The North Carolina Tar Heels are entering a monumental 2026 season after being one of the biggest disappointments in 2025, posting a 4-8 record, and finishing 13th in the ACC.

Hiring Bill Belichick as head coach always carried a moderate risk, but the administration could not foresee what would transpire in the coming months. Earlier this offseason, the 74-year-old head coach provided some insight into what led to the team’s struggles last season.

Belichick’s Thoughts

Belichick began by praising this year’s group of players, explaining the goals and how this team will go about business heading into offseason workouts and carrying that momentum into the start of the regular season.

• “Well, what I expect is for us and them to get better every day, you know, to get stronger, to get faster, to be more explosive, to be better fundamentally, to be, you know, better technique football players,” Belichick said.

• “That’s what I expect from them. We have a good group of kids, they work hard, they are, you know, they’re pretty smart. I mean, they, you know, go to class, they do well academically, they, you know, they try to do what we ask them to do.”

The longtime NFL head coach then reflected on the team’s struggles last season and how the disconnect between the coaching staff and the players contributed to the poor product on the field.

• “And the group last year, I mean, I wouldn’t say they were, like, disrespectful, that’s not the right word, but it was just different,” Belichick said. “It was like they were recruited by somebody else; they came here for somebody else.”

• “I was new, they were leaving, you know. It wasn’t a bad relationship, but it wasn’t a great one. There wasn’t the same kind of adhesion that there is to guys that you bring in, that come there because of you, because they want to be with you. And then you grow together.”

Why North Carolina Could Bounce Back

As Belichick mentioned, most of the players on last season’s roster were not personally recruited by the polarizing head coach. Belichick inherited the majority of the players from the previous regime, which added another layer of challenge for the newly hired head coach, as he was already making the transition from the NFL to college.

With that being said, North Carolina’s brass, including general manager Michael Lombardi, did a tremendous job of identifying the top weaknesses and acknowledging that major changes were needed before the start of next season.

Yes, the quarterback position leaves much to be desired, and I would argue that the Tar Heels settled on the options they brought in. However, North Carolina improved the other most important position groupings on the field, bolstering both the offensive and defensive lines, which will elevate the entire operation.

Last offseason, Lombardi discussed how the front office would navigate the transfer portal, and those sentiments were fairly reflected in the program’s activity over the last several months.

• “I think every time you can acquire more talent is an important window,” Lombardi said. “I think we obviously have more time to prepare for it, because we wouldn’t have just gotten thrown right into it. So, I think a lot of scouting is preparation. We won’t know the names of those who are in the portal, but we’ll have a better idea about what it takes to be in the portal and who could possibly enter, and then have an ability to evaluate them.”

• “And really to get things the way you want to run a program isn’t to be reactive,” Lombardi continued. “Al Davis used to say this all the time to me, ‘the secret to all organizations and the secret to any great organization lies in the ability to anticipate problems, not react.’ I think when we got in here, we were reacting to the portal. Now we can anticipate the portal, which certainly will help us.”

Throughout the offseason, I have been highly skeptical of my confidence level in the direction of the program under Belichick and this coaching staff, but in terms of roster construction, I think North Carolina has had a solid offseason.

Over the last two weeks, we have counted down the top 30 players on the Tar Heels’ roster heading into this upcoming season. Today, we reveal who ranks No. 22 on North Carolina and what this player means for the program in 2026. Without further ado, here is a deep-dive analysis of a pivotal asset for Belichick and the Tar Heels on a revamped roster.

North Carolina Top 30 Players: No. 22 LT Jordan Hall

The 6-foot-8, 310-pound offensive tackle only appeared in five games for the Tar Heels last season after transferring from UAB last April. While that could be a discouraging sign for Hall, he still has two years of eligibility left, and in a limited snapshot, he demonstrated he can play offensive tackle.

Entering this season, Hall is projected to be North Carolina’s starting left tackle on a much-improved offensive line. Being given that responsibility would show the coaching staff’s confidence in Hall holding up as the blindside blocker for whichever quarterback establishes himself as the starter in Week 1.

Hall’s Importance

As we have said on multiple occasions, North Carolina’s offense will be a work in progress, especially with major question marks at quarterback. The offensive line will be a major factor in the team’s success next season, and with several moving parts on that unit, cohesion must be established quickly.

In 2025, the Tar Heels’ offensive line was one of the several glaring holes on the roster. This season, that should not be the case, as the front office invested heavily in the offensive line, ensuring a clean pocket for the quarterback and supplying the running backs with open rushing lanes. As the left tackle, Hall will be the most important piece on the offensive line, acting as the blindside blocker for any of the three between Travis Burgess, Billy Edwards Jr., and Miles O’Neill.

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A man kidnapped and killed a U.S. Postal Service worker while she was delivering mail in North Carolina last week, police said, orphaning her two daughters, who lost their father just a few months before.

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Brandi Reynolds, 35, was found dead following a call for help to authorities in Hays, North Carolina, Friday afternoon, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

“I can confirm that Brandi Reynolds was delivering mail on her route when the incident occurred,” U.S. Postal Inspector Michael Martel said by email.

Prosecutors in Wilkes County charged William Craig Durham, 56, of the community of Roaring River, with first-degree kidnapping and murder, according to court records.

The defendant, arrested the day of the murder, remained in Wilkes County Jail on Tuesday, according to a third-party inmate information service used by the county. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

A warrant filed in district court alleged Durham committed kidnapping “by unlawfully restraining the victim, removing the victim from one place to another without the consent of the victim.”

It said Durham carried out the alleged kidnapping “for the purpose of terrorizing” Reynolds and “doing serious bodily injury” to her.

It’s unclear how Durham allegedly committed the killing. Any weapons that may have been used were not mentioned in the document, and any motive was unavailable.

On Monday, district court Judge Robert J. Crumpton ordered the defendant to remain in custody without bond, citing his “significant criminal record.”

State prison records show Durham has served time for second-degree kidnapping, assault on a female and possession of a gun by a felon, among other offenses.

An investigation into the killing was being conducted jointly by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the bureau said.

Reynolds was the mother of two girls, according to her obituary. She lost her husband, Brent Reynolds, on Dec. 23, 2025, when the pickup he was driving veered off a road in Rhonda, North Carolina, and struck a tree, according to NBC affiliate WXII of Winston-Salem.

His obituary stated at the time that he was the father of the couple’s two girls — “the light of his life.”

Reynolds’ obituary, likewise, stated that her daughters “were her whole world.”

She left behind her mother, two sisters and several nieces and nephews, it said.

“The U.S. Postal Service is deeply saddened about the death of our colleague, Brandi Byrd Reynolds,” Postal Service spokesperson Martha Johnson said by email. “We extend our heartfelt sympathies to her family, friends, and co-workers at the Hays Post Office.”