Bill Belichick’s second season leading North Carolina arrives with a clear mandate: the Tar Heels have to show last year’s 4-8 finish was only the start of something better. And if UNC is going to make that leap in 2026, it will lean heavily on a handful of returning standouts who already flashed enough last season to look like the backbone of the roster.
On defense, Abou-Jaoude jumps off the page first. His game is built on disruption, whether he is blowing up run plays in the backfield or turning the corner with speed-to-power, heavy hands, and the kind of strength that lets him control the line of scrimmage. He is coming off a 10.5-sack season and enters 2026 with a chance to put up similar numbers again.
Jordan Shipp brings a different kind of value, one that shows up in the details. Savvy is the best way to describe him.
He works cleanly through routes, spots openings in zone coverage, and creates separation from the slot against nickel backs and dime linebackers. Shipp’s production could take another step forward, and by the end of the regular season, the NFL may be calling his name.
No matter what comes next, he projects as one of UNC’s top offensive weapons.
In the secondary, Cost gives the Tar Heels a player who can affect the game in a lot of ways even if the passing-game production has not fully caught up yet. The former North Carolina baseball player is a problem on screens, around the line of scrimmage in the run game, and anywhere he can squeeze space away from a quarterback. With another year in the system, he looks positioned to be the best defensive back on the roster and one of the most dynamic defenders in Chapel Hill.
Then there is June, who should be a major part of what UNC wants to do on the ground. Under offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, the Tar Heels’ run game is expected to be physical, and the true sophomore fits that approach perfectly. He emerged last season and finished by taking over as the starting running back, and now he is set up to carry that role full-time in 2026.
In Other News...
This Familiar UNC Flaw Could Ruin Another Promising Season
North Carolina did a lot of things well enough last season to stay in the thick of the national conversation, but the Tar Heels kept running into one stubborn issue at the line. Their free throw shooting lagged badly enough to cost them in close games, and it showed up at the worst possible time, including an NCAA Tournament opener against VCU in which they led for most of the afternoon before letting the result slip away. When a team cant cash in on the easiest points available, every late-game possession starts to feel heavier.
The concern now is that this was not just a one-year quirk. Even some of the newer faces showed the same kind of inconsistency last season, which makes the issue harder to dismiss as a temporary blip. UNC has enough talent to build another promising season, but until that weakness is cleaned up, the Tar Heels will keep leaving themselves vulnerable in the exact moments that decide March. [Read more 🡒]
Tar Heels Ceiling Looks Different With This Much NBA Talent
A fresh ESPN mock draft has only deepened the sense that North Carolinas ceiling could look very different in the near future. Jeremy Woo placed Matt Able, Sayon Keita and Neoklis Avdalas all outside the first-round lottery on his 2027 board, a reminder that the Tar Heels are not just trying to reload for one season but stack legitimate NBA-caliber talent with room to grow.
Able sits highest of the group at No. 16, while Keita comes in at No. 25 and Avdalas at No. 53, giving UNC a mix of projected upside and long-term intrigue. The appeal for the Tar Heels is obvious: if that development track hits, the roster could end up looking far stronger than a typical preseason projection suggests, with Keita in particular carrying the kind of stock that could rise fast once the games start. [Read more 🡒]