and with that, expectations are growing. While Thurman ha

@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

The Tar Heel brought in the second-most freshmen of anyone in the country back in February and the team will be banking on some of these guys to make an impact in their first seasons at the college level. Here are the five freshmen that we think could have a big impact on the team at some point this season. Carson Sneed @_carsonsneed_- Instagram Sneed is the one guy that could make an impact right out of the gate in Ireland. He has been running with the ones in place of the i

Mark Konezny- Imagn Images As the season closes in, certain college football awards continue to roll out their preseason watch lists and on Tuesday, it was the Doak Walker Award committee who released theirs. Sophomore running back Demon June was the lone Tar Heel to land on the list, following a productive first season at UNC. Last year, as a true freshman, June led the Tar Heel in rushing, carrying the ball 84 times for 464 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught 17 passes

@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

@hinshaw.media- Instagram Richmond transfer Peyton Seelmann may be a question mark in the eyes of some this season making the jump from the FCS level to the Power 4 level, but he landed on a significant watch list on Thursday afternoon. Seelmann was one of the 51 linebackers that was named to the Dick Butkus Award watch list on Thursday, sitting amongst some pretty prestigious company. The 51 players selected honors Butkus’ No. 51 and the award recognizes the toughness, insti

@UNCFootball- Instagram The Tar Heels are now just 17 days away from the start of the 2026 season when they square off against TCU in Ireland. While the focus will eventually shift to preparations for the game against the Horned Frogs, the team is currently letting some important battles play out in fall camp. While there were a bunch of battles on the team’s hands coming into the month, there are some that have been solved, while others remain up in the air. Here’s a look at

Bob Donnan- Imagn Images One of the easiest players to root for on this 2026 Tar Heel football team is junior wide receiver Jordan Shipp and, on Tuesday, he landed on a preseason watch list. The Allstate Wuerffel Trophy announced their list of 113 student athletes that they were recognizing heading into the season and Shipp was the Tar Heels representative. The Wuerffel Trophy is awarded each year to a player that shows a commitment to community service, excellence in the cla

@UNCFootball- Twitter The Tar Heels are about halfway through fall camp as they steam towards the opener against TCU in Dublin. With us in the competition portion of camp as Bill Belichick said on Thursday, there will be some important names that we will be monitoring in the notes we receive about practice. Here is a look at the ten names that we will be following closely heading up until the opener. Benjamin Hall One of the more interesting notes that came from the two days

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.

Bob Donnan- Imagn Images With the start of the college football season less than a month away, certain award committees are starting to release their watch lists for this upcoming season. Among those doing so this week is the Bronco Nagurski Trophy committee, who named a Tar Heel edge rusher on their list on Tuesday. Following a breakout junior season with the program, Melkart Abou Jaoude has been named as a player to watch for one of the nation’s most prestigious defensive a