North Carolina

2025 Clemson Opponent Portal Tracker: North Carolina Tar Heels

Published

1 year ago

February 10, 2025

Press Room

2025 Clemson Opponent Portal Tracker: North Carolina Tar Heels

Dabo Swinney vs. Bill Belichick.

When Clemson travels to Chapel Hill on October 4, it will be one of the more anticipated matchups of the season.

The game will represent only the second time in college football history that a head coach with multiple FBS national championships will face another head coach with multiple Super Bowl titles.

The Tigers lead the all-time series 40-19-1 and have won six straight over the Tar Heels. Clemson’s last loss to North Carolina came in 2010 in Chapel Hill.

Today, The Clemson Insider continues its series looking at each of the Tigers’ 2025 opponents and the moves each has made in the transfer portal. Players lost, as well as players added.

There will be a lot of roster turnover in Belichick’s first season and the former NFL head coach has been active in the portal. Several players followed his son, Steve Belichick, from Washington to Chapel Hill. Belichick was the defensive coordinator with the Huskies in 2024.

North Carolina Portal Additions

OL Christo Kelly (Holy Cross): Kelly started 22 games over the last two seasons. The 6-foot-4, 305-pounder was named to the All-Patriot League Football First Team after logging 778 snaps as the starting center and team captain in 2024. A grad transfer with one year of eligibility remaining.
DL Melkart Abou-Jaoude (Deleware): Had his best season as a junior last year, totaling 24 tackles, with 9.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in 11 starts for the Blue Hens, earning all-conference honorable mention honors. He began his college career as a walk-on and has two years of eligibility remaining.
TE Connor Cox (South Carolina): Appeared in four games with the Gamecocks in 2024, then sat out the rest of the season to preserve the year of eligibility. His only catch over his two years at SC was a nine-yard touchdown against Akron last season. Has three years left.
K Adam Samaha (Michigan): Kicked one extra point at Michigan. Has three years of eligibility left.
DL CJ Mims (E. Carolina): Originally committed to Wake Forest after entering the portal before flipping to the Heels. Over his two seasons at ECU, Mims recorded 37 tackles, two sacks, and two forced fumbles. Has two seasons left.
OL Miles McVay (Alabama): A Top 200 talent in the 2023 recruiting class. McVay redshirted his first season and appeared in five games at tackle, logging 94 snaps in 2024. Three seasons left to play.
QB Ryan Browne (Purdue): Was a 3-star in the 2023 class and redshirted his first season. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder, appeared in eight games for Purdue this past season with two starts. On the season, he threw for 532 yards and four touchdowns with a pair of interceptions while completing 56.6 percent of his passes. He also gained 241 yards on the ground. Has three years of eligibility remaining.
OL Chad Lindberg (Rice): Former Top 150 recruit who signed with Georgia out of high school. Over four years with the Bulldogs, he played in 20 games. A year ago, Lindberg transferred to Rice. He started all 11 games he appeared in for the Owls. Seven of those starts were at left guard and the rest were at left tackle.
WR Aziah Johnson (Michigan State): As a red-shirt freshman this past season, he caught 16 passes for 276 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Had just one drop in 25 targets. Has three years of eligibility remaining.
LB Khmori House (Washington): Last season as a freshman, House tallied 317 snaps across 12 games for Washington, recording 35 tackles, a forced fumble, and an interception. Three years left to play.
OL William Boone (Prarie View A&M): Appeared in a dozen games for Prairie View A&M last season at right tackle. In a team-high 782 snaps, Boone did not allow a sack in 2024. He has two years remaining of eligibility. His prior collegiate stops were at Kilgore College (2023) and the New Mexico Military Institute (2022).
DB Gavin Gibson (E. Carolina): Spent his first two seasons at Maryland before transferring to ECU last year. Started 10 games with the Pirates (five at cornerback and five at strong safety), recording three interceptions (returning one for a touchdown), three pass breakups, 52 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.
DL Pryce Yates (UConn): Injury limited him to just seven games in 2024 but still finished with 21 tackles, 6.5 TFLs, and 3.5 sacks. In the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28, Yates helped UConn beat UNC, 27-14, with six tackles, including three for a loss and a sack. Has one season of eligibility left.
DB Coleman Bryson (Minnesota): Compiled 54 tackles in three years with the Golden Gophers. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
WR Jason Robinson (Washington): The 5-foot-10, 151-pound wideout didn’t appear in a game while redshirting in 2024. Will have four years of eligibility remaining.
DB Peyton Waters (Washington): As a true freshman, the 6-foot-1, 182-pound Waters appeared in all 13 games for Washington this past season, recording five tackles. Waters played three games on defense at safety, but the majority of the action he saw was on special teams. Has three seasons left.
DB Thaddeus Dixon (Washington): Over the past two seasons, Dixon appeared in 27 of Washington’s 28 games with 13 starts (12 this season). He concluded his career with 69 tackles, 16 pass breakups, and a pair of interceptions. Has one year of eligibility left.
OL Daniel King (Troy): King started all 40 of his games at Troy. He is a two-time All-Sun Belt Second Team honoree. King played 789 snaps in 2024 while playing two positions on the line — right guard the first half of the season, before moving to right tackle. Last season he allowed one sack in 408 pass-blocking plays and was the fourth-rated run blocker in the league.

North Carolina Portal Departures

OL Eli Sutton (to Austin Peay)
RB Jordan Louie (TBD)
OL Zach Greenburg (James Madison)
QB Conner Harrell (Charlotte)
OL Andrew Rosinski (Georgia Tech)
DL Travis Shaw (Texas)
OL Howard Sampson (Texas Tech)
K Noah Burnette (Notre Dame)
OL Jakiah Leftwich (UCF)
DB Tyrane Stewart (TBD)
OL Malik McGowan (UNLV)
QB Michael Merdinger (Liberty)
LB Ashton Woods (West Virginia)
LB Caleb LaVallee (Florida State)
DB Deandre Boykins (TBD)
QB Jacolby Criswell (ETSU)

Boston College Portal Tracker

Syracuse Portal Tracker

SMU Portal Tracker

LSU Portal Tracker

Duke Portal Tracker

Georgia Tech Portal Tracker

Photo courtesy of Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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4 Best Quotes Into North Carolina-Virginia Tech Matchup

Published

15 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

4 Best Quotes Into North Carolina-Virginia Tech Matchup

The North Carolina Tar Heels host the Virginia Tech Hokies on Saturday night at the Dean E. Smith Center in a monumental game for head coach Hubert Davis and his team. Here are quotes from this week that carry weight into this contest.

Seth Trimble’s Aggressive Mindset

Feb 23, 2026; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Seth Trimble (7) dribbles as Louisville Cardinals guard Kobe Rodgers (11) defends in the second half at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

“The thing that I loved about him was he was thinking attack. He wasn’t coming off looking to pass,” Davis said. “One of the things that I’ve told him is when you come off a ball screen, you’re 100% thinking score, and then let the defense dictate whether you make a pass or you go to the basket. And Seth’s ability to be able to get downhill, he was able to score, draw fouls, just a huge difference maker for us.”

“And I feel like now that Caleb [Wilson] has been out, he’s definitely been more of the go-to guy, and he’s had a lot more opportunities,” Henri Veesaar said. “I feel like he flipped a switch in the second half of Syracuse and that kind of just carried over, because he started being more aggressive, getting downhill, and that carried over into the next game.”

“The coaches have been on me,” Trimble said. “I know I said it; I’ve said this over and over again, but they’ve been on me just to go and just finish, you know, coming off the ball screen, go, look to score, you know, don’t look to pass. Don’t look to make a play. Go to score. And then things are going to happen from that. And then I’m going to be able to kick out, going to be able to hit Henri [Veesaar].”

Defensive Fortitude

Feb 23, 2026; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Conwell (3) shoots as North Carolina Tar Heels center Henri Veesaar (13) and forward Zayden High (1) defend in the second half at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

“We were ready – just being ready on the defensive end and making them score over us,” Veesaar said. “I feel like on the defensive end most of the time, most of the games, we control the way we play, and as long as we don’t make any [mistakes]…today we were talking, communicating the whole game. So that was really good.”

“It was a huge point to try and slow down Mikel [Brown Jr.] and [Ryan] Conwell,” Trimble said. “They’re two incredible guards, two of the best guards in the ACC. So, if you can shut them down, you can put yourself in a good position to win. Now, we didn’t necessarily shut them down, obviously, but efficiency wise, they didn’t have the best game, and it made it difficult. So, I think we did a good job.”

“[With] so many gifted guys that can score in many different areas, one of the things that we wanted to do is just make every catch, make every move, make every shot difficult,” Davis continued. “And I just felt like throughout the game, they got worn down and tired. And I think that’s why a lot of their threes hit front rim or air ball, because of the fatigue.”

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Disaster as fencing wire gets tangled in spinning car wash in North Carolina

Published

1 day ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Disaster as fencing wire gets tangled in spinning car wash in North Carolina

GOLDSBORO, N.C. — A rancher in North Carolina had a nightmare experience in a car wash recently, when wire fencing sitting in the bed of his pickup truck got entangled in the rotating brushes.

Kyle Corbett shared video of the aftermath on TikTok, writing, “Lesson today is don’t go in the car wash with high tensile wire in the bed of your truck.”

“I needed to put up more fence for my cattle, so I purchased this reel of high tensile wire the night before, and the next day I went up town to take care of some business at the bank,” Corbett said. “I decided to run through the car wash ‘real quick’ and didn’t think about that wire.”

“I never use that truck for any work. I went to the car wash and the guys checked my truck out for safety. I went through and that’s when all hell broke loose,” he said.

“It wrapped up half of the fence in just a matter of seconds and beat the hell out of that car behind me. It sounded like a war zone,” he added.

“This is not good…yeah that’s terrible,” he says in the footage as he’s filming the mess.

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NC Made: Durham’s Old Hillside Bourbon toasts Black heritage one bottle at a time

Published

2 days ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

NC Made: Durham’s Old Hillside Bourbon toasts Black heritage one bottle at a time

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — Bourbon is more than a business for Jesse Carpenter — it’s a tribute to the city that shaped him.

“This is Durham. This is where I’m from. This is where I grew up,” said Carpenter, Chief Product Officer of Old Hillside Bourbon.

The company he co-founded with childhood friends takes its name and identity from one of Durham’s most iconic institutions-Hillside High School, one of the oldest historically Black high schools in the nation.

“We graduated Class of 1993 from Hillside High School,” Carpenter said. “Concord and Lawson Street. It’s the old Hillside.”

The idea took root during the pandemic when Carpenter proposed starting a bourbon company to those same friends.

“I had an idea to start a bourbon company, and they were on board,” he said. “Friends from 30 years ago, and now we’re doing this business together. It’s awesome.”

From 300 Cases to 10,000

What began as a pandemic-era idea has evolved into a rapidly growing business.

In its inaugural year, Old Hillside distributed 300 cases; this year, the company anticipates 10,000. The bourbon also earned Best in Show at the 2023 TAG Global Spirits Awards, impressing even the most discerning craft bourbon critics.

“Let me focus on the aroma — layers of oak, vanilla,” one reviewer commented on the Bourbon Banter YouTube channel, concluding with, “I think it’s a great taste.”

SEE MORE NC MADE STORIES

A Bottle Full of Stories

Beyond its flavor, Old Hillside stands out for the history embedded in its label. Each vintage pays homage to a chapter of Black American history that might otherwise remain overlooked.

The inaugural bottle features a photo of the old Hillside High building, symbolizing the school’s deep community ties. A second flavor pays tribute to the African American jockeys who dominated the Kentucky Derby before the Jim Crow era effectively pushed them out of the sport. The company’s latest release honors the Harlem Hellfighters, the renowned all-Black military unit that served with distinction in World War I.

It’s a storytelling approach that Carpenter and his team are actively working to spread across North Carolina. Brand ambassadors Corey Carpenter and Amire Schealey are on the front lines of that effort.

“More bars and restaurants — tackling different markets,” said Corey Carpenter. Schealey added that the team is “setting up tastings at different ABC boards to build up our brand and presence around the state of North Carolina.”

Like many acclaimed bourbons, Old Hillside is distilled and bottled in Kentucky. But its founders are quick to point out where its true spirit comes from.

“Old Hillside is a lifestyle,” Jesse Carpenter said. “Not just a school-friendship and camaraderie. That’s what we do.”

SEE ALSO | NC Made: Raleigh jewelry brand AnnaBanana grows from UNC dorm room to statewide success

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