What have we learned in training camp to this point about UNC football?

Depending on who you are listening to, I believe context is impacting the rhetoric more than what may actually be a solid roster in today’s college football landscape. Given the train wreck that was the 2025 UNC football season, the easy analysis is to say it is time to cut ties with Belichick and complete a reset.

Clickbait reporters who focus primarily on the gossip and drama surrounding UNC football are missing what real college football fans care about: what happens on the field each Saturday.

Tommy Ashley from Inside Carolina refers to hope as the thing that gets you every year. I completely agree with that, and I discussed the Charlie Brown analogy in my piece UNC In the Bottom 3. It is hard to separate the 2025 team and roster from this one heading into 2026.

But there are significant differences.

The quarterback room is significantly upgraded this year and, more importantly, healthy. The tight end room was essentially nonexistent in 2025, both as blockers and contributors in the passing game. This year, the room has at least two NFL prospects in Thurman and Sneed, and there is legitimate size throughout the group.

Considering how Bobby Petrino likes to run the football, and the creativity he has used to create route running lanes for tight ends, this group could provide another dimension to the offense.

Michael Lombardi has not demonstrated that he has earned the $1.5 million salary he receives as general manager. However, if we are going to be fair, how this roster performs against TCU should play a role in how we evaluate the job Lombardi has done building it.

When Belichick was hired, the transfer portal was already open and the early signing period had already happened. Lombardi and Belichick’s staff were essentially shopping for groceries after the weatherman had already called for a winter storm, to borrow the phrase Bill Parcells used.

Think about it. If the forecast calls for snow and someone in your family asks you to stop and pick up bread and milk on your way home, what are the odds the grocery store is fully stocked?

That does not excuse what happened in 2025. The arrogance surrounding the roster, along with the decision to move on from players who could have helped with continuity and culture, was a complete failure by Belichick.

But context matters.

Before you call me 12 and 0 Tommy, the question now is whether we are willing to see improvement and, more importantly, what level of improvement is acceptable in Chapel Hill this season.

Only Steve Newmark can answer that.

But I hear Ovies and Giglio when they point to the $10 million investment and ask what UNC is getting in return. That is a fair question. At the same time, in this current college football landscape, schools are going to spend enormous amounts of money on football programs and still lose games. Just ask SEC fans.

I do not think it is naive to believe a team can win simply because a university commits significant resources to football. Money matters, but it does not guarantee success. For every Indiana, Ole Miss, or Texas Tech story in 2025, there were just as many teams that went into the transfer portal and came out with little to show for it.

Look at Colorado and Mississippi State. Both brought in more than 30 transfers in 2025. In the ACC alone, Cal, Wake Forest, Virginia, and Virginia Tech all brought in more than 30 transfers. When you combine those transfers with incoming freshmen, those programs also had more than 60 new players.

I do not remember the media mocking those programs for having 60 or more new players. But time and time again, we heard about UNC having 70 new players. North Carolina was a storyline because of Belichick.

That is the point.

Context matters, but context does not mean much to media outlets that care more about promoting a narrative than reporting the entire story.

So what is the actual story?

The 2025 season has clouded our judgment about North Carolina football because Belichick burned us in 2025. UNC hired a six time Super Bowl winning head coach, and the job he did in his first season was closer to Ed Genaro and Wally Riggendorf than Bill Belichick.

That is the reality. The media can write stories and go on YouTube to tell us how training camp is going. Inside Carolina can tell us what they are seeing. TarHeel247 can give us their perspective.

But do we really have answers?

Belichick rarely gives us many answers to the test during a press conference, and honestly, I am fine with that; however, when you are not winning the media gets to tell whatever story they want because you’re not giving them one to write. 

In two weeks, when the North Carolina Tar Heels kick off the season in Ireland against TCU, we will finally get the test. And after the game, we will have something we do not have right now: the answer key. That does not mean we will know everything about this team after one game. We will not. But we will finally have evidence that matters.

Until then, we are all guessing.