Heel Tough Blog: 2025 Position Previews- DB

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It’s that time of year again, folks. With the season fast approaching, it is time to give you a preview of what this roster is going to look like this upcoming season under new coach Bill Belichick. Today, we give you a look at a room that has a healthy mixture of old and new faces, the defensive back room.

When it comes to the cornerback room, you have to start with what might be the most talked about transfer on the team, Thaddeus Dixon, who comes in from Washington. Dixon spent the last two seasons in Seattle with the Huskies after transferring in from Long Beach Community College where he played the first two years of his career. In 2023, he finished the season with 26 total tackles, 1.0 tackles for loss, one interception and five pass breakups while allowing 25 of his 40 receptions to be caught for 315 yards and four touchdowns in 361 snaps. This past season, Dixon earned All-Big Ten honorable mention after an outstanding season where he finished with 43 total tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, one interception and ten pass breakups while allowing just 23 of his 51 targets to be caught for 237 yards and two touchdowns in 751 snaps. With another year in Stephen Belichick’s system, the Tar Heels are expecting big things from him this season as the leader of the room and there is no reason to believe he won’t be able to live up to them.

Opposite of him will be senior holdover Marcus Allen, who will be entering his third year as a starter and the hope is that he will finally all click for him. He made some nice progress last year, allowing just 28 of his 53 targets to be caught and pulling down two interceptions, but he also allowed 454 yards and committed five penalties, the second most of anyone on the team. The team will need him to be more consistent in coverage and much more disciplined if they want to take a step forward on the perimeter this year.

In the slot, the team went out and brought in Gavin Gibson, the East Carolina transfer to try to provide more resistance than they got at the position last year. In Gibson’s lone season at East Carolina, he played in all thirteen games, starting ten of them at that nickel corner spot. In the 630 snaps he played, he finished with 52 total tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, six quarterback pressures, three interceptions and three pass breakups. Gibson was thrown at 53 times this season and while 36 of those were caught, he allowed 322 yards and two touchdowns and a 73.0 QB rating. The hope is that he can bring similar production this year and help the Tar Heels to avoid being attacked in the middle of the field the way that they were a year ago.

While the starters at the cornerback and nickelback spots might be relatively set, the safety spots are not. Senior holdover Will Hardy looks like he might be destined for one of the spots based on the fact that he was one of the guys who spoke to the media earlier this offseason and he is part of the group traveling for ACC Kickoff. If he is going to be a starter, the team will need him to take another step forward this season after he had a solid finish to the 2024 season where he collected 34 total tackles, 1.0 tackles for loss, an interception and a pass breakup while allowing seven of the eleven targets against him to be caught for just 72 yards and zero touchdowns in 295 snaps. Like Allen, the Tar Heels need Hardy to more consistent, but it felt like things started to click a little last year and it might be something that translates over to Stephen Belichick’s scheme better than with previous regimes.

The other spot feels like a true question mark. The guy with the most experience is sophomore holdover Kaleb Cost, who looks to be making the transition from nickelback to safety after a rough season a year ago. In 444 coverage snaps a year ago, he allowed 48 catches for 592 yards and five touchdowns while only coming down with two interceptions and six pass breakups on the flip side of it. He’ll need to be better in coverage and the hope is that he will after he chose not to play baseball this spring and instead put all of his focus on football. Moving to a more natural position for him may also help.

Another fairly experienced option is Minnesota transfer Coleman Bryson, who, like Hardy, was a part-time starter last season. In his most extensive action of his career (264 snaps across thirteen games), he collected 20 total tackles and allowed five of his 10 targets to be caught for 57 yards. He isn’t going to necessarily blow you away with anything that he does, but he is another guy who is just a solid player that more than often won’t get you beat when he’s on the field.

Fellow transfer Peyton Waters is another name worth watching here. In his lone season in Seattle, Waters played in all thirteen of the team’s games between defense and special teams, collecting five total tackles. He played just ten snaps on defense between the Northwestern, Penn State and Oregon games, but he was a key part of the team’s special teams unit where he played 126 snaps. His familiarity with Stephen Belichick’s system and raw talent could be enough to earn him some significant snaps this season.

The wild card in this battle is sophomore holdover Malcolm Ziglar. While he played very limited snaps a year ago, he was one of the leaders on special teams and there is a lot of raw talent there for him as well. If that talent can shine through in fall camp, there is a chance that he could earn himself a decent role in the secondary this season.

The safety room clearly has some nice depth with all the guys that are competing for a starting job and the same can be said at corner. Sophomore holdover Ty Adams will be the guy that the team will be able to rotate on the outside. In the limited reps he’s seen so far in his career, he’s been incredibly hit and miss, but the hope is that a fresh start in a new system may allow him to improve in coverage and be more consistent.

Another player who is pushing for a rotational role this year on the outside is sophomore Jalon Thompson. Last year, he spent most of his time as a member of the special teams unit, but this season he is poised to push for a spot in that two deep. A strong fall camp showing might also be enough to earn him some significant reps during the season.

In the nickel, sophomore Tre Miller is back after playing 78 snaps and looks to be the guy in the best position to earn that spot in the two-deep. He is another player who struggled in coverage a year ago, allowing a 134.5 quarterback rating in the 50 coverage snaps that he played. He’ll need to prove that he’s better than he was a year ago if he wants to hold on that backup job this season.

Pushing him for that spot will be sophomore Ty White. White only played one snap last season, but the former 4✮ recruit chose to stick it out through the coaching change and could be ready to challenge for that backup nickelback role this season. Thaddeus Dixon pointed to him as someone that has taken a big leap so he will be one player worth monitoring when the team starts fall camp.

Sophomore Jaiden Patterson will also be battling hoping to find a role in this room this season. Last year, he was a significant part of the special teams unit, but he will be looking to become a part of the two deep at either safety or corner this year.

Another guy who will also be pushing to provide depth at safety this season is true freshman Javion Butts who was with the team in the spring. If he is able to put together a good fall camp, he could position himself to factor in if attrition was to hit this room at some point this season.

Redshirt freshman UCLA transfer Khristian Dunbar-Hawkins and redshirt freshman holdover Khalil Conley are expected to provide deeper depth at the cornerback spots this season.

Former walk-on Reggie Love II is now on scholarship, as are true freshmen Jermaine Anderson and Graham Reintjes who were summer additions to the team.

Projected Depth Chart:

CB

# 1 Thaddeus Dixon, Sr.

#20 Jalon Thompson, So.

#18 Jaiden Patterson, So.

#19 Reggie Love II, So.

CB

#29 Marcus Allen, Sr.

#11 Ty Adams, So.

#26 Khalil Conley, RFr.

#27 Graham Reintjes, Fr.

NB

# 5 Gavin Gibson, Sr.

#15 Tre Miller, So.

# 0 Ty White, So.

#23 Khristian Dunbar-Hawkins, RFr.

SS

#21 Kaleb Cost, Jr.

# 3 Malcolm Ziglar, So.

#24 Javion Butts, Fr.

#32 Jermaine Anderson, Fr.

FS

#31 Will Hardy, Sr.

#16 Coleman Bryson, Jr.

#17 Peyton Waters, So.