Heel Tough Blog: 2025 Position Previews- LB

Anthony Pagnotta
Aug 6
3 min read

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 another defensive position that was nearly completely overhauled by the staff this offseason and will rely almost exclusively on transfers, the linebacker room.

Everything starts with Boise State transfer Andrew Simpson, who takes over at middle linebacker for Amare Campbell, who transferred after the spring. Simpson is coming off a productive three-year career in Boise, where he saw action in 40 games, including 25 starts. This past season, as a junior, he finished with 45 total tackles, 11.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, 24 total quarterback pressures, three forced fumbles and one interception. The year prior was his breakout season when he collected 66 total tackles, 16.0 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, 33 total quarterback pressures, two forced fumbles and two interceptions. The hope is that he can turn the clock back to that 2023 season this year in Chapel Hill and produce similar numbers in this aggressive Stephen Belichick defense.

Alongside him is expected to be Washington transfer Khmori House, who followed his coach after a productive freshman campaign as a rotational player. House played in all 12 regular season games with the Huskies this past season, which included five starts. He finished the season with 35 total tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss, 0.0 sacks, eight total quarterback pressures, an interception and four passes defensed in 317 snaps. With a year of experience under his belt and a more expansive role, the expectation is that he will be able to take a step forward in his second season in this defensive scheme.

Behind these guys is another experienced option who will be able to provide legitimate depth at the position for the first time in a while in Chapel Hill. Senior Mikai Gbayor transferred in from Missouri after spending the spring there following a four year stint at Nebraska. After not playing just 19 special teams snaps in his first two seasons with the program, he saw action in all twelve games in 2023, including four starts on defense. He finished with 24 total tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and 0.5 sack in 242 defensive snaps and 152 special teams snaps. This past season, his role expanded even further as played in twelve of the team’s 13 games, collecting 49 total tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, three passes defensed and two fumble recoveries in 375 defensive snaps and 103 special teams snaps. While he may not be a starter for this team, expect him to be heavily involved in this linebacking corps this season.

After that, there are questions abound. Possible hybrid safety/linebacker Gregory Smith III is the only other player in the room that has defensive snaps and the team still has to figure out where they are going to use him. In the five games that he played for Florida last year, he logged 100 snaps and registered five total tackles and one pass defensed. Prior to that, in his final seasons at the high school level he collected 29 tackles, four pass break ups, one interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Redshirt freshman Evan Bennett is the only holdover from the previous regime and he’s hoping that the spring he spent in the system will give him an advantage over Oklahoma State transfer Jonathan Agumadu and Florida State transfer Timir Hickman-Collins, who joined the team this summer. This trio will be battling for that second spot in the two deep that will hopefully prove useful if there is an injury to one of the top three at some point this season.

The true freshmen will also be looking to factor into that battle this fall. Tyler Houser is the most likely of the bunch to play early based on his talent, but Jake Bauer and Lantz Pascal will be hoping to prove something to this staff as well when they take the field in early August.

Projected Depth Chart:

WLB

# 7 Khmori House, So.

# 4 Mikai Gbayor, Sr.

#12 Gregory Smith III, RFr.

#54 Timir Hickman-Collins, RFr.

#44 Jake Bauer, Fr.

MLB

# 2 Andrew Simpson, Sr.

#30 Evan Bennett, RFr.

#41 Jonathan Agumadu, RFr.

#33 Tyler Houser, Fr.