When Bill Belichick accepted the North Carolina job on Dec. 11, the winter transfer portal was already open and the early signing period had taken place the prior week. Not exactly ideal timing.
UNC has shown serious interest in improving its trenches and is expected to be active in that market during the upcoming spring transfer portal window, which opens on Wednesday. The bigger question is whether it will spend the hefty price tags that accompany starting-caliber offensive and defensive linemen available.
With viable offensive linemen commanding upwards of $500,000 to start — and that number easily reaches into seven figures now for top players given the demand far outstrips the supply — UNC hasn’t shown a willingness to go there, according to those familiar with their negotiating approach. For some of the most desired players, UNC has offered considerably less than other programs in the mix.
Perhaps that’s spending discipline or hoping for a Bill Belichick discount the way his friend Nick Saban got in Tuscaloosa, but it’s clear the UNC brain trust of Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi isn’t interested in splashing around money the way, say, Texas Tech has in putting together the No. 1 transfer portal class, according to 247Sports. They are also very attuned to how money can impact a locker room and don’t want to disrupt that by wildly unequal pay disparities within position groups.
Inheriting a program that went 6-7 in 2024, Belichick had to put together a staff for his first go at running a college football program and assess the talent remaining on the roster during the winter window, while other programs quickly worked to gobble up the top talent available in college football’s version of free agency. Some of them even had the advantage of knowing who would enter the portal and where the player would be headed — something critics call “tampering” and defenders call “pre-portaling.”
With transfer portal recruiting, in particular, time is of the essence and any hesitancy can result in missing out on a player. It was different from the free agency that Belichick and his right-hand man, Lombardi, were familiar with from their many combined years in the NFL.
“We didn’t have a prior relationship with a lot of kids that entered the portal because we didn’t recruit them,” Lombardi told CBS Sports earlier this year. “Teams that recruited a kid that went into the portal, they had a relationship with him. He didn’t go to your school but now he may want to come back. We didn’t understand that as much.”
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It’s what makes this spring transfer portal window so interesting for Belichick’s UNC program. The spring typically isn’t when the big-ticket items become available — it’s more of an opportunity to add depth outside of a few exceptions — but we’ve already seen notable names like Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava and Cal running back Jaydn Ott hit the market. There is major money flowing around, the last opportunity to use NIL money ahead of the House v. NCAA settlement and third-party review of NIL deals, and it could create a more active cycle than usual.
UNC did well in December, all things considered, adding players like Troy offensive lineman Daniel King, Washington linebacker Khmori House and UConn defensive lineman Pryce Yates. Still, the NFL’s greatest coach and winner of eight Super Bowls will need more talent to truly compete for the top of the ACC in Year 1.
It feels like there is an opportunity for North Carolina, with the coaching and personnel staff now firmly in place, to be more aggressive this spring portal window. We asked Lombardi, right before the February National Signing Day, whether he agreed.
“I think you’re trying to improve your team and trying to create competition in every position you can,” Lombardi said. “I think that’s really key, and if you can do that, then you make your team better. You work the bottom of the roster to the top. We all want to get great players, but you know that the key to the success that Bill’s had in New England has always been predicated on his ability to develop talent from within.”
UNC was quickly mentioned in the Iamaleava sweepstakes, but the Tar Heels weren’t interested in spending what was a reported $4 million asking price. In the December transfer window, UNC made a major run at Washington State transfer John Mateer, who ultimately landed at Oklahoma, and were willing to spend upwards of $3 million on him in a recruiting pitch that included former NFL stars Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. When Mateer opted for Norman, Oklahoma over Chapel Hill, North Carolina, UNC added Purdue transfer Ryan Browne to a quarterback room that included Max Johnson, who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1 last season, and four-star recruit Bryce Baker.
It hadn’t elicited much attention before Iamaleava, but UNC has quietly been looking to add a starter-caliber quarterback for weeks, sources told CBS Sports, and inquired on a number of possibilities. The Tar Heels have set their sights on South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez, who is expected to officially enter the portal on Wednesday when it opens. UNC expects to sign Lopez when he does so, according to sources, and would get a player who threw for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns last season for the Jaguars. It’s never ideal for a quarterback to join a program after missing all of spring practice, and Lopez will have to quickly show a command of the offense in August if he’s going to win the job.
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With the portal officially opening Wednesday, what UNC ultimately decides to do, how much it spends and who it is ultimately able to add will be worth following in a spring window that is already more interesting than anyone could have anticipated just a few weeks ago.
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