Heading into UNC’s opener against TCU, the backfield looked like it might belong to Demon June. He was the most proven name in the room, coming off a freshman season in which he piled up 623 rushing and receiving yards and scored three touchdowns. Benjamin Hall had buzzed through camp and appeared capable of pushing for work, but the expectation still pointed toward June handling most of the load to start the year.
That’s not how it played out.
Hall opened as the clear lead back, taking every carry on UNC’s first drive and most of the work in the first half. When the Tar Heels went to a second runner, it was sophomore Jaylen McGill who entered the mix.
June didn’t touch the ball until the fourth quarter. By the time the game was over, the workload split told the story:
Hall: 27 snaps; 11 carries for 36 yards, 1 catch for 2 yards
McGill: 25 snaps; 5 carries for 33 yards, 1 touchdown
June: 9 snaps; 6 carries for 25 yards
Hall and McGill soaked up nearly all of the meaningful snaps at running back. Hall was the starter, McGill was the frequent third-down option, and June spent most of the game watching from the sideline.
That part was surprising given what June showed as a rookie, but he did reappear late in the fourth quarter when UNC was trying to drain the clock. In that role, he handled the situation well and picked up tough yards with TCU selling out to stop the run.
In some ways, though, the committee approach shouldn’t have been such a shock. Last season, Belichick never seemed eager to hand June the job outright, even with his upside.
In the 2025 Syracuse game, June finally broke through with 182 combined rushing and receiving yards in what was arguably UNC’s best offensive showing of the season against an FBS opponent. The next week against Cal, he was back down to three carries while Davion Gause handled most of the work.
The pattern held the rest of the year, and June finished the season-ending loss to N.C. State with just two carries.
The exact logic behind Belichick’s decisions isn’t clear, and it may come down to matchup or game flow. What is clear is that mistakes matter.
June drew a penalty that erased a nice gain early in the second quarter against TCU, and Hall didn’t get another carry after putting the ball on the ground in the third. Whether that was coincidence or consequence is hard to prove, but Belichick’s history offers plenty of examples of backs losing opportunities after mistakes.
The most famous is Jonas Gray, who rushed for 201 yards and 4 touchdowns against the Colts in 2014, then was sent home from practice later that week and barely played the rest of the season for oversleeping and arriving late to a team meeting.
That’s not necessarily a knock on Belichick. His teams won plenty in Foxborough by doing things his way. But after what UNC showed against TCU, and after last season’s rotating cast at running back, figuring out who gets the next carry may be a guessing game for a while.
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