Serge Ibaka Foundation After committing to the UNC Basketball program earlier this spring, FC Barcelona’s Sayon Keita has officially been cleared to make the move to Chapel Hill after a lengthy process of getting his visa approved, paving the way for the Mali native to join the program the week that classes start on the UNC campus. Keita, who is a projected NBA lottery pick for next year’s NBA Draft, averaged 8.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in 19 minutes, while playing in ACB and

@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

@UNC_Basketball Late last night, a former UNC guard, Seth Trimble, made it known that he was looking into a return to college basketball and would seek a transfer outside of the UNC Basketball program after his eligibility status for the 2026-27 season was given new life after a ruling two weeks ago. Trimble, who did enter the transfer portal back in the spring, did participate in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and was supposed to sign an Exhibit-10 contract with the Wiza

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

Tar Heel Story While Carolina is still working to finalize their non-conference schedule for the 2026-27 season, the preseason schedule took another step toward being set for the first year of the Michael Malone era. Earlier this summer, UNC announced it will travel to Indianapolis to take on the Indiana Hoosiers in late October. According to Inside Carolina and other sources close to the UNC Basketball program, UNC will play USC in Greensboro prior to making the trip to the

@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

Tar Heel Stroy After reaching out to South Dakota transfer Cameron Fens last week, Michael Malone and the Tar Heels landed his commitment earlier on Friday to round out the roster for the 2026-27 season. Fens was one of the many college basketball players last week who was granted an extra year of eligibility after a Colorado judge granted an injunction in response to a lawsuit that was filed after the NCAA adopted the new 5 for 5 model, which begins this academic calendar. I

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

Kyle Ross- Imagn Images The quest to add a big man to the roster for the 2026-27 season hit an extra gear late last week, when a Colorado judge granted eligibility to student-athletes who had graduated after the 2026 academic year came to a close. That ruling came in response to the NCAA adopting the 5 for 5 model, allowing student-athletes the ability to play 5 seasons of collegiate sports in a 5-year timeline. That ruling has since been clarified, granting eligibility to pl

@uncfootball- Instagram With official visits done for the summer, it is time to turn our attention back to the 2026 team. We’ll do so by giving you our in-depth position previews for this season where we do a deep dive on each position room as we wait for fall camp to start. We close out our look at the 2026 roster by dissecting a room that is a complete unknown heading into the season, the special teams unit. Kicker is a two-man battle at the start of fall camp. Right now, i

South Dakota Athletics On Friday night, Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney, from Colorado, issued a preliminary injunction, paving the way for student-athletes who were seniors in the 2026 academic year to be eligible for another season, after the NCAA adopted the new five-for-five model earlier this summer. While this ruling is going to send both college football and college basketball into a frenzy, trying to add talent to their respective rosters, some schools, like UNC, stand to

Jaylynn Nash- Getty Images Thursday is the start of fall camp for the Tar Heels as they get prepared for an extremely important season for Bill Belichick and his staff in Chapel Hill. Heading into the first practice of the fall, here is our projected depth chart for the season opener against TCU. Offense QB # 9 Billy Edwards Jr., Gr. # 8 Miles O’Neill, So. # 3 Travis Burgess, Fr. #10 Au’Tori Newkirk, RFr. #18 Andres Miyares Jr., So. #15 DJ Mazzone, So. RB # 0 Demon June, So.

@jaidenpatterson_- Instagram With official visits done for the summer, it is time to turn our attention back to the 2026 team. We’ll do so by giving you our in-depth position previews for this season where we do a deep dive on each position room as we wait for fall camp to start. We shut down our look at the defensive side of the football with a look at the room that probably boasts the biggest question marks heading into the season, the defensive backs. The team has to repla

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

Evan Hinshaw- UNC Athletics With official visits done for the summer, it is time to turn our attention back to the 2026 team. We’ll do so by giving you our in-depth position previews for this season where we do a deep dive on each position room as we wait for fall camp to start. We continue with a look at a linebacker room that had to undergo a good bit of change this offseason after some significant departures. Two transfers are expected to start for the team again this seas

Thursday was the start of NFL training camps around the league, meaning 30 former Tar Heels will begin their pursuit of spots on 53-man roster across the 32 teams. To get you ready for preseason football, here’s where we think each player stands heading into their respective camps and if we believe they end up making a roster this year. Eric Canha- Imagn Images Locks (9) WR Josh Downs- Indianapolis Colts LB Cedric Gray- Tennessee Titans RB Omarion Hampton- Los Angeles Charger