@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

@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

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

@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 continue by shifting over to the defensive side of the football where we’ll take a look at a unit that provides some nice promise for this upcoming season, the defensive line. Everything in this room b

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