Since Bill Belichick and Mike Lombardi arrived, UNC has added 117 new players to a roster that only accommodates 105. Hopefully this can help you keep track of who’s likely to see the field for UNC next season and why.
In 2026, college football has one transfer portal, and the window for entering that portal ends today. Players who have entered the portal by today can transfer at any time from here on out. It remains possible that UNC might add a player or two down the line, but classes started January 7. It’s safe to assume at this point that the roster for the 2026 is mostly set.
UNC in 2025 fielded its worst offense in at least 20 years. That resulted in paying Freddie Kitchens $1.2 million to go away and be part of Dabo Swinney’s staff at Clemson as an unpaid offensive analyst. Sidebar: how did Kitchens warrant a second guaranteed year in his contract? Who else wanted him in that role or anything close to that salary? Who the heck agreed to that?
| Offense | ESPN’s FPI Efficiency Rating | Football Efficiency Index (FEI) |
| 2024 | 63rd | 68th |
| 2025 | 99th | 103rd |
So, how might UNC’s offense get better in 2025?
Coaching: Bobby Petrino replaces Kitchens. Say whatever you want about Petrino off the field, on the field that’s basically replacing a contestant on Worst Cooks in America with Gordon Ramsay. Can Petrino coach offense and call plays? Yes, he can. He inherited an offense at Arkansas rated 97th in both FEI and FPI in 2023. That offense improved it to 45th/41st in 2024 and then 15th/13th last season. That’s outhouse to the penthouse in two years.
The rest of the offensive coaching staff remains in place. Garrick McGee, wide receivers coach, has worked with Petrino before, which seems a big plus given Petrino’s emphasis on route precision and timing. Yes, Matt Lombardi remains in place as QB coach at $600,000 a year. No, Petrino will not give up working with the QBs directly. Good to know the program has money sitting around to hand out to the GM’s kid in a redundant role.
Quarterback: At QB, UNC added Billy Edwards, a former starter at Maryland and Wisconsin who will be in his sixth year of college ball. Edwards will go into spring ball as the presumptive starter. Having a QB with that much experience and enough talent to win the starting job at two different Big Ten schools seems promising. Edwards will need stay healthy, and that’s a bit of the roll of dice. Edwards’ season-ending injury last season happened in the first half of the opening game, and it was non-contact; the knee just gave out. Hopefully the OL (see below) can keep him clean.
Miles O’Neill comes to the QB room from Texas AM, where Petrino helped recruit him to the Aggies before departing for Arkansas. Au’Tori Newkirk, third string last season, remains in Chapel Hill. Travis Burgess, a four-star recruit who lost his senior season to a knee injury, replaces Gio Lopez, who transferred to Wake Forest.
Offensive Line: Last year’s offensive line was almost all imports. The starters have run out of eligibility, and most of the back-ups opted to transfer elsewhere. Say it with me know: YIKES.
The recruiting class added five new OL, but four of them are true freshman, none rated immediate contributors. Jonah Rodriguez, a junior college add, could conceivably play meaningful snaps this season. The transfer portal added Andrew Threatt from Charleston Southern, Shaq McCroy from Arkansas, and Rowan Byrne from Clemson. Threatt has ample experience and appears set as a starter somewhere along the line. McCroy played 58 snaps for Arkansas, while Byrne had three for Clemson. Christo Kelly, lost last season to injury, hopes to get a sixth year. Eiden Buchanan might still factor into the mix after starting against TCU then disappearing.
Somewhere in all that is our two-deep at offensive line. It’s entirely projection and guesswork right now to imagine what it might look like in 2026. How much the offense improves rides entirely on how well that unit comes together over the next seven months.
Tight End: If you’re a fan of tight end usage, rejoice. UNC added Carson Sneed in the recruiting class, a three-star recruit with a high four-star offer list who likely gets snaps early. The portal added Jordan Washington from Texas, Jelani Thurman from Ohio State, and Jaxxon Warren from Colorado State. While the first two weren’t first options in those offenses, they did see the field and amass some stats. Warren’s a 6’8” specimen who showed good athleticism and hands in two games last season before being injured. The room returns Shamar Easter. Jake Johnson transferred to Auburn. That’s a lot of good options for Petrino to work with and puts effective 12 personnel (two tight end formations) on the table for next season. Two quality tight ends on the field at once can make an offense far more versatile.
Running Back: Demon June, Benjamin Hall, and Jaylin McGill seem set as the running back rotation for now. That places a priority on those three remaining healthy. Davion Gause transferred to NC State. The recruiting class adds Crew Davis, a project out of New York. A name or two from last season’s scout team could emerge.
Wide Receiver: Jordan Shipp returns, which was crucial both on the field and in the locker room. Shanard Clower and Nathan Leacock also return from last season. To those three, the recruiting class adds Carnell Warren and Kymistrii Young, both true wide-outs, and CJ Sadler, a dynamic slot. Sadler’s a highly rated four-star who could see snaps increase over the season as he learns the offense and adapts to the college game. Warren’s also a four-star, while Young rated 3 stars.
The transfer portal added Trech Kekahuna from Wisconsin, a slot with a lunch pail mentality likely to endear him to fans, and Mason Humphrey, a wide out from Lehigh with good ball skills and a stride that can leave safeties behind. Humphrey’s also a reluctant (to put it mildly) blocker to date, a trait that saw Chris Culliver’s role in the offense disappear and likely his transfer to Marshall. Presumably the staff explained that expectation to Humphrey prior to offering.
Add it all up: The offense could take a major leap forward in 2026 despite what can only be called a rebuild. If the offensive line comes together (huge if), the running backs stay healthy, and Edwards stays healthy, the offense could jump all the way from “cover your eyes” bad to an above-average P4 offense. Part of that jump would be the extent to which Belichick and Kitchens badly underperformed with last year’s roster, part would be roster upgrades, and part would be Petrino making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
At the other end of the possible, injury could leave the offense in a bind, especially given how thin depth at the interior offensive line and running back look at the moment. Petrino’s offense requires QBs to have time, whether via pass protection, QBs who win the “second play,” or both. For a comparison on that front, look at Syracuse last season, whose offense went from very good to awful courtesy of an injury to their starting QB and a couple of offensive linemen. A lot has to go right for this offense to be significantly better than last season. It only takes a couple of things to go wrong to prevent that leap. Still, it’s hard to imagine the offense doesn’t improve measurably if only because UNC now has a real offensive coordinator running the show. Hey, it only Belichick a season to figure out the importance of that staff position in college football.
What are your thoughts on next year’s offense and how much it might improve?
