
Tennessee’s new ending, Michigan’s old-school dominance and the best of Week 7
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adminFor all of the twists and turns and surprises and upsets the college football season invariably delivers, it’s easy to still assume the final chapters have been prewritten, and in the end, the same heroes will emerge victorious.
Just think what life has been like for Tennessee fans who, through 15 years of futility against Alabama, have seen their SEC brethren win 11 national titles, including six by these Crimson Tide, while the only bit of hardware they’ve scored for themselves was a lone championship of life.
Think of what it must’ve felt like to see Lane Kiffin’s surreal exit and Derek Dooley’s tenure and Butch Jones’ sideline trash can and Jeremy Pruitt’s bags of cash (and also those three days when Greg Schiano was going to be the coach before Twitter nixed the deal) and know that the man on the other side of the field on Saturday had never lost on the Third Saturday of October.
Think of what it must be like to slip into a pair of orange overalls and chug cheap beer on a flotilla and sing “Rocky Top” for the 200th time, only to stare down a scoreboard that shows another blowout loss at the hands of the mighty Tide.
Who, faced with such horror, could still have hope?
And yet, on the 16th try, the story had a new ending.
To see that sea of orange pour onto the field after Tennessee’s 52-49 win on Saturday, razing the goal post and hoisting it in the air in a moment of mass catharsis was part celebration and part exorcism, a shedding of the demons that have made this program one of the most consistent punchlines in college football for the past 16 years.
On Saturday, the joke was on Alabama.
When Tennessee jumped out to a 28-10 lead, it was an emphatic show of strength, serving notice that Alabama was hardly invincible, and Nick Saban wanted to speak to the manager.
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Nick Saban was livid on the sideline after Alabama muffed a punt in the second quarter.
When Alabama roared back in the second half and took a 35-34 lead following a controversial pass interference call, there would’ve been every reason for Tennessee to assume this would be yet another kick in the face, and yet Jalin Hyatt refused to roll over. Instead, he hauled in second-half scores of 60, 78 and 13 yards in a remarkable show of resilience.
When Alabama’s late field-goal try sailed wide right, what remained among the nearly 102,000 in attendance was not resignation but hope.
Bryce Young returned from injury and was dazzling, throwing 455 yards, but when Hendon Hooker delivered a dagger to Bru McCoy with 2 seconds left on the clock, the game-winning field goal was little more than deus ex machina. The tide had turned, and the Tide wouldn’t survive.
Tennessee’s win, in some ways, offered a spark for so many upstarts. As the Volunteers marched toward that game-winning kick, TCU was completing a frenetic comeback to beat Oklahoma State in overtime. Syracuse moved to 6-0 for the first time since the Reagan administration with an emphatic win over NC State and now has a showdown with undefeated Clemson up next. Ole Miss and UCLA are undefeated, too, and either would represent a stark departure from the college football status quo if they can keep winning through the next seven weeks, too.
None of this is to suggest that the kings have been dethroned. Clemson flexed its defensive muscle against Florida State. Georgia demolished Vanderbilt. Michigan and Ohio State again appear to be the class of the Big Ten. Even Alabama remains the clear favorite in the SEC West, and the best Tennessee might hope for is a rematch in Atlanta in December.
But for one Saturday at least — the third Saturday in October, as it were — it felt like there could be a new conquering hero at the end of this story.
And hey, don’t worry too much, Alabama. That coveted championship of life is still up for grabs.
Michigan’s old-school domination
In the Big Ten, Ohio State is a unicorn. It’s a hard-living, fast-driving, take-no-prisoners action flick. The Buckeyes are strobe lights and glow sticks. The rest of the league is a Tupperware party.
Except maybe Michigan.
The Wolverines thumped No. 10 Penn State 41-17 on Saturday, and that makes it hard to lump them into the rest of the Big Ten pack. They’re something different — even if we’re still not quite sure exactly how different. That Michigan was the better team Saturday is unquestionable. That Penn State managed 17 points was a near miracle. The Nittany Lions held the ball for just 18:04, and roughly 17:50 of that time was spent in third-and-long.
Instead, it was the Michigan ground game that offered true fireworks. Donovan Edwards ran for 173. Blake Corum ran for 166. Both had runs of 60-plus yards. It has been a winning formula for the Wolverines to run their monster backs into a brick wall again and again and know that, ultimately, the wall will give up.
And yet, cast against Ohio State’s seemingly unstoppable offense and suddenly rejuvenated D, it’s fair to ask if Michigan’s formula is ultimately good enough to win at the highest level.
Ohio State is dynamic and flashy. Michigan feels a bit like its coach’s preferred pants — not quite formal, not quite casual, completely functional and so bland it’s oddly interesting.
Last year, that was enough. Ohio State’s flash was impressive when it worked and a train wreck when it didn’t. Good or bad, it was interesting.
Michigan could be dull and predictable, but it rarely disappeared in big moments, and that was enough to punch a playoff ticket. And even after that, it was still clear that improvement was needed, and so Jim Harbaugh went through the motions of a QB battle perfectly designed to achieve the desired result. And now with JJ McCarthy, Michigan is again good and reliable and… mostly using the same formula it did a year ago.
To look down the Big Ten standings at teams like Penn State, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin or Purdue is to sift through a freezer full of vanilla ice cream. To look at Ohio State is to see a bottomless tub of 31 flavors with sprinkles and hot fudge. And what is Michigan? Not vanilla, clearly. But perhaps French vanilla?
Saturday’s dominance of Penn State was a statement. In the country’s second-richest (and, therefore, second-best) conference, Michigan stands out from the crowd. It is a team that made the College Football Playoff just a year ago, then seemed almost an afterthought all offseason, returned to the field with a plethora of wins against cupcakes that all added up to… what? Even after Saturday, are we ready to include Michigan on the same tier as the Buckeyes?
Perhaps the problem is us. Perhaps we’re fools, constantly dazzled by the shiniest object, and Ohio State polishes its chrome with the best of them. Perhaps we simply cannot appreciate the physical, run-it-down-your-throat-then-keep-running approach of the Wolverines.
After all, the Big Ten is about to cash a $1-billion-a-year TV check in exchange for long field goal drives (15-, 19-, 15- and 14-play efforts in Illinois’ 26-14 win Saturday) and Brian Ferentz ruining nepotism for a generation of spoiled rich kids. Certainly there’s an audience, and perhaps we simply lack the refined palette.
Maybe the takeaway from Michigan’s dominance of Penn State isn’t to suggest that the Wolverines are fun or ready for a showdown with that team down south to decide who makes the playoff. Perhaps all that needs to be said is that Michigan is 7-0, and we’re all going to have to keep watching.
Midseason Awards
We’re seven weeks into the season — the official halfway point — and that means it’s time to take stock of some of the storylines that have defined the 2022 campaign. So, put on your tuxedo t-shirt, pour yourself a tall Miller High Life (the champagne of beers) and settle in for our very formal presentation of the midseason’s best.
Best second-string QB: TCU’s Max Duggan
Could Duggan go from opening the season on the bench to earning an invite to the Heisman ceremony at season’s end? After losing the starting QB job to Chandler Morris, Duggan has emerged as one of the country’s most prolific players, with 16 passing TDs, four more on the ground and just one interception on the season. Saturday, Duggan helped TCU erase a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit against Oklahoma State to win 43-40 in double overtime.
Best renaming of a stadium: JMA Wireless Dome
After years of frigid performances at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse changed the name of its home stadium, and in doing so, changed its fortunes. The Orange thumped NC State 24-9 at the now-JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday, moving to 6-0 for the first time since 1987. Coincidentally, JMA Wireless is also the only company that will provide service for Jim Boeheim’s brick Motorola mobile he first bought in 1987 and still uses. Time is a flat circle.
Best party guest: Sam Pittman
Pittman lectured us on the need to bring top-shelf beverages to parties earlier this year, but BYU is prohibited by the school’s code of conduct from serving up any of Pittman’s favorites. KJ Jefferson returned to action to throw for 367 yards and five touchdowns in a 52-35 win over the Cougars. On the upside, Pittman left a case of O’Douls in visiting locker room because he’s just that good a party guest.
Worst preseason prediction: Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea
Lea said the Commodores would eventually become the best team in America.
Vandy lost to Georgia on Saturday 55-0, as Stetson Bennett IV threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns. There’s still time for Clark to be proven correct, we suppose, but by the time it happens, there’s a decent chance Stetson Bennet V is ready to take over the Bulldogs’ offense.
Best new trend: Firing your coach
Colorado nixed Karl Dorrell on Oct. 2, took a week off, and returned to pick up win No. 1 on Saturday (the last FBS team to get its first win of the year) with a 20-13 overtime victory over Cal. Five teams have axed their coaches so far this season. Before the firings, those teams were a combined 1-15 vs. FBS foes. Since firing their coaches, they’re a far more respectable 7-5. Then look back at teams that parted ways with coaches before October concluded last year, and nearly every one is in a better place, including USC and TCU among the nation’s best teams. So, the evidence is clear. Write a very big check, fire your coach, win a bunch of games. Someone tell Auburn.
Most disappointing twist: Sun Belt Cinderellas
The season began with Appalachian State in the role of America’s favorite Cinderella, but James Madison stole that crown with a Week 4 shocker in Boone. JMU then ran its record to 5-0 and garnered a top-25 ranking, but the Cinderella run came to an end Saturday. Georgia Southern scored with 1:01 to play to take a 45-38 lead then picked off JMU QB Todd Centeio to secure the win. The loss marked both the first of the season for the Dukes, as well as James Madison’s most embarrassing moment in Georgia since the Treaty of Ghent.
Best feel-good story: DJ Uiagalelei’s re-emergence
Perhaps no player in the country took more heat last year than Uiagalelei, who entered the season as a Heisman contender and an NIL darling, starring in a national ad campaign, and finished it with nine TD passes and 10 interceptions. Despite the struggles, Dabo Swinney stuck by his QB this offseason, and Uiagalelei has rewarded that trust by leading the Tigers to a 7-0 start, while accounting for 21 touchdowns on the season, including four in the Tigers’ 34-28 win over Florida State on Saturday. And the truly good thing about all this is that there’s no chance Swinney will rub it in anyone’s face that he was right and everyone else was wrong.
Best team in Mississippi: Jackson State
Ole Miss is 7-0 after beating Auburn 48-34 on Saturday. Still, giving up 34 points to Auburn is actually the same as a loss, so they’re scratched from winning this honor. Meanwhile, Mike Leach’s Mississippi State was demolished by Chris Rodriguez (196 yards and two TDs) and Kentucky, so the Bulldogs are out, too. That leaves Coach Prime’s squad, which may not be SWAC enough for some people’s standards, but after a 48-8 win over Bethune-Cookman in which Shedeur Sanders threw for five TDs, the Tigers get the prize basket, which includes a six-pack of Barq’s root beer and a complementary interview for the soon-to-be-vacant Auburn head-coaching job.
No D for USC
There was a simple formula for Lincoln Riley during his years at Oklahoma: Take a great QB, mix him with some terrific skill position guys, then take away any semblance of a competent defense, and — voila! — you’ve got yourself a team capable of losing by 20 in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.
Well, the formula might be slightly more complicated at USC.
Yes, Riley has his superstar QB. Caleb Williams was exceptional. And yes, he’s got a ton of talent on offense, from Travis Dye to Mario Williams to Jordan Addison. And yes, he’s still decided it’s defense optional. And against Utah on Saturday, that turned out to be a big problem.
USC jumped out to a 14-0 lead, didn’t trail until the Utes converted a 2-point try with 48 seconds remaining, and yet, it wasn’t enough.
Utah’s final six drives included five touchdowns and a fumble at the USC 3-yard line. The four drives in the second half included 43 plays, 18 minutes, 32 seconds of possession time, six third-down conversions and two fourth-down conversions and a seemingly endless string of self-inflicted wounds by the Trojans’ defense.
Credit certainly goes to Cameron Rising, who came through again and again, including the touchdown run and two-point try to win the game. He threw for 415 yards, ran for 60 and accounted for five touchdowns in the win, while receiver Dalton Kincaid caught 16 balls for 234 yards.
The bad news for USC is that the loss puts them at the bottom of the Pac-12’s top tier, behind UCLA, Oregon and, now, Utah. The good news is, if USC can just expedite its realignment plans, this defense is still plenty good enough to win the Big Ten West.
Heisman Five
1. Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker
Late in 2020, Hooker was benched at Virginia Tech and essentially shown the door. Since then, he’s blossomed into one of the most prolific QBs in the country, throwing for 385 yards and five touchdowns on Saturday, and is now deserving of his spot atop the Heisman rankings. And what’s happened to Virginia Tech, you ask? Well, rumor has it the program folded, all records of its existence have been erased by the government, and Frank Beamer and Bud Foster now travel the country in a van solving mysteries.
2. Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud
Ohio State was off this week. Stroud still spent his Saturday making crank calls to Mel Tucker, just to continue to assert his dominance.
3. Alabama QB Bryce Young
It’s almost impossible to overstate just how good Young is, and how much he means to Alabama. But even in a game in which he threw for 455 yards and led the Tide back from down 18, he wasn’t the most impressive QB on the field.
4. USC QB Caleb Williams
The Trojans lost at Utah, but it’s hard to blame Williams. He threw for 381, ran for 57 more, and had five TD passes on the game. USC’s defense, on the other hand, couldn’t get off the field in the second half. Reminder to Lincoln Riley: You need to spend NIL money to get transfers on *both* sides of the ball.
5. UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson
UCLA was off Saturday, so Chip Kelly spent the day critiquing the technique of a guy twirling a sign outside a cash-for-gold business in West Hollywood.
Others receiving votes: Max Duggan, Blake Corum and whoever survives film study with Nick Saban on Sunday
Sooners bounce back
Brent Venables finally got a Big 12 win Saturday. It probably felt a bit like getting your dinner free because you finished a 96-ounce steak. Yeah, it’s a win, but there’s bound to be some vomit soon afterward.
With Dillon Gabriel back in the saddle at QB, the Oklahoma offense was exceptional, racking up 701 yards of offense — the Sooners’ most in a Big 12 game since 2018. That’s the good news.
The bad news for Venables, the defensive mastermind, is Oklahoma surrendered 42 points to Kansas, the fourth straight game the Sooners have allowed 40 or more.
This season has served as something like a “Twilight Zone” episode, where Venables rubbed the lamp of some diabolical genie. After a decade leading Clemson’s staunch defense, he finally landed his dream job, returning to Oklahoma as head coach. The cost? His defense will make Jason Bean look like Joe Burrow.
But hey, a win is a win, and Oklahoma now has one in conference play, and no matter what happened last week, at least Sooners fans can still remind Texas that they actually beat Kansas.
Under-the-radar play of the day
Coastal Carolina entered Week 7 as one of just two remaining undefeated teams outside the Power 5. Unfortunately, no one told the Chanticleers’ defense.
Grayson McCall threw for 358 yards and three touchdowns in the loss, but it was not nearly enough.
Old Dominion running back Blake Watson carried 18 times for 256 yards and three touchdowns, including scoring runs of 25, 58 and 67 yards.
On the 67-yard run that put ODU up 42-21, Watson hits a crowd of Chanticleers defenders, who each stumble and flail like a guy trying to make his way to the bar at Ocean Annie’s at 2 a.m.
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Blake Watson crosses goal line for 67-yard touchdown
The most college football thing to happen Saturday
A quarterback who looks like he played base for Foreigner in the early 1980s threw a touchdown pass to a receiver who looks like he played rhythm guitar for .38 Special on that same tour, then the receiver, Jordan Whittington, celebrated with a really big cow — as one does.
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Jordan Whittington scores the Texas touchdown and celebrates with Bevo the mascot.
Big bets and bad beats
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Iowa State had its share of chances to knock off No. 22 Texas on Saturday, with QB Hunter Dekkers turning the ball over once in the end zone and, on the Cyclones’ final drive, fumbling deep into Texas territory. In the end, Iowa State lost 24-21, but for bettors who had the Cyclones +15.5, it was of little concern. Matt Campbell’s run of success as a touchdown (or more) underdog in Big 12 play continues to be a near lock. Iowa State has now covered in 15 of its last 16 games when a dog of seven points or more in conference play.
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With their 24-9 win over NC State, Syracuse is 6-0, bowl eligible and, with a preseason win total of five, have officially hit the over at the season’s halfway point. Syracuse joins UConn (2.5), Kansas (2.5), Vanderbilt (2.5) and Duke (3) as teams to have already eclipsed preseason predictions.
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It wasn’t just Knoxville where Tennessee fans were celebrating. One BetMGM bettor laid down a cool $100,000 on the Volunteers to win outright at +240. That return will buy a really nice victory cigar.
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FSU freshman shot, in critical but stable condition
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5 hours agoon
September 1, 2025By
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Andrea AdelsonSep 1, 2025, 10:08 AM ET
Close- ACC reporter.
- Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
- Graduate of the University of Florida.
Florida State freshman linebacker Ethan Pritchard was shot Sunday night and is hospitalized in critical but stable condition in intensive care at a Tallahassee-area hospital, the school said Monday.
According to the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office, Pritchard was inside a vehicle outside an apartment building when the shooting happened Sunday night in Havana, Florida, which is about 16 miles from Tallahassee, near the Georgia state line. An investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
In its statement, Florida State said Pritchard was visiting family at the time he was shot.
“The Pritchard family is thankful for the support from so many people, as well as the care from first responders and medical professionals, and asks that their privacy be respected at this time,” the FSU statement said.
Pritchard, who is from Sanford, Florida, enrolled at Florida State in January but did not play in the Seminoles’ season-opening victory against Alabama.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Army player rescues man from burning vehicle
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September 1, 2025By
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Army football player Larry Pickett Jr. rescued a man from a burning vehicle early Sunday morning.
Pickett, a second-year cadet at the service academy, was traveling with his family when they saw a crashed vehicle surrounded by downed power lines on Route 9W in Fort Montgomery, New York, about five miles south of Army’s West Point campus.
The Fort Montgomery Fire Department reported Sunday that the vehicle had collided with a utility pole, causing the power lines to fall to the ground.
Videos posted by his family to social media show Pickett and his father lifting the unidentified man from the vehicle and carrying him safely away from the crash scene just moments before the vehicle burst into flames.
The U.S. Military Academy said Sunday in a social media post that it is ” proud of the heroic actions” taken by Pickett and his father.
Army athletic director Tom Theodorakis added that Pickett and his father “exemplify the values we hold dear, stepping up in a moment of crisis to save a life.”
Larry Pickett Sr. told multiple media outlets that the family was returning to West Point late Saturday night after going out to dinner in New York City. A redshirt freshman from Raleigh, North Carolina, the younger Pickett ran toward the vehicle as soon as he saw the crash scene.
“There was no discussion. My son just jumped right into action,” the elder Pickett told Raleigh-based ABC11. “He mentioned his military training kicked in, and we pulled [the man] out. He took care of him on the side of the road until the police officers got there, and then the fire department got there shortly after.”
Pickett had just made his college football debut on Friday night, recording a tackle in the Black Knights’ 30-27 overtime upset loss to FCS opponent Tarleton State.
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‘It’s made for television’: How North Carolina has changed in nine months under Bill Belichick
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September 1, 2025By
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David Hale
CloseDavid Hale
ESPN Staff Writer
- College football reporter.
- Joined ESPN in 2012.
- Graduate of the University of Delaware.
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Andrea Adelson
CloseAndrea Adelson
ESPN Senior Writer
- ACC reporter.
- Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
- Graduate of the University of Florida.
Aug 31, 2025, 07:00 PM ET
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Just minutes before taking the stage at the ACC’s annual kickoff event at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown, Bill Belichick scrolled through his phone, reviewing his notes at a table in a dark service corridor as hotel employees stacked plates and glasses around. He had been shuffled through back hallways by conference and school staffers hoping to avoid the majority of the more than 800 media members gathered in an adjacent ballroom, all eager to photograph, question or simply glimpse college football’s biggest celebrity, but the spotlight awaited.
This is the new normal for North Carolina.
“It’s a little like the Deion [Sanders] thing at Colorado,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said. “He grabs your attention. It’s made for television.”
The ballroom where Belichick addressed topics as banal as the modern use of the fullback remained packed for his session, the ACC having distributed nearly 40% more credentials than a year earlier. In a breakout room intended for a more informal Q&A, more than 200 reporters elbowed through the crowd to pose a question. Belichick spoke for more than 20 minutes, even cracking a few jokes.
One reporter asked what it was like sitting in living rooms with recruits during the spring.
“I haven’t done that,” Belichick quipped. “That would be a recruiting violation right now.”
For anyone who had lived through Belichick’s chaotic early days of recruiting and roster building, it might have felt like an inside joke. The start to this new era in Chapel Hill was marked by missteps, confusion, broken promises and “harsh” and “businesslike” decisions to nudge players out the door, all while a skeleton staff bereft of college experience struggled to keep up.
“It was very stressful,” said a former member of the staff. “Everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off.”
It was a far cry from Belichick’s presentation at ACC media days this summer, where he appeared at ease in his new world — still far from his promise to bring a national championship to Chapel Hill but more aware of the pitfalls he’d face along the way.
When Belichick met with North Carolina’s team for the first time in December 2024, he delivered a mission statement for a program that has developed a reputation as a perennial underachiever. It was now being led by a man who had won 302 NFL games and six Super Bowls as a head coach. Things were about to change dramatically.
“We’re going to grind every single day,” he told the team, according to veteran quarterback Max Johnson. “It’s a process from January until the season starts.”
That process reaches its apex Monday night when UNC hosts TCU (8 p.m. on ESPN) in Belichick’s first game as a college head coach. It has been, according to more than two dozen sources including former assistants, current and former staffers, high school coaches, players, recruits and members of school administration who spoke with ESPN, at times enlightening and exhilarating, chaotic and tumultuous.
Belichick and his staff have had to adjust on the fly to the intricacies of NCAA recruiting rules, rebuild a roster and dodge scrutiny about the 73-year-old coach and his 24-year-old girlfriend. The promise Belichick didn’t offer to his team that first day, but the one that seems most likely to hold true, is that no part of this era would be boring.
“There’s things that we’re going to deal with that other schools aren’t,” Belichick said in his usual subdued tone. “That’s the way it goes.”
IF BELICHICK’S NFL résumé was a selling point to UNC fans, his status as a college newcomer quickly became uncomfortably apparent to numerous high school coaches, recruits and staffers who spoke to ESPN. They described the December and January recruiting push as a frenetic and disjointed process in which few people seemed to have a clear vision for the program’s direction.
In a quest to “go lean,” Belichick quickly cut ties with much of the previous staff — from assistant coaches to entry-level personnel who handled the basic operations of recruiting. When he was in the office, Belichick spent most of his time behind closed doors in a staff room with Tar Heels GM Mike Lombardi and newly hired personnel staffers Joe Anile and Andrew Blaylock, with one source involved in the process saying the Heels initially couldn’t do “traditional” visits because there were so few people for players to meet with. Another source at UNC said the decision to move on from the prior staff was understandable, but “you still need someone who knows how to book a flight or a hotel.” Multiple sources confirmed Belichick ultimately relented — at least temporarily — rehiring some analysts just to fill the void.
“A couple times they brought in good players and ignored them on their visit,” a source with direct knowledge of the situation said. “There were times that the kids would be waiting 30, 45 minutes or an hour and then all of a sudden, you’re not meeting with Coach Belichick anymore, and we’ll go back to the airport.”
Belichick and his top lieutenants were often flying blind when it came to NCAA rules and regulations, operating by a Silicon Valley-style “move fast and break things” approach, while public records obtained by ESPN show numerous reminders from compliance staff about recruiting quiet periods and NIL restrictions, along with a protracted debate about the boundaries of where coaches could meet with recruits on official visits.
“That’s probably the biggest thing they’ve had to learn, with what you can and can’t do,” another source who has worked with the program said. “They found out fast how many rules we’ve been dealing with over the past couple of years.”
Those initial months were a barrage of hasty evaluations and high-pressure sales pitches.
One recruit, who ultimately didn’t sign with UNC, recalled meeting Belichick for just a few minutes before being handed a contract and asked to sign.
“I kind of felt it was disrespectful to just put me in that situation after just meeting a coach,” the recruit said. “It was just crazy that you’d make a player sign a contract in front of a coach right after you just met him, and you haven’t even talked about numbers yet or anything about what I would get at that school.”
In-state recruit Jariel Cobb was planning a visit to an SEC school when he got a call from UNC, saying Belichick wanted to send a car to pick him up if he could visit campus immediately. When Cobb arrived in Chapel Hill with his mother, they were given the red-carpet treatment, with an array of people in UNC gear shaking hands and lauding the recruit’s skill set. Belichick met with Cobb, who had always dreamed of playing for his home-state Tar Heels but didn’t receive an offer from the prior staff. Belichick delivered a stern analysis: “I don’t know why in the hell they hadn’t offered you, but I looked at the film. I want you.”
“They treated us like celebrities,” Terri Cobb, Jariel’s mother, said. “Other schools had told him to think on it, but right out of the gate, Bill stood up and said, ‘You rocking and rolling with me or what?'”
Cobb signed, enrolled early and went through spring ball with the Tar Heels, calling it a positive experience, but his mother had noted that, during his initial conversations with Belichick, the coach had repeatedly mentioned two other players from Cobb’s high school he hoped would also come to UNC. In retrospect, she wonders if the Tar Heels’ interest in her son was aimed at getting an inside line to other players.
“They were flying through visitors,” the former member of the staff said. “It was unclear if Coach Belichick had evaluated the tape with how quickly they were bringing kids in.”
By the spring, with a full staff and enough time to better evaluate talent, North Carolina went into its second roster rebuild of the offseason. Overall, 39 players transferred out after Belichick’s arrival, including nearly two dozen after spring workouts. Cobb was among them. After just four months at his dream school, he was told he was unlikely to play and encouraged to transfer. It was, according to his mother, a similar story for many of his teammates. Cobb is now at Charlotte, which will play the Tar Heels in Week 2.
Meanwhile, UNC heavily recruited transfers during the spring portal window, which, according to numerous coaches across multiple Power 4 conferences, was described as the most bereft of talent since the portal era began in 2021. The Tar Heels added 23 players.
“There’s a little guesstimate there,” Belichick said. “You do the best you can to figure it out, but it’s a very inexact science.”
To find worthy additions in April and May, North Carolina was aggressive in identifying potential transfers. Five coaches told ESPN that they had been frustrated with North Carolina’s brazen efforts, led by Lombardi, to contact players directly prior to those players entering the portal, with at least one coach contacting Belichick to complain. Though tampering has become commonplace in college football, it’s often done through back-channels — current players talking to friends or former teammates, for example. North Carolina was “blatant” and “brazen,” according to one Power 4 coach. One player who spoke to ESPN said that he had been contacted by UNC in an effort to convince him to transfer, and he was warned not to inform anyone of the communication. If he did, he was told, he could lose his eligibility.
“I don’t think they’re doing anything that hasn’t been done [elsewhere],” one source said, “but I do think it’s such a drastic culture change from [former coach] Mack [Brown], so that it looks completely different to the people at UNC.”
While the style is different, so are the results. UNC already has nine blue-chip commitments for 2026 as Belichick has grown more comfortable with the recruiting process and focused on a national approach to talent acquisition.
“We’re in there with some good schools,” Belichick said, “and it’s good to be able to get kids coming to Carolina over some of the top schools in the country.”
After the rocky start, Belichick has used additional resources promised as part of his hiring to nearly double the recruiting support staff from what existed under Brown, yet it’s often Belichick who’s the linchpin to selling a player.
Belichick’s first time on the road recruiting was traveling to Rolesville High outside Raleigh, North Carolina, to visit brothers Zavion and Jayden Griffin-Haynes. Zavion had been committed to North Carolina under Brown, but decommitted after the coaching change. Jayden never received an offer under the previous staff.
Belichick stayed for nearly two hours, according to Zavion, and he broke down tape with the brothers, a key part of the coach’s sales pitch with high-level recruits.
“They stayed on me,” Zavion said. “They came to see me practice during spring ball. They made sure it was love from UNC and that really stood out to me. He wants me to be the face of the program, but he also said I have to work for it. He’s not just going to hand it to me, but I’m the guy he’s looking for in the program.”
Both brothers committed in June.
Weddington (N.C.) coach Andy Capone remembers Belichick visiting campus this spring to meet with recruit Thomas Davis Jr., and he was awestruck.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of head coaches,” Capone said, “but I’ve only taken a picture with two of them: Nick Saban and Bill Belichick.”
What truly impressed Capone was Belichick’s pitch once the fanfare died down. Belichick described a detailed plan for UNC, spent time with three recruits, including Davis, and, from memory, recited plays he had watched on film from their games, relating each to plays run by some of the greats from Belichick’s past.
“He’d say, ‘This is how I used Lawrence Taylor or Mike Vrabel,'” Capone said. “It was really cool to let them see a perspective of how he sees players in his system.”
Capone said Belichick was honest with his recruits, and he pitched them on his long history of preparing players for the NFL.
Before Belichick departed, Davis, who ultimately committed to Notre Dame, asked the question that has been at the forefront of so many debates since the NFL legend arrived at Carolina. Was Belichick really planning to stay long in Chapel Hill?
“I wouldn’t have taken this job to go back to the NFL,” Belichick told him. “We’re going to win national championships here.”
VINAY PATEL WAS never a Belichick fan. The UNC board of trustees member applauded the hire for the Tar Heels, but he had seen enough of Belichick in the pros to assume he wouldn’t like the guy.
Still, Patel was curious, so he attended a welcome banquet held on campus this winter, hosted by Belichick and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.
To his surprise, the event was friendly.
“I expected some pompous SOB, and he definitely wasn’t that,” Patel said. “And she’s not standoffish at all. We chatted, shook hands. She’s polite.”
A few months later, amid a media firestorm surrounding Belichick’s relationship with Hudson, who is nearly 50 years his junior, and her role in managing his personal brand, Patel remembers being perplexed by the seemingly ubiquitous outrage.
“I had a friend saying, ‘Can you believe this Jordon Hudson?’ — this and that,” Patel said. “And I’m just thinking, yes, but if you’d told me a year ago that UNC football was going to be a news story on a daily basis, I’d have thought you were nuts.”
If Patel favored an “all publicity is good publicity” approach, many members of the often staid and conservative UNC community saw it differently. In December, Belichick emailed UNC staff, insisting Hudson be copied on all communications. Hudson proceeded to inject her opinion on how the school’s PR staff operated, sometimes frustrating longtime employees. In one instance, she insisted Steve Belichick never be referred to as Bill’s son, and in a February email, asked to have public comments on UNC football social media sites censored, including one she said described her as “a predator.” UNC public relations replied that it “hid/erased one comment that had been posted about your personal life,” but did not find additional critical comments on UNC football’s Facebook page, according to documents obtained by ESPN in a public records request.
Bill Belichick was frustrated that the emails were shared, according to multiple sources, despite warnings from UNC staff that, as a public university, the athletics department was subject to open records requests.
“He didn’t like it at all, but he’s never worked at a public school,” a UNC source said. “[Hudson] would probably be more involved if we weren’t a public school.”
By the spring, Hudson’s involvement became routine public fodder. At UNC’s final spring practice, Hudson roiled the school’s old guard not only for being on the field, but for the way she was dressed. More attention followed, from a controversial appearance on “CBS Sunday Morning” to reports that Hudson had been banned from UNC’s football facility to suggestions in a New York Times story that a planned season of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” featuring North Carolina was scuttled due to her involvement.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told ESPN that the decision to nix the project was ultimately Belichick’s, saying he felt the timing of the HBO show, which would film only during fall camp, wouldn’t showcase the team’s strengths. The school instead pivoted to another project that will air on Hulu and cover North Carolina’s entire season.
Amid the spring’s media frenzy, the school was flooded with complaints from fans, donors and even professors, calling Belichick’s relationship “shameless,” “a disgrace” and “a laughing stock,” with one alum writing, “We’ve always prided ourselves on being a class act, but this is the kind of unnecessary distraction that does more harm than good. If Bill walks, he walks.”
UNC brass, including chancellor Lee Roberts and athletic director Bubba Cunningham, declined to comment on “the private lives of any of our employees,” as Roberts explained, and inside the locker room, few players seemed bothered.
Numerous sources who spoke to ESPN suggested much of the Hudson drama was overblown. One UNC administrator said that Hudson’s initial involvement was simply to “fill a void” until new PR staff could be hired and said Hudson hasn’t been a part of football-related correspondence since early in the spring.
A “talking points” email distributed to PR personnel and Belichick ahead of the ACC’s spring meetings in May detailed Hudson’s role, noting “once staff was in place, after about a month, she was no longer copied on emails. She is not involved in the hiring of staff, recruiting of players, communications related to the program or the building of the program” but “continues to be involved from a scheduling perspective.” The memo also noted that “Jordon is playing an active role in the filming and production of a documentary about Coach Belichick’s first season of college football, so in that capacity, she may be seen on the sidelines of Carolina Football practices or games.”
Multiple sources who spoke to ESPN doubted Belichick had been aware of the outsized attention she generated online — “He’s always watching film, not scrolling through her Instagram” — and believed that after the CBS interview, he took steps to limit her exposure in relation to the football program.
“It’s almost like you’re shielded from it,” one source with knowledge of the program said. “You’re finding all this stuff on TMZ and different sites, but nobody really talked about it around the building. It was more of a big deal nationally than it was here.”
A SMALL ARMY of reporters shuffled aimlessly outside a padlocked gate that, in a few moments, would provide a brief glimpse of North Carolina’s fall camp on a weekday in mid-August. Access to outsiders has been severely restricted, and a pair of onlookers standing at a fourth-floor window in a nearby building had likely already gleaned more information about this Tar Heels team than the local media had all summer.
In the Belichick era, there are insiders and there are outsiders.
North Carolina has beefed up security. When one local reporter used binoculars to glimpse Hudson and other visitors at a UNC practice through a narrow window of the indoor practice facility, a guard immediately interrupted. The football building inside Kenan Stadium has been off limits to all nonessential football personnel, and the school installed facial recognition sensors to enter the facility. No UNC player was permitted to speak to the media for the first six months of Belichick’s tenure, and Belichick is also skipping a weekly radio show, typically a staple for college coaches, ceding the stage to Lombardi.
Belichick’s staff is filled with trusted confidants. Lombardi had been an advisor with the New England Patriots and even co-hosted Belichick’s podcast. Lombardi’s son, Matt, is UNC’s quarterbacks coach. Two of Belichick’s sons — Steve and Brian — coach on defense. One of his former players, Jamie Collins, is the inside linebackers coach. Several sources suggest senior staff members monitor outgoing communications from other staffers to curtail leaks about the inner workings of the program.
On the inside, however, the view of Belichick has been far different than the public persona he has projected for decades.
“They’ve been really easy and good to work with,” said Cunningham, who had initially been skeptical of the hire. “It’s a different model. They wanted to bring in their own coaches and personnel and recruiting people, people they’ve worked with previously. It’s a very personable staff.”
𝐌𝐢𝐜’𝐝 𝐔𝐩 🎙️🎙️🎙️@Belichick_B pic.twitter.com/cf2axVs1D6
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) August 15, 2025
This winter, Belichick had pizza delivered to UNC fraternities and sororities ahead of the Heels’ men’s basketball game against Duke. He did the same for several of UNC’s winter and spring sports teams.
Belichick is a longtime lacrosse fan, and as he surveyed the football practice field during the spring — the same field where the lacrosse teams practice — he posed a question: Where are the lacrosse lines? Belichick was told that, if the football team practices that morning, the lacrosse field wouldn’t get painted.
“He said, ‘Paint the lines,’ and we got them,” UNC’s women’s lacrosse coach Jenny Levy said. “I think he’s diving into what college athletics is all about.”
Former UNC linebacker Jeff Schoettmer attended the school’s “Practice Like a Pro” day to conclude spring practice, and he watched Belichick mingle with recruits, transfers and their parents. At a banquet afterward, the coach met with former players and donors.
“It’s pretty incredible to see how easily he moves among different types of people,” Schoettmer said. “Him holding court with former players — it’s just like you see some of these extroverted coaches who’ll talk to anybody, but you don’t expect Bill to sit there and tell war stories with guys he’s never coached. But that’s how much love I think he has for North Carolina.”
Inside the football facility, Belichick thought Brown’s former office on the fourth floor of the football building was isolating, so he set up his own office on the second floor to be in the same space occupied by the players.
“I can’t coach the players if I’m not around them,” Belichick told ESPN. “I try to go in and out of meetings and be visible and present.”
Cunningham said he has been struck by how accessible Belichick is to the team, routinely sitting in film study sessions and breaking down plays.
In June, Belichick met with his quarterbacks each day for about an hour, a process that began during his tenure with the Patriots because, he said, “It’s important for the coach and the quarterback to be on the same page.”
Johnson, one of the few holdovers from Brown’s 2024 team, said the involvement of the coach in the small details of the game is unlike anything he had seen.
“We did something different every day,” Johnson said. “Everything is really detailed, and that’s what I’ve loved.”
If Belichick’s tenure has been marked by a steadfast devotion to those in his orbit at the expense of those on the outside, it has done little to temper enthusiasm around the program.
Donations are up, season tickets are sold out, and UNC has added new premium-seating options that will further expand its revenue opportunities. Rick Barakat, the athletics department’s new chief revenue officer, said UNC will exceed its all-time gross revenue record this year.
“The pitch has changed because the excitement’s never been higher,” Barakat said. “We’ve had bouts of success historically, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen Carolina football at the level it is right now in the national news cycle, and that trickles down into every conversation.”
Even entities in Belichick’s orbit seemed to bask in the glow of newfound attention. Phillips raved that Belichick “is great for the ACC and great for North Carolina.” One executive for the Charlotte 49ers referred to a sizable uptick in season ticket sales as “The Belichick Bump,” and AD Mike Hill was tasked with finding more seating capacity for the Week 2 game by bringing in “bleachers everywhere.” Charlotte’s initial advertising for the game focused on Belichick, a decision critiqued by the school’s chancellor, according to public records obtained by ESPN, for ignoring its own new coach, Tim Albin.
Many of North Carolina’s administrators who spoke to ESPN said the investment would be judged on wins and losses, but it’s also possible the spotlight could be a springboard to something else.
“You’re seeing a lot more people involved as far as helping out the program,” one of those sources said. “You can feel that UNC is embracing more on the football end. It’s been the talk of the last two years, but the push to get to the SEC, I think, was a major reason for this show of investment in football.”
UPON HIS HIRE, Belichick immediately pushed a new tagline for Tar Heels football. They would be “the 33rd NFL team,” and those early days included an influx of professional know-how, from Lombardi to former Patriots nutritionist Josh Grimes and Moses Cabrera, Belichick’s longtime strength and conditioning guru.
“Coach B comes in with a different mindset in terms of everything’s going to be at the highest level possible, no matter what he has to do to get there,” wide receiver Jordan Shipp said.
Belichick has delivered that message repeatedly, both inside the locker room and to the media, often saying players who “don’t want to work, they don’t want to be good. That’s OK, but if you’re like that, Carolina’s a bad place to be. It’s too important to the rest of us.”
Belichick retained Freddie Kitchens as the lone full-time position coach from the previous staff, in large part because of his NFL background. Kitchens spent 16 years in the NFL before moving on to college, including a stint as the Cleveland Browns head coach. Belichick has said all of the systems they are implementing — from offense to defense to special teams — are NFL-based.
“Fundamentals and techniques that go with them are based on that too, practice, structure, meeting, installation, teaching. There were some modifications we had to make, but basically it’s all the same,” Belichick said.
Belichick has gotten more used to recruiting as well. Those who interacted with him on the recruiting trail in January noticed a big difference in their exchanges six months later, describing him as “more personable.”
“He understands that he had to change his way of doing things, and he’s doing that, and he’s really adapting to this new culture,” said Rolesville (N.C.) coach Ranier Rackley, who has three players committed to UNC. “So that’s why he’s getting a lot of these guys because of that.”
Collins, who played for Belichick for parts of seven seasons during a 10-year NFL career, said he has seen a softening of the coach who, in the pros, was known for his all-business approach to relationships.
“The old Bill comes out, but we live in a different world now,” Collins said. “I’ve seen a different side of Bill coaching these guys.”
In June, Rackley brought a group of players to UNC’s 7-on-7 camp, and he took note of Belichick moving from one group to the next, watching as many teams and players as possible. There was a different energy to the experience, he said.
In all, nearly 4,000 kids showed up during UNC football camps that month. For Belichick, who has often downplayed the leap from the NFL to college, it was an eye-opening moment.
“Once you actually see it, it feels like Normandy,” Belichick told ESPN. “It’s like, ‘Here they come.'”
North Carolina hasn’t won an ACC title since 1980, but with Belichick on the sideline, there’s no lack of optimism in Chapel Hill.
“We’re here to win football games,” Shipp said. “He let us know that yeah, we’re going to have a spotlight. But that’s not what we’re worried about. We’re worried about winning games.”
For UNC, though, there’s more to the story. Belichick is a bona fide winner, but he’s also a show — occasionally controversial, often recalcitrant, sometimes funny — and for a program looking for attention, he has delivered.
“We want to be competitive in football,” Roberts said. “We want to be part of the national conversation. Carolina stands for excellence across the board, and we want to be excellent in football. I think we’re well on our way.”
What comes after that remains a mystery — one Belichick has fiercely protected throughout a long offseason. Now, the veil is lifted.
The new era of North Carolina football is here.
Michael Rothstein and Eli Lederman contributed to this story.
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