North Carolina’s first month under Bill Belichick ended with a lopsided loss to Clemson, but the Tar Heels still have plenty to point to after opening the 2026 season 2-1. With Notre Dame coming up on October 3 as a heavy underdog spot, UNC has already shown enough early-season punch to make the start feel like a real step forward.
A big part of that has been the emergence of three players who have quickly become central to what the Tar Heels are doing on both sides of the ball: Benjamin Hall, Xavier Lewis and Greg Smith III.
Hall has become the steady hand in the backfield. Entering the year, UNC’s running back rotation looked wide open, with Demon June flashing promise as a true freshman and plenty of room for another back to claim the job.
Hall has done exactly that. In his first season with the Tar Heels, he totaled 71 carries for 274 yards.
Through three games this fall, he’s already at 33 carries for 215 yards, pushing past last season’s yardage total in short order. He’s 59 yards shy of a new career high in single-season rushing yards, and he’s moving toward blowing past that mark.
The touchdowns haven’t come from him, since June has handled the red-zone work, but Hall’s value shows up in more than just the box score. He’s been useful as both a runner and a receiver, and UNC looks set to keep leaning on him.
On defense, Lewis has been the kind of interior disruptor that changes the whole feel of a game. He arrived without any stars coming out of high school, but now he’s playing like one of the most dominant defensive tackles in the country over the first four weeks.
He’s been UNC’s top defensive player and, by the numbers listed through the opening stretch, he has 17 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss, along with 6.0 sacks and 14 total pressures. That production has come even with Melkart Abou-Jaoude missing two of the three games.
Lewis has made life miserable for quarterbacks and given North Carolina an anchor in the middle of the defense.
Then there’s Smith III, who is starting to look like the playmaker the secondary has been waiting for. The sophomore defensive back showed glimpses last season, but now he’s putting everything together at safety.
He already has two interceptions, and he might have had another if not for a penalty against his team. Against Clemson, he turned in a complete outing: a career-high seven tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception and one forced fumble.
He graded out at 90.1 in PFF, another sign of how cleanly he played.
UNC’s defensive line has drawn plenty of attention, and rightfully so. But Smith III has been just as important in giving this defense balance and range on the back end.
When you look at why the Tar Heels are 2-1, it’s hard to ignore what Hall, Lewis and Smith III have provided. If that production keeps rolling, UNC should have a chance to stay competitive as conference play gets going.
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A big man with a growing national market is already drawing plenty of attention, and North Carolina has made sure it is in the mix early. Dylan Betts, a five-star Class of 2028 center and 7-foot-3 prospect at IMG Academy, has taken an unofficial visit to Chapel Hill as part of a recruitment process that is quickly broadening beyond one region or one conference.
UNCs staff has been building a relationship with Betts while schools like Michigan and Illinois have already hosted him, and Alabama is also lined up for a future visit. For the Tar Heels, getting in early matters with a player of that size and ceiling, because the race for elite frontcourt talent tends to move fast once the major programs start pressing their cases. [Read more 🡒]
UNCs New Backcourt Duo Brings More Than Fans Might Expect
North Carolinas newest backcourt pairing arrived with plenty of intrigue during a recent media availability, as transfer guards Angelo Brizzi and Neo Avdalas were introduced to the Tar Heels audience. Brizzi brings a well-traveled resume, but also the kind of reliability UNC needs from a lead guard, having started all 32 games at Buffalo and finished with 14.5 points per game. Avdalas offers a different look entirely, a 6-foot-9 guard whose size and playmaking made him one of the more interesting additions in the ACC last season.
Avdalas started all 31 games at Virginia Tech, averaged 12.1 points and 4.6 assists per game, and earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors twice, which gives UNC a backcourt blend that is both experienced and unconventional. For a program always balancing immediate expectations with roster fit, the bigger question now is how quickly these two transfers can translate their production into chemistry, spacing and decision-making in Chapel Hill. [Read more 🡒]
Belichicks UNC Start Looks Worse As Passed-Over Options Keep Delivering
Bill Belichicks first season at North Carolina has already become a talking point across college football, and not in the way anyone around Chapel Hill would have wanted. As the Tar Heels try to settle in under one of the sports most famous names, the comparison game has only intensified, with other programs taking shape behind coaches who were in the same broader conversation before Belichick landed at UNC.
Those parallel developments matter because the coaches North Carolina did not hire keep stacking up results elsewhere. Jon Sumrall and Jake Dickert, in particular, have continued to build momentum, while Wake Forests early success under Dickert and quarterback Gio Lopez has only sharpened the optics. Even in games with uneven quarterback play, such as Clemsons outing from Tait Reynolds, the broader trend has been hard to miss for UNC fans watching the wider carousel. [Read more 🡒]