Heel Tough Blog: Three Players No Longer With Team as Spring Ball Approaches

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With spring ball right around the corner, news has dropped that three players who were with the Tar Heels last season and didn’t enter the transfer portal this winter are no longer with the program.

As first reported by Inside Carolina, linebacker Evan Bennett, tight end Cort Halsey and defensive lineman Laderion Williams are not a part of the Tar Heels roster for spring ball which is expected to begin on March 24th according to On3 Sports.

Bennett, a former 3✮ prospect in the 2024 class, leaves after spending the last two seasons with the program. After playing just one snap in 2024, he saw 69 snaps on special teams this season, totaling one tackle across the four games that he was active for.

Halsey, a walk-on that joined the program prior to the 2023 season, is gone after spending the first three seasons of his career with the program. In his career, Halsey saw action in four games, including against Syracuse back in 2023 where he registered the lone target of his career.

Williams, a former 3✮ prospect in the 2025 class, will depart after just one season in Chapel Hill. Unfortunately for him, he did not see a snap this past season for the team.

Bennett is the most significant loss here because of how it affects the depth at linebacker where the team is relatively thin and inexperienced, but there is enough talent with young guys like DQ Forkpa and Calvin Thomas that the unit should be fine behind starters Peyton Seelmann and Derek McDonald. Defensive tackle isn’t the deepest position on this team, either, but there was a good chance that Williams was going to be used sparingly again this season. As for tight end, the team is in good shape after adding three players here through the transfer portal.