Heel Tough Blog: Rece Verhoff Now Ineligible Due to Tenth Circuit Ruling

@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 injunctions to get that extra year of eligibility.

Tar Heel head coach Bill Belichick offered some comments on Verhoff and his eligibility just prior to the ruling coming down. “We’ll see how the whole thing with Rece plays out whether he is in fact able to participate or not. It appears now there’s a chance of that but it hasn’t been resolved and until it is we really have to have a contingency plan for whatever the resolution to that is.”

With Verhoff currently ineligible, that means the Tar Heels will have to turn back to LSU transfer Aeron Burrell or true freshman David Green for the time being as they prepare for the game against TCU. Based on some of the comments early in fall before Verhoff returned, it would seem that Burrell has the edge and will likely be handling all of the placekicking and kickoff duties for the team if Verhoff isn’t eligible by next Saturday. While there were some positive things said about him early in camp, there is still the unknown of what he’ll be as a placekicker in a game setting having never kicked an extra point or field goal in college. What was going to be perceived as a strength going over to Ireland will now be looked at as a question mark, just like the rest of this special teams unit.