Former Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera is returning to the University of California, his alma mater, to help the football program.

“Coach Belichick has made going back to school, cool,” Rivera posted to X. “Stay tuned I am coming home.”

Coach Belichick has made going back to school, cool. Stay tuned I am coming home. @CalAthletics @UCBerkeley @Cal #GoBears🐻

— Ron Rivera (@RiverboatRonHC) February 5, 2025

Rivera’s role would primarily be administrative, and he would be involved in oversight of the program and its big-picture needs, including budget, coaching staff and the student-athlete experience, a source told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg.

Belichick was hired as North Carolina’s head coach in December after a decorated NFL coaching career in which he won eight Super Bowls, including six as the New England Patriots‘ head coach.

Rivera, 63, is a member of the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame and had 337 tackles for the school as a linebacker. He was an All-American in 1983 when he set a school record with 26.5 tackles for loss, including 13 sacks.

Rivera, who was fired by the Commanders last year, interviewed for both the New York Jets and Chicago Bears head coaching vacancies last month.

Rivera, 63, has spent his entire coaching career in the NFL, beginning in 1997 when he was a defensive quality control coach for the Chicago Bears. Before being hired as the Panthers’ head coach in 2011, he served as a defensive coordinator with both the Bears and San Diego Chargers.

He has a 102-103-2 record as an NFL head coach and led the Panthers to the Super Bowl in the 2015 season.

Before becoming a coach, he played nine seasons as a linebacker for the Chicago Bears, who selected him in the second round of the 1984 draft. He was a member of the Bears’ 1985 Super Bowl champion squad.

Five-star offensive tackle Ty Haywood — the top remaining uncommitted prospect in the 2025 class — signed with Michigan on Wednesday morning, capping a torrid finish to the recruiting cycle for coach Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines in the early hours of national signing day.

Haywood, a one-time Alabama commit, is ESPN’s No. 16 overall recruit and third-ranked offensive tackle prospect in the 2025 class. The 6-foot-5, 285-pound lineman chose not to sign during the early signing period in December and decommitted from the Crimson Tide last month before he formally committed to Michigan on Wednesday in a ceremony at Ryan High School in Denton, Texas, amid heavy interest from Florida State and Texas Tech.

Haywood stands as the second-highest-ranked member in the Wolverines’ 2025 class, trailing only No. 1 overall prospect and five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood among recruits set to join Michigan for the 2025 season. With Haywood in the fold, the Wolverines hold signatures from 11 ESPN 300 recruits in the latest cycle, including eight from the top 100 in a high school recruiting class that began Wednesday ranked ninth nationally in ESPN’s class rankings.

“We all have the same mindset of winning,” Haywood told ESPN. “We’re going to go in and do what we’re supposed to do. But we’re also going to have fun with this process and this next chapter of life. I’m ready to go dominate, win games and make it a fun time in our lives.”

Closing out with Haywood’s commitment, Michigan has executed one of the strongest recruiting runs across the country in 2025 in the final stages of Moore’s first cycle in charge of the program, surging late in spite of the Wolverines’ 8-5 finish to the 2024 season.

Michigan held pledges from just four eventual blue-chip signees when four-star offensive tackle Andrew Babalola (No. 28 overall) committed to the program on Oct. 21, 2024, kicking off a series of six top-100 pledges who joined the Wolverines’ 2025 class in the seven weeks before the early signing period began Dec. 4.

Underwood’s flip from LSU to Michigan was the most significant domino to fall over that span. But the Wolverines also bolstered their defensive class with a series of late additions, pulling in top 100 recruits Shamari Earls (No. 68 overall), Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng (No. 76), Nathaniel Marshall (No. 77) and Jordan Young (No. 96) all after Nov. 1.

In Haywood, Michigan has its second five-star signee and another cornerstone in Moore’s inaugural recruiting class.

An imposing tackle with elite length, Haywood initially committed to Alabama over Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Florida State in July. The opportunity to play in the SEC, Haywood told ESPN, was a dream, and he would have been the second-ranked member of coach Kalen DeBoer’s debut class if he had ultimately landed with the Crimson Tide. Yet Haywood never signed, reopening his recruitment in the new year.

“Life doesn’t always happen the way you want it to happen,” he said. “You find better options in life. I was hoping to explore my options more in the recruiting process.”

Michigan, Florida State and Texas Tech quickly emerged last month as the primary contenders to land Haywood. The Wolverines and Seminoles made home visits to Haywood in January before Haywood said his recruitment swung on an official visit to Michigan on the weekend of Jan. 17, where his comfort on campus, as well as with Moore and offensive line coach Grant Newsome sealed his commitment.

“They made sure my mom was OK,” he said. “They made sure my brother who came with me had fun. When you pick a place, it’s not only for you, it’s for your family. That’s part of what did it for me.

“Coach Moore is a former offensive lineman and Coach Newsome is a great guy, too,” Haywood continued. “Those guys understand what it takes to prepare every day, workout and win games. They know what it takes.”

Haywood and Babalola — ESPN’s No. 8 offensive tackle — now represent Michigan’s top offensive line signings in the ESPN recruiting rankings era, which dates to 2006. Between them, the program has not only a pair of blue-chip linemen to protect Underwood, but elite bookends to an exceptional recruiting finish for Moore and the Wolverines in the 2025 class.

Rutgers is turning to a familiar face for its defensive staff, as sources told ESPN on Tuesday that the university is set to hire Robb Smith as co-defensive coordinator and playcaller, marking his third stint at the school.

Along with this being his third stop at Rutgers, it also marks Smith’s fourth stint working for Greg Schiano, as he also worked as his linebackers coach at Tampa Bay in 2013. Smith brings extensive coordinating experience, as he has also worked as the defensive coordinator at Arkansas, Minnesota and Duke.

The Scarlet Knights are using co-coordinators to replace Joe Harasymiak, who left to take the head coaching job at UMass in December. Rutgers is also in the process of bringing on Zach Sparber from James Madison as the other co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Smith worked at Penn State the past two years as an analyst and analytics coordinator.

Smith spent 2009-12 at Rutgers, which included the 2012 season as defensive coordinator under Kyle Flood. He was also the defensive coordinator under Schiano with the Scarlet Knights in 2020-21. The 2012 season was one of the best on defense in school history, as Rutgers finished in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense, total defense and rushing defense.

He comes to Rutgers with the school coming off a pedestrian season on defense, as the Scarlet Knights finished No. 71 nationally in scoring defense (25.4) and No. 95 in total defense (393.8).