North Carolina’s 2026 season is getting closer by the day, and the Tar Heels are still carrying the weight of a rough 2025. A 4-8 finish and a 13th-place showing in the ACC was nowhere near what the program expected when it hired Bill Belichick, and now the margin for error is thin heading into his second year in Chapel Hill.
That’s why this offseason mattered so much. General manager Michael Lombardi made it clear after last season that the roster would need real help, and North Carolina went to work in the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail.
The quarterback room got a makeover with 4-star recruit Travis Burgess, plus Billy Edwards Jr. and Miles O'Neill arriving through the portal. The Tar Heels also reshaped the staff, moving on from Freddie Kitchens and bringing in Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator.
Still, the biggest pressure point remains obvious: Belichick needs wins, and he needs them fast. If last year’s problems show up again in 2026, his time in Chapel Hill could end quickly.
That’s the backdrop for North Carolina’s top-30 countdown, and the No. 20 player on the 2026-27 roster is Penn State transfer edge rusher Harvey.
Harvey’s college résumé is still light. In 2025, he finished with one sack and five solo tackles.
But the appeal is easy to see. At 6-foot-2 and 246 pounds, he brings explosive first-step quickness, plus the kind of bend that can stress tackles off the edge.
There’s real upside here, even if the production hasn’t caught up yet.
He’s a redshirt sophomore with a lot of room to grow, and that’s not a knock. It’s the reason he lands in this spot. Harvey has the motor and the athletic traits to become the No. 2 pass rusher on the roster, and if everything clicks, he could grow into an every-down force for North Carolina.
For now, the Tar Heels don’t need him to be the whole answer. Melkart Abou-Jaoude is the team’s top pass rusher, but he needs help on the other side. Harvey gives North Carolina a chance to create pressure without having to overwork one player, and that matters for a defense that may have to carry the team early while the quarterback situation sorts itself out.
Defensive coordinator Steve Belichick has already shown he can get the most out of players in his system, and Harvey looks like another piece that could benefit from that approach. He won’t be asked to do everything at once. He can start as a complementary presence on the defensive line, then expand his role as his pass-rush package and run defense develop.
If that progression happens, Harvey could become a meaningful part of a defense that already has talent at all three levels. And with North Carolina trying to rebound in a big way, the defense will need to set the tone. Harvey is one of the players who could help make that possible.
In Other News...
UNC Freshman Faces A Familiar Problem With Huge Long Term Stakes
North Carolinas projected rotation next season already looks crowded with familiar names and a few newcomers who will be asked to fit quickly. Sayon Keita, Jarin Stevenson, Matt Able and Terrence Brown all sit in the mix as key contributors, and the early read is that the Tar Heels have enough pieces to build a real lineup rather than just a collection of options. For a program that always has to balance immediate expectations with long-term roster building, that kind of depth can be a strength if the roles sort themselves out cleanly.
Kevin Thomas is the kind of freshman who makes that sorting process interesting. He arrives with real talent and a chance to carve out minutes, but he is also walking into a backcourt where the early opportunities are likely to go to players with more experience. Under Michael Malone, the path forward will come down to development and whether Thomas can separate himself in the areas that tend to travel well for young guards, which is where the bigger question for UNC begins to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Still Commands Top 25 Respect After Massive Offseason Reset
UNCs offseason reset was as dramatic as any in the country, with Hubert Davis out and Michael Malone in as the Tar Heels try to rebuild a roster that lost multiple key pieces to the NBA Draft and the transfer portal. Even with that turnover, the program still has enough name value and incoming talent to stay in the national conversation, helped by additions such as Terrence Brown and Matt Able and a broader influx of new faces around the roster.
Gary Parrishs latest view of the Tar Heels reflects that balance, keeping them in the Top 25 mix despite all the change. The returning core is thinner than usual, but UNC still has enough proven production and enough fresh talent to make the next question less about whether the Heels belong in the rankings and more about how quickly Malone can turn that reworked group into a team that can actually live up to it. [Read more 🡒]
Former Tar Heel Andrew Platek Lands A Head Coaching Role
Andrew Plateks coaching path has taken another step forward, as the former UNC guard has been named the head coach of the Shenendehowa boys basketball program. He arrives after two seasons at Niskayuna High School and takes over a program that has long been guided by Paul Yattaw, while also bringing a local connection from his days playing high school basketball at Guilderland.
Now Platek gets a bigger stage to shape a team in his image, and the style he wants to build should sound familiar to Tar Heel fans. He has talked about wanting his teams to play fast, get into transition, shoot often and maximize possessions, a philosophy that traces back to Roy Williams and the up-tempo approach Platek knew at North Carolina. The question now is how quickly he can turn that vision into a program identity at Shenendehowa. [Read more 🡒]