By R.L. Bynum
Bill Belichick’s major offseason roster reconstruction brought in many newcomers, but it also meant numerous players on the 2025 roster moved on, with two quarterbacks starting at other colleges.
Three weeks into the 2026 season, several of those former Tar Heels are making an impact on their new schools. Here’s a rundown of the top performers.
Gio Lopez, QB, Wake Forest
No former Tar Heel has made a bigger early splash than Lopez (top photo), who left UNC for Wake Forest and reunited with offensive coordinator Rob Ezell, his play-caller during a breakout 2024 season at South Alabama.
The fit has been obvious from the opener. Lopez threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns in his Wake Forest debut, helping the Demon Deacons beat Akron, 38–16, in the season opener. He connected with Louisville transfer Antonio Meeks on a 72-yard score before halftime and added a long touchdown throw to Carlos Hernandez as Wake Forest built a 28–0 lead.
His second game was more dramatic. Wake Forest needed double overtime to win 38–36 at Purdue 38–36, with Lopez finishing 16 of 27 passing for 225 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for a team-high 59 yards and two scores.
Lopez ran in the game-tying touchdown in double overtime and then converted the game-winning two-point conversion to finish off the comeback.
Through two games, Lopez has thrown for 575 yards and completed 62.7% of his passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions. His PFF offensive grade is 78.1, compared to 73.1 last season, when he threw for 1,747 yards, 10 TDs and five interceptions in 11 games.
Max Johnson, QB, Georgia Southern
Johnson is starting for a fourth college program after limited playing time last season at UNC. He began at LSU in 2020, moved to Texas A&M in 2022, and went to Carolina in 2024, when a broken right leg ended his season in the opener at Minnesota.
Johnson appeared in four games at Carolina last season, starting one, and completed 62.1% of his passes for 432 yards and two touchdowns before transferring to Georgia Southern in January.
He has been the unquestioned starter in Statesboro, and the results have come in bursts. Johnson threw for 281 yards on 28-of-39 passing in a 31–0 win over Charleston Southern to open the season, connecting with Ashton Hollins for a 57-yard touchdown.
The following week, in a much tougher test at Clemson, Johnson was 27 of 47 for 244 yards and a touchdown in a 22–7 loss, connecting with Hollins again on a 42-yard score in the third quarter.
Through two games, Johnson has thrown for 525 yards and two touchdowns. His PFF offensive grade of 44.1 (compared to 51.8 last season) is the third-lowest on the team.
One of his targets is former UNC teammate Alex Taylor, a starting wide receiver who has two catches for 34 yards.
Johnson’s brother Jake has three catches for 20 yards at Auburn as its starting tight end after catching 16 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown last season at UNC.
Bryce Baker, QB, Virginia Tech
After never getting on the field during his freshman season at Carolina after being the top-ranked quarterback prospect in the state, Baker has been effective in two blowout wins for the Hokies, leading the team in PFF offensive grade at 85.6. He is 11 of 14 for 127 yards and one touchdown and 21 rushing yards in games against VMI and Old Dominion.
Baker beat out fellow newcomer Kelden Ryan, and he has settled into a backup role behind transfer Ethan Grunkemeyer, who came from Penn State and joined former Nittany Lions coach James Franklin.
Interestingly, Johnson’s backup at Georgia Southern is also named Bryce Baker.
Beau Atkinson, DE, Ohio State
Atkinson’s move to Ohio State a year ago did not go well. He recorded 11 tackles during the 2025 season, including one sack and 2½ tackles for losses, a big drop-off from the 35 tackles, 7½ sacks and 12 tackles for losses he posted as a sophomore at North Carolina in 2024.
Through two games and 37 snaps as a backup defensive end, he has four tackles, a half of a tackle for a loss and a 73.6 PFF defensive grade.
Amare Campbell, LB, Tennessee
Few former Tar Heels have covered as much ground as Campbell, who is playing for his third program in three seasons. After two years at North Carolina, where he started all 13 games as a sophomore in 2024 and recorded 76 tackles and 6½ sacks, Campbell transferred to Penn State for what became a breakout 2025 campaign. He led the Nittany Lions with 103 tackles, 9½ tackles for losses and three sacks, then decided the market undervalued him and reentered the portal.
Campbell ended up at Tennessee to rejoin former Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, and is the starting middle linebacker.
In the season opener against Furman, he had four tackles and two assists. In last Saturday’s win at Georgia Tech, he collected four tackles and four assists. His PFF defensive grade is 73.7, compared to 70.3 last season at Penn State and 72.0 two seasons ago at Carolina.
Khmori House, star position, Arkansas
House left UNC after leading the Tar Heels with 81 tackles last season as a linebacker and has since become a hybrid defensive back at Arkansas, where coaches say his coverage instincts and physicality fit the program’s new “star” position better than a traditional linebacker role. Whether that positional switch pays off remains one of the more interesting subplots to track as the Razorbacks’ season unfolds.
House has eight tackles, three tackles for losses and two sacks. His PFF defensive grade through two games of 70.6 is much higher than last season at UNC (53.0) and two seasons ago at Washington (63.5). He has eight tackles, three tackles for losses and two sacks.
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Tyler Thompson, DE, Louisville
A linebacker last season at UNC when he was one of the ACC’s better pass rushers, Thompson is a defensive end with the Cardinals. He collected seven sacks, tied for eighth-most in the conference in his third season as a Tar Heel, along with 7½ tackles for losses and 25 total tackles across 27 career games in Chapel Hill, numbers that earned him the second-highest PFF defensive grade on the team last season (81.5).
After the Cardinals opened the season with a 41–38 loss to Ole Miss in Nashville, Thompson helped spark a bounce-back performance in a 59–13 rout of Villanova, recording a sack as part of a Louisville defense that limited the Wildcats to 253 total yards.
He is working on the edge alongside returning contributors AJ Green and Clev Lubin, giving the Cardinals one of the deeper pass-rushing rotations in the league. Thompson has four tackles, one for a loss and a sack. His 81.3 PFF defensive grade is third on the team.
Elsewhere
— CJ Mims has three tackles and half of a tackle for a loss as the starting nose tackle at Texas A&M.
— Khalil Conley has seven tackles as a third-string cornerback at Appalachian State.
— Ty White has four tackles as a backup nickelback at N.C. State.
— Malcom Ziglar has one tackle as a third-string free safety at South Florida
— Davion Gause is the backup running back behind Jayden Scott at N.C. State and has only five rushes for 37 yards with a touchdown and one catch for 21 yards.
— Javarius Green is a starting wide receiver at Boston College and has nine catches for 95 yards.
— Connor Cox, a third-string tight end at Virginia, has one catch for seven yards.
— William Boone is the starting right tackle at Texas State
— Miles McVay is the backup left tackle at Mississippi State.
— Reserve offensive lineman Jamie Norwood was a late addition to the Boston College roster.
— Austin Alexander, a backup defensive end at Western Michigan, has six tackles.
— Kamarion Thomas, who didn’t play while on UNC’s roster last season, has three tackles as the third-string nose tackle at UMass.
— Devin Ancrum, who played one game for UNC last season, has nine tackles as the starting nose tackle at Charlotte.
— Chris Culliver, a backup wide receiver at Marshall, has three catches for 14 yards
— Wide receiver Paul Billups II has 11 catches for 101 yards at Norfolk State.
Transfers to FBS schools
| Player | Pos. | 2005 at UNC | School | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gio Lopez | QB | 170-261, 1,747 yds, 10 TD, 5 INT; 133 rush yds, 3 TD | Wake Forest | 575 pass yds, 4 TD, 0 INT |
| Max Johnson | QB | 54-87, 437 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT | Georgia Southern | 525 pass yds, 2 TD, 0 INT |
| Bryce Baker | QB | Did not play | Virginia Tech | 11 of 14, 127 yds, 1 TD, 21 rushing yds |
| Khmori House | Star | 81 tackles, 2½ TFL, 1 sack, 1 INT | Arkansas | 8 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks |
| Tyler Thompson | DE | 25 tackles, 7 sacks, 7½ TFL | Louisville | 4 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack |
| Amare Campbell | LB | At Penn State: 103 tackles, 3 sacks, 9½ TFL | Tennessee | 14 tackles, 1 TFL |
| Beau Atkinson | DE | At Ohio State: 11 tackles, 2½ TFL, 1 sack | Ohio State | 4 tackles, ½ TFL |
| CJ Mims | NT | 42 tackles, 2 sacks 2½ TFL | Texas A&M | 3 tackles, ½ TFL |
| Khalil Conley | CB | 2 tackles | App State | 7 tackles |
| Ty White | NB | 3 tackles | N.C. State | 4 tackles |
| Malcolm Ziglar | FS | 5 tackles, 1 INT | USF | 1 tackle |
| Davion Gause | RB | 61 rush, 259 yds, 3 TD; 16 rec., 132 yds, 2 TDs | N.C. State | 5 rush, 37 yds, 1 TD; 1 rec., 21 yds |
| Javarius Green | WR | 13 rec., 150 yds | Boston College | 9 rec., 95 yds |
| Alex Taylor | WR | 3 rec., 27 yds | Ga. Southern | 2 rec., 34 yds |
| Jake Johnson | TE | 16 rec., 144 yds, 1 TD | Auburn | 3 rec., 20 yds |
| Connor Cox | TE | 5 rec., 21 yds | Virginia | 1 rec., 7 yards |
| William Boone | OL | Reserve | Texas State | Starting RT |
| Jani Norwood | OL | 6 games | Boston College | Reserve |
| Miles McVay | OL | Backup RT | Miss. State | Backup LT |
| Austin Alexander | LB | 3 tackles | W. Michigan | 6 tackles |
| Kamarion Thomas | DL | Didn’t play | UMass | 3 tackles |
| Devin Ancrum | DL | 1 game | Charlotte | 9 tackles, ½ TFL |
| Chris Culliver | WR | 5 rec., 100 yds | Marshall | 3 rec., 14 yds |
| Paul Billups II | WR | 4 rec., 27 yards | Norfolk State | 11 rec., 101 yds |
Photo via godeacs.com
