Belichick’s 105: Inside the precision rebuild of Carolina roster

By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — When Bill Belichick took over as the head coach of North Carolina football, the most significant shift wasn’t just philosophical — it was physical. The Tar Heels’ roster now bears little resemblance to last season’s team, with over 70 new players joining the program and many from last year’s squad opting to transfer out.

“We’re excited to get out on the field,” Belichick said Saturday before the first training camp practice, as the Tar Heels prepare for the Sept.1 opener at Kenan Stadium against TCU. “We’ve got a couple of days of acclimation, but it’s all part of the process. There are a lot of new faces — over 40 from the spring alone.”

The influx is staggering and deliberate. Belichick and his staff have spent months reshaping the roster through traditional recruiting, high school evaluations and, most notably, the transfer portal. The veteran coach likened it to team building in the NFL: methodical, calculated and focused on competition above all.

There has been a lot of work on the roster, shepherded by General Manager Mike Lombardi, since Belichick took over in Chapel Hill.

“We spent a lot of time — Mike, the scouts, the coaches — putting the team together,” he said. “That process went from the 2025 recruiting class to the early and spring portal periods. We’re still transitioning through one or two guys even now.”

247 Sports ranks Carolina’s 41-player transfer portal class No. 9 in the country, even though the staff got a late start on the first portal window.

With a figure as prominent and exacting as Belichick stepping into the college ranks, player attrition was inevitable. Still, the volume of turnover was eye-popping.

“We already kind of did that in the spring,” Belichick said when asked about trimming down to the NCAA-mandated 105-man limit. “It was a difficult decision to make, but I think most of those players ended up at other schools and will be playing this fall.”

Belichick emphasized that while those decisions weren’t easy, they were necessary. The program needed a cultural and competitive reset. The program will be over the 105 limit this season only because players listed as “designated student-athletes.” There are players who were on rosters as of April 7 or recruited players who were promised roster spots before April 7 who don’t count against the roster limit.

“I think it worked out for them,” he said. “They’re in a situation with a chance to play. For us, we’re trying to get to the right 105.”

It’s unclear which players were advised it was best to transfer and which ones decided to move on for other reasons.

Among the players on last season’s roster who transferred out were defensive linemen Beau Atkinson (who transferred to Ohio State) and Travis Shaw (Texas), linebacker Amare Campbell (Penn State) and offensive lineman Zach Rice (Syracuse). The Tar Heels will face Rice when they visit Syracuse on Halloween night, and former UNC quarterback Conner Harrell and kicker Liam Boyd and Charlotte in their first road game on Sept. 6.

That “right 105” includes a mix of blue-chip freshmen, overlooked high school players and college transfers from prominent programs such as Florida (defensive lineman D’Antre Robinson and defensive back Greg Smith) and Penn State (defensive lineman Joseph Mupoyi), as well as smaller programs.

Regardless of origin, one message has been clear: no one is entitled to anything.

Belichick’s approach to roster management has brought an NFL-level intensity to Chapel Hill. He praised the players who remained for “training hard” and showed “significant improvements in strength, explosion and speed.”

While UNC is officially under the 105-scholarship cap, he made clear that even walk-ons and bottom-of-the-roster players are being evaluated for impact roles.

“Some of those players eventually are going to end up helping us,” he said. “They’re just as important as the top 10. That’s just the way it’s going to work out.”

Belichick acknowledged the steep learning curve that comes with evaluating high school players — especially when compared to his decades of experience in the NFL.

“High school evaluations are harder,” he said. “You’re looking at 4,000 kids on campus at camps, several thousand in the database. It’s just a much greater volume than what I dealt with before.”

In the 247 Sports rankings, UNC’s 2026 class is No. 18 and its 2027 class is No. 17 after the Class of 2025 was only 36th.

The mission remains the same: find players who fit — not just physically, but mentally and culturally.

“It’s up to us to make the right evaluation for us and how a player fits for us, how he fits for another team, and their system could be two different things,” Belichick said. “We have to do what we feel is best for the development of our team. That’s just not on the field of play, but also the other components that he brings — his work ethic, his leadership, his toughness and so forth. So, it’s challenging.”

Asked whether he’s excited for the challenge, Belichick didn’t hesitate.

“These guys have bought in — they’re working hard,” he said. “It’s exciting to see what they’re going to be able to do. But we’re not handing anything out. Just like nobody’s handing out wins in this conference — you have to go earn them.”

Whether it’s freshmen out of Georgia (defensive back Javion Butts and defensive linemen Devin Ancrum, Nicco Maggio and Laderion Williams) or Oklahoma State transfers (linebacker Jonathan Agumadu and tight end Jordan Owens), Belichick’s message is uniform and uncompromising: compete, prove it, and earn it.

For Carolina football, the Belichick era has begun with upheaval — but also with clarity. A new standard has been set. The real evaluation starts on the field.

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Month/ date	Score/ time	Opponent	Record/ TV
September
1	L, 48–14	vs. TCU	0–1
6	W, 20–3	at Charlotte	1–1
13	W, 41–6	vs. Richmond	2–1
20	L, 34–9	at UCF	2–2
October
4	L, 38–10	vs. Clemson	2–3, 0–1 ACC
17 (Fri.)	L, 21–18	at California	2–4, 0–2
25	L, 17–16, OT	vs. No. 16 Virginia	2–5, 0–3
31 (Fri.)	W, 27–10	at Syracuse	3–5, 1–3
November
8	W, 20–15	vs. Stanford	4–5, 2–3
15	L, 28–12	at Wake Forest	4–6, 2–4
22	L, 32–25	vs. Duke	4–7, 2–5
29	L, 42–19	at N.C. State	4–8, 2–6

Photos by Joshua Lawton