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Bill Belichick and Hubert Davis are beginning in similar spaces.
Compare a 73-year-old coach trying the college game after winning eight Super Bowls to a 55-year-old coach entering his fifth season and feeling the heat of checkered results. Is it even close?
They are both facing similarities.
Belichick and his staff are starting with 70 newcomers who have never played in Kenan Stadium. About 40 transfers are beginning new chapters in their football careers. Thirty or so freshmen are taking the leap from high school to big boy football.
Hubert, for the second time in five years, has revamped nearly his entire roster, losing nine players to graduation or the portal and signing nine to take their places with some experience in Power Four basketball or none after coming from high school or overseas.
The expectations for both teams are through the roof because of Belichick’s big name and bigger resume and Davis as the current steward of a beloved program that is expected to be at least an NCAA Tournament team, no matter what names are on their jersey backs.
For starters, both will likely open up with quarterbacks/ point guards who have little exposure at this level. In football it is a 6-foot lefty named Gio Lopez, and in basketball it is either a transfer from Colorado State (Kyan Evans) or four-star freshmen (Derek Dixon and Isaiah Denis).
For Belichick, with Tom Brady winning six Super Bowls, this may be the biggest downgrade he has had since Brady left the Patriots in free agency. For Hubert, try figuring out how to play without former All-American and ACC Player of the Year R.J. Davis.
Belichick coaches football from the inside out, meaning he wants the biggest talented players on his offensive line, and he does have some returnees or transfers who fit that bill. But the Hoodie said at his presser Wednesday, “You want the best players, but more important is having the best offensive line combination because rarely a team plays the same five offensive linemen the whole game.”
The Tar Heels have grad student Austin Blaske and junior Treyvon Green returning, but the other three starters and all their back-ups will show up on the two-deep they release closer to the TCU game.
Davis said before last season was over, “We need to get bigger at every position.” He has done that, but the new combo of big men has to prove they can play as individuals and as teammates coming off one of UNC’s worst rebounding seasons.
On paper, the Heels have the goods, with juniors Henri Veesaar from Estonia and Arizona and Pittsboro’s Jarin Stevenson from two years at Alabama. Sophomore James Brown and returnee Zayden High must show they are vastly improved to get meaningful minutes.
The wildcard for Carolina is five-star 6-9 freshman Caleb Wilson, a projected one-and-done who has to live up to it to make a good team great.
Featured image via UNC Football on Twitter
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
