CHAPEL HILL - Bill Belichick was named the head football coach at North Carolina on December 11, two days after the opening of the winter transfer portal window. This meant that while the 72-year old was adjusting to the ins and outs of running a college football program, head coaches across the country were already busy making preparations for theier 2025 rosters.
And even though his accolades preceded him, the Tar Heels required a recruiting plan, a blueprint to not only bring recruits to Chapel Hill, but to build the foundation for a successful program.
For Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi, the path to that foundation was clear and it started in the trenches.
"The great thing about football is you can study winning on any level, and there's a formula for why teams win and why teams lose. And if you pay close attention to it, it's not that difficult football,” said Lombardi during his first meeting with the media on Tuesday. “Going back to when (Vince) Lombardi coached the Packers in the 60s, to when Bill coached the Giants, or Bill Walsh coached the 49ers, it's about who wins the line and who controls the game.”
Lombardi referenced Sunday’s Super Bowl as an example of that, as the Philadelphia Eagles wreaked havoc on Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, tallying five sacks on the night. They weren’t just leading, but they were leading and in control.
“On Sunday, it was pretty clear the Eagles were in the lead and in control. There was really no dispute,” said Lombardi. “The only way you can get in control of the game is through the offensive and defensive lines. And so if you believe that philosophy, that's building the team inside out from the lines to the receivers.”
Lombardi’s time in the NFL, which spanned over 30 years, has helped ingrain this philosophy into the Tar Heels’ roster building plan, and he points to one specific moment that led to it all.
"(Coach Walsh) asked me to write a report on three players: Al Toon, Eddie Brown and Jerry Rice,” said Lombardi. “When he asked me to write that report, he said, 'we are now finally in position to go get a big time receiver, because the team's really good around them.' And I asked him, 'what do you mean by that?' And he said, 'well, we can get the ball to a great player now, because we're good on both lines.' And that's impacted me my whole life.”
UNC has followed that belief in the last two months, as over 40% of its additions via the transfer portal have come along the offensive and defensive lines. The Tar Heels added five offensive lineman, four of whom have recorded over 700 career snaps.
In addition to bringing in talent to man the trenches, center Austin Blaske and left guard Aidan Banfield, who initially entered the portal, announced their return to Chapel Hill for the 2025 season.
Defensively, UNC’s focus along the lines has paid off, as it earned the commitment of Delaware transfer and defensive end Melkart Abou-Jaoude, and two defensive linemen, including UConn transfer Pryce Yates. Yates was named 2024 Wasabi Bowl Defensive MVP for his performance against the Tar Heels in December and recorded 29.5 tackles-for-loss and 12.5 sacks in 32 career games.
While the winter portal window closed December 28, the North Carolina coaching staff will have another chance to add talent with college experience, as the spring portal window runs from April 16 to April 25.
And not only will they be prepared to recruit, but will also anticipate the happenings within the portal, not react to them.
"I think we obviously have more time to prepare for it because we wouldn't have just gotten thrown right into it,” said Lombardi. “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 [to them].' I think when we got in here, we were reacting to the portal. Now we can anticipate the portal, which certainly will help us."
As North Carolina continues to build its roster ahead of the 2025 season, it will do so just how it did two months ago when the Belichick-era began: from the inside out.
