CHAPEL HILL - Aidan Banfield’s snap count dropped sharply in North Carolina’s 35-3 win over East Tennessee State, but Bill Belichick made it clear Monday that the reduced workload wasn’t a punishment.
Banfield, UNC’s right guard, played just 16 snaps Saturday after logging the second-worst offensive PFF grade in Week 0 against TCU. Freshman Cristian Alvarez handled the other 39 snaps at the spot, while four of the Tar Heels’ five starting offensive linemen each played 42 snaps and missed only 13 fourth-quarter reps.
Belichick said the decision was about building depth along the line, not sending a message about Banfield’s standing.
"We've got to continue to build our depth there," Belichick said when asked about Banfield playing only 16 snaps. "Aidan will play a lot for us [this season]; he's one of our better players. We need to try and build that depth across the board, so we got a little bit of a chance to do that with Alvarez last week."
Banfield, a junior from Buford, Georgia, drew strong reviews throughout the offseason from coaches and teammates. He also came into the season as a Freshman All-American in 2024 and has continued to develop at UNC.
Against ETSU, Belichick said he thought Banfield "played well" before the lineman was shut down for the rest of the game. PFF backed that up, grading Banfield at 72.6, the second-best mark among UNC’s starting linemen. He posted an 80.9 run-blocking grade and a 71.6 pass-blocking grade.
That was a major step up from Dublin, Ireland, where PFF gave Banfield a 55.2 offensive grade against TCU, including a 60.7 run-blocking grade and a 23.4 pass-blocking grade. His run-blocking grade was the best on the line that day, while his pass protection grade was the lowest.
Belichick said he played 67 total players on offense and defense against the FCS Buccaneers, underscoring his goal of getting reserves ready for the inevitable attrition of a season.
He also said that, in a perfect world, he would keep the same five offensive linemen on the field every snap all year. But he added that kind of continuity is rarely realistic.
"I'd love to be able to play the same five linemen throughout the entire year for every snap, [but] I don't know how realistic that is," Belichick said. "You don't see that happen hardly at all in the NFL and probably not too much in college football, either."
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