Heel Tough Blog: 2026 Position Previews- LB

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 season. Richmond transfer Peyton Seelmann might be a bit on the small side, but from all indications, he was very impactful in the spring and projects to be the most productive member of this room this season. Last year, Seelmann started all 12 games and racked up 120 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, nine total quarterback pressures, two interceptions, four pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery on the way to earning first team All-Patriot League honors. He brings some really strong coverage ability to the table after he allowed 29 of his 38 targets to be caught for just 201 yards and no touchdowns this past season. He is making the jump from the FCS level to Power 4 level, so there will be an adjustment that needs to be made to the speed and physicality of the game, but based on reports, that appears to be going well. Expect him to be the face of this room.

Syracuse transfer Derek McDonald comes over after five years with the Orange and will look to anchor the unit in the middle. McDonald’s 2025 season was cut short by a hip injury, but he played a major role for the team in the previous three seasons. So far in his career, he has collected 173 total tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, an interception and three pass deflections, which are solid numbers, but he has to prove that he can be a reliable starter after he lost his starting job late in 2024 and wasn’t able to regain it last year. The Tar Heels are hoping that he can return to his 2023 form where he finished with 67 total tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 23 total quarterback pressures and a pass deflection in 593 snaps. If he does, this has a chance to be the most consistent unit on the defense this season.

Behind the two projected starters is sophomore Jonathan Agamadu, who is looking to take over as the rotational option in this room. Last year, in his first year with the program, Agumadu finished with ten total tackles in 142 snaps across both defense and special teams. By all indications, he took a nice step forward in the spring and looks poised to hold down that main rotation spot that was held by Mikai Gbayor a year ago. Depending on how he looks in fall camp, he could push McDonald for some significant snaps right out of the gate.

After this trio, there are a lot of questions. Sophomore Timir Hickman-Collins is the guy who played the most snaps a year ago (60 snaps on defense), but it was Jake Bauer who reportedly stood out the most from this group back in the spring. Bauer, a former 3✮ in last year’s recruiting class, played just 33 snaps between defense and special teams a year ago, so he will have to prove himself again in fall camp if he is going to become a player that can play rotational reps this season.

As for Hickman-Collins, he’ll be looking to, at least, reassume the role that he had last year after falling down the depth chart in the spring. Hickman-Collins wasn’t the most impactful player when he was on the field, but he did finish with ten tackles and didn’t stick out as a problem out there. He’s going to need to prove that he can be more impactful if he is going to prevent himself from falling further down the depth, let alone compete to be a rotational piece.

The wild cards here are the talented true freshmen that joined in the room back in the spring. We didn’t hear much about either Calvin Thomas or DQ Forkpa in the spring, but with a semester under their belts and some experience in the system, their talent might start to show through in the fall. These could be names that we hear more about as the season goes on.

Deeper depth at the position is good in terms of numbers. Redshirt freshmen Tyler Houser and Lantz Pascal and true freshmen Jordan Avinger and Jayden Griffin-Haynes will all be looking to make an impression on the staff while being further down the depth chart this season.

Projected Depth Chart:

MLB

#10 Peyton Seelmann, Jr.

#44 Jake Bauer, RFr.

#54 Timir Hickman-Collins, So.

#33 Tyler Houser, RFr.

#43 Lantz Pascal, RFr.

#36 Jayden Griffin-Haynes, Fr.

WLB

#15 Derek McDonald, Gr.

# 8 Jonathan Agumadu, So.

#12 Calvin Thomas, Fr.

#26 DQ Forkpa, Fr.

#42 Jordan Avinger, Fr.