CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina opens spring practice for the second year under NFL coaching legend Bill Belichick with a new offensive coordinator, an overhauled quarterback room and a young roster looking to improve on last year’s disastrous 4-8 season.
Belichick will take questions from the local media for the first time since last year’s regular-season finale, a loss at NC State, before the Tar Heels hit the field Tuesday.
In the offseason, Belichick — who won six Super Bowls as head coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots — hired veteran coach Bobby Petrino to run the Tar Heels’ offense. Petrino, whose offenses have put up prolific numbers at nearly all of his stops, is charged with turning around an offense that ranked 16th in the 17-team ACC in points per game (19.3) and passing yards per game (183.9) and last in total yards (289.2 per game).
The anemic offense cost UNC several games, dulling enthusiasm for the Belichick era, which had reached a fever-pitch in the offseason as the Tar Heels set records for ticket sales.
Petrino will have a new crop of quarterbacks to work with in his first season in Chapel Hill.
Gone are starter Gio Lopez (transferred to Wake Forest), backup Max Johnson (transferred to Georgia Southern) and touted recruit Bryce Baker (transferred to Virginia Tech). In are transfers Billy Edwards Jr. (a graduate student from Wisconsin), Myles O’Neill (from Texas A&M) and Taron Dickens (from Western Carolina), along with touted recruit Travis Burgess.
Edwards Jr. was injured in the season opener last year, Dickens won’t be with the Tar Heels for spring practice, and Burgess was injured in August and missed the rest of his senior season.
At a time when many college football programs are looking to get older and take veteran players through the transfer portal, the Tar Heels have gone against the grain, signing nearly 40 freshmen in December.
“They will be the foundation for our program,” Belichick said at the time.
On the spring roster, UNC lists 17 redshirt freshmen and 31 true freshmen. The spring roster includes four graduate students, five redshirt seniors and three true seniors. UNC has 16 redshirt juniors, six juniors, 16 redshirt sophomores and five sophomores on its roster.
The Tar Heels open the season in Dublin, Ireland, against TCU, which battered UNC 48-14 in Belichick’s debut last season. UNC plays 11 teams that had a winning record last season, including national title game participant Miami.
Belichick was snubbed by voters for induction in his first year of eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the offseason.