If you missed yesterday’s overview of this year’s recruiting class and examination of the offensive and special teams recruits, you can find it here.
College football wrapped up its Early Signing Day window
last week (championship week, no distractions for some of the programs there). For most programs, this concludes the high school portion of recruiting, despite the “official” signing day in February. The January portal season looms.
The class ranks 12th in ESPN’s rankings, boosted by the sheer volume of commitments. On3, which caps the number of players evaluated for its rankings, rates the class 18th. It boasts 39 signees.
The defense this season proved much more aesthetically pleasing than last season’s. However, appearances can be deceiving. While the offense got all the attention for being one of college football’s worst units, the defense regressed as well. This UNC defense proved to the 5th worst UNC defense in the last 20 years, a number bad enough even before we consider the competition it faced for spots one through four. Bright spot: the defensive line looked better than we’ve seen in a long time and returns most of its contributors. Problem: the shaky linebacker room and defensive back room lose a ton of players.
Defensive Line Recruits
Notes: Cleveland flipped to UNC from Texas and from Alabama before that. Moala spent time committed to USC and then Oregon before signing with UNC. Griffin-Haynes switched from Texas AM to UNC.
The defensive line right now (pre-portal season) includes 16 returning players plus the seven listed above. Of the eight defensive line players seeing 10% of the season’s snaps or more, only Smith Vilbert runs out of eligibility. The room returns a ton of experience and the defense’s best player in Melkart-Abou-Jaoude. It adds a lot of talent via this year’s class. Expect a host of departures off the back end of this year’s depth chart.
Linebacker Recruits
Notes: Forkpa had serious interest from Florida, FSU, and Michigan before committing to UNC. Thomas had offers from Texas and SMU.
Of UNC’s three starting linebackers, two exhausted their eligibility. Khmori House, the third starter, finally beat someone to the edge as the first UNC starter to announce his transfer. No other linebacker had more than a few garbage time snaps. Like the offensive line, this room starts completely over. Expecting true freshmen to fill those gaps would be a recipe for disaster. UNC probably pursues at least two and possibly three starting linebackers in the portal.
Defensive Back Recruits
Notes: Dopson flipped from Miami, stating it was “”best for his immediate future.“ Weatherspoon flipped his commitment from Ohio State to UNC. Davis was headed to Penn State until Franklin’s firing.
The secondaries Big Four — Marcus Allen, Will Hardy, Thaddeus Dixon, and Gavin Gipson — all logged the most snaps in that unit, and all are out of eligibility. Jaden Patterson, Kaleb Cost, Greg Smith, Coleman Bryson, Tre Miller, and Jalon Thompson contributed enough snaps to be considered returning experience. Ty White and Khalil Conley have announced transfer intentions. Expect five more on that front from the back end of the roster.
The recruiting class beyond Dopson and Weatherspoon amounts to a lot of projects who should probably consider their first season here an audition. All are projects, and the numbers suggest the staff doesn’t know which one or two of them will make the leap to P4 college football. At this point in time, the DB room has 21 guys in it. Expect that number to shrink considerably during portal season.
In summary, the defensive line room looks promising. The linebacker room is a total reset. The DB room will be a work in progress.
Summary: Offense and Defense
Yesterday’s review mentioned a letter sent to prominent boosters by Lombardi in late September. A purported version of that letter was posted online. Here’s an excerpt which seems to indicate how Lombardi might see this class in the context of his and Belichick’s long-term vision for UNC football:
Playing young players will create bumps along the way, Former Michigan basketball coach John Beilein said it well, “Freshmen want to play. Sophomores want to start. Juniors want to score. Seniors want to win.” We need an older experienced team and the best way to address this problem is to have a robust 2026 recruiting class….
Assuming the letter is genuine, the relevant line here connects “older, experienced team” with “robust 2026 recruiting class.” That would seem to suggest these players will see the field a lot in an effort to turn them into an “older experienced team.” Expect to see these freshman on the field a lot in 2026.
So what might UNC be looking for in the portal starting January 2?
Adding yesterday’s offensive review, the portal shopping list, at a minimum, roughly seems to be:
- 1 starting QB
- 4 starting offensive linemen
- 2 back-up offensive linemen
- 3 starting linebackers
- 1 starting tight end
- 1 starting safety
- 1 starting slot corner
- 1 starting boundary receiver
One year into the Belichick Experiment, and well over $15 million spent on upgrading the roster in 2025, needing at least 14 critical players via the portal just to be competitive seems an indictment. Some reporting suggests UNC spent almost the entirety of its rev-share budget on this recruiting class, which would mean the budget for the portal may be limited. Most of the positions on that portal list, especially offensive line and QB, command the highest prices. It’s possible that after a miserably failed effort to “win now” in 2025, Belichick and Lombardi are pulling back to a very young roster with hopes to develop a foundation for 2027 and 2028.
Whether that’s a viable plan in this era of unlimited player movement remains to be seen. Whether the current slate of position coaches can hone true freshman into elite units remains to be seen. Whether Belichick, age 74 next season, has patience to execute such a long-term vision remains to be seen. Whether Lombardi has the necessary acumen to evaluate successfully high school players remains to be seen. Whether Belichick and Lombardi can craft a program culture that retains and maximizes its most promising players remains to be seen.
In other words, the Belichick Experiment remains very much an experiment, with 2025 raising more questions than it answered.
