Belichick, rebuilt Tar Heels open fall camp with more questions than answers

Now it’s time for actual football in Chapel Hill.

It’s been eight-plus months since North Carolina hired NFL coaching legend Bill Belichick to guide its football program, generating an onslaught of headlines – about his surprising move to college football, basketball power UNC’s heavy investment, his May-December romance with girlfriend Jordon Hudson and their personal and professional relationship and the “fever pitch” anticipation over his actual debut.

Lost, at times, is the product the Tar Heels will put on the field in the sold-out opener against TCU and beyond in Belichick’s first college football season. 

UNC opens fall practice Saturday morning.

“After all the talk about getting ready for football season, I know Coach Belichick is eager to get out and actually play some football,” UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts said. “And we’re all excited to see it.”

UNC went 6-7 in Mack Brown’s final season, marred by a humiliating 70-50 home loss to James Madison, a 21-20 loss at Duke in which the Tar Heels led 20-0 at halftime and a fourth consecutive loss to NC State in Brown’s final game.

With general manager Michael Lombardi and Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl winner as coach of the New England Patriots, the Tar Heels underwent a radical roster transformation in the offseason. 

Of the 63 UNC players listed as playing against NC State, just 25 remain on the roster. They have 70 new players, Belichick said, including 30 freshmen and 40 transfers – a level of turnover that leads to uncertainty.

“You can expect a tough, smart, dependable team, a team that communicates a lot, a team that's well put together, well driven, a team with a chip on their shoulder,” said senior defensive back Thaddeus Dixon, who transferred from Washington. “Honestly, everybody’s got something to prove. Everybody is trying to get somewhere.”

UNC was selected to finish eighth in the 17-team ACC in the preseason media poll, and zero Tar Heels made the league’s 27-member All-ACC preseason team. It will be up to Belichick, whose staff includes two of his sons in defensive coordinator Steve and secondary coach Brian, to quickly get them ready.

“It’s a little bit of a challenge,” Belichick said. “Certainly we’ll have team-building activities and things like that where you kind of get to know your teammates and build some camaraderie and trust. But on the field, it comes from earning that trust from your teammates and being dependable, being where you’re supposed to be so they can be where they’re supposed to be, having good communication, working together. 

“A little bit like a military boot camp or training camp where you learn to work with your teammates pretty quickly or somebody else is working with them.”

The new regime has sold UNC as the NFL’s 33rd team or a professional program in a college setting. Moses Cabrera, the program’s strength and conditioning coach, has extensive NFL ties, as do many members of the coaching staff. The Tar Heels’ fate in Belichick’s first year could come down to how quickly that staff can develop the roster.

At last week’s ACC Kickoff media event, where he was the main attraction, Belichick referenced the development of New England stars like late-round draft picks in quarterback Tom Brady and wide receiver Julian Edelman, as well as putting together an offensive line in Cleveland with four free agents.

“Developing players, that's really what coaching is, and that's what we do,” Belichick said. “We take great pride in that, myself and our staff, and players who want to be developed. A Carolina player is a player who wants to be a good football player, who wants to work hard, who wants to make a commitment towards improving on a regular basis, towards training and team execution on the field.”

Belichick has placed a premium on competition, including at quarterback where South Alabama transfer Gio Lopez, who transferred after spring practice, and last season’s opening-game starter Max Johnson are the top contenders. Johnson suffered a gruesome leg injury in the opener and has worked his way back to full participation. Unlike those two, touted freshman Bryce Baker participated in spring practice.

“It’s competitive,” Belchick said. “And then we have two freshmen. Let them compete, see how it goes. I can’t control how anybody plays. We just give them the opportunity, put them out there and let them decide. They’ll decide.”

That’ll be the case across the roster. No UNC player that received votes for last season’s All-ACC postseason teams returns.

Despite the paucity of proven on-field stars, UNC sold every ticket for its six home games earlier than ever before in program history. Such is the excitement around Belichick. The players, too, sense it.

“I'm excited for the new change, the new spark, the new energy that this season is bringing to the team, to the players on the team that stayed, but also just to the whole fan base and the community of Chapel Hill,” defensive back Will Hardy said. “I think everyone is looking forward to it. I'm no different. I know all the players on the team that were here last year are excited for this new change. When we got the news that Coach Belichick was going to be our new coach, we were all pumped for it. Shocked at first, but ready to get to work, and that's exactly what we've been doing.”