Tag: Amare Campbell

Amare Campbell returning to UNC football proves the Belichick effect is real

Amare Campbell’s return wasn’t the only big roster news for the UNC football last week.

Saturday, December 14 was a big day for the UNC football program – and continued to solidify why new head coach Bill Belichick is the real deal.

On Saturday, North Carolina starting middle linebacker Amare Campbell withdrew his name from the transfer portal. For a position the Tar Heels entered the season unsure about, given Cedric Gray’s departure to the NFL (he’s now a Tennessee Titan), they witnessed a star develop in Campbell,

Through 12 regular season games, Cambpell tied for a UNC-best 6.5 sacks,  recorded 10.5 tackles for loss (second-highest), 72 total tackles, four quarterback hurries.

Campbell entered the portal when North Carolina dragged its feet on initially hiring Belichick, but withdrew once Bill was the guy.

Campbell’s withdrawal was the Tar Heels’ greatest roster move so far after Belichick’s hire, but it was just one of four moves.

4-star quarterback Bryce Baker officially signed with UNC, while 2024 starting offensive linemen Austin Blaske and Aidan Banfield withdrew themselves from the transfer portal.

What’s particularly encouraging about these recent decisions: despite Belichick never previously coaching at the college level, players trust his longtime success in the NFL.

Belichick led the New England Patriots to Six Super Bowl titles and several additional AFC East Championships, so he knows a thing of two about winning consistently.

North Carolina has its quarterback of the future and two linemen to protect him. There’s no telling what the Tar Heels’ defense will do, but Campbell’s return solidifies a unit looking for consistency. If you watch NFL religiously every Sunday like myself, you know that Belichick had some pretty good defenses in New England.

There’s bound to be several additional moves for UNC: both in the transfer portal and with highly-touted, high school recruits.

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UNC football loses three 2024 starters to the transfer portal

UNC’s football roster will look at least three players different in 2025…

The North Carolina Tar Heels went into their 2024 college football season with plenty of new starters – and later, injuries that forced additional starters into spots.

With the transfer portal opening on Monday, December 9, three of those UNC starters entered their names.

North Carolina starting middle linebacker Amare Campbell, starting center Austin Blaske and starting left guard Aidan Banfield announced their decisions to enter the transfer portal.

Their decisions leave the Tar Heels’ roster even more thin ahead of their Fenway Bowl appearance on Saturday, Dec. 28 against UConn.

Some of the biggest shoes UNC had to fill were at middle linebacker, as Cedric Gray was a 2024 fourth-round NFL Draft selection by the Tennessee Titans.

North Carolina elected to fill Gray’s shoes with Cambpell, a sophomore, who exceeded expectations with 6.5 sacks (tied-most on UNC), 10.5 tackles for loss (second-most), 72 tackles (third-most), two pass deflections and a forced fumble.

Injuries piled up for the Tar Heels along their offensive line, forcing a new rotation seemingly every game. UNC was lucky to have consistency from a pair of starters in center Austin Blaske, who transferred from Georgia in the offseason, plus a freshman in Aidan Banfield.

Blaske won a pair of National Championships at UGA, but mainly played as a reserve, appearing in just 15 games from 2021-2023.

Banfield won the starting job over junior Malik McGowan, but an injury forced Banfield to the sidelines. Still, Banfield started the Minnesota, Charlotte, James Madison, Duke, Pitt and Virginia games.

When North Carolina announces its next head coach, I wouldn’t be surprised to see these three pull their names from the portal, especially if that coach is Bill Belichick.

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UNC announces captains for Week 9 football clash at Virginia

Which three players will represent the UNC football team in today’s game, a Week 9 must-win at rival Virginia?

With four consecutive losses in their back pockets, the North Carolina Tar Heels are in desperate need of turning their football season around.

Coming out of its first bye week, UNC (3-4, 0-3) might be in a perfect position to do so today.

At 12 p.m. today, North Carolina will take the field at Scott Stadium and face fellow ACC rival Virginia. The Tar Heels and Cavaliers (4-3, 2-2 ACC) will play in the 119th installation of the South’s Oldest Rivalry, with UNC holding an all-time advantage of 64-50-4.

While all your focus right now is likely on how North Carolina can find a way to win, we want you to meet the Tar Heels’ team captains for today’s conference clash: linebacker Amare Campbell, tight end John Copenhaver and star kicker Noah Burnette.

Campbell is UNC’s starting middle linebacker, taking over the spot previously occupied by Cedric Gray. Statistically, Campbell is one of North Carolina’s best defensive producers, registering 45 total tackles (second on the team), leading the team with six tackles for loss and four quarterback hurries, recording two pass breakups and forcing one fumble.

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Copenhaver will now take over as the Tar Heels’ starting tight end, as Bryson Nesbit will miss several weeks with a fractured wrist. Copenhaver is tied for the UNC lead with three receiving touchdowns, plus his 193 receiving yards are fourth-most amongst his teammates.

Burnette, named to the preseason Lou Groza Award Watch List as a candidate for the nation’s best kicker, is 11-of-13 on field goals this season. Burnette is a perfect 2-for-2 on kicks from 50+, including a season-long 52.

Let’s see if North Carolina’s captains can help snap a long losing streak and get their team back to .500.

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Gene Chizik says we’ll see more freshman nab playing time in Duke’s Mayo Bowl

With the UNC football team having nothing to lose in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, defensive coordinator Gene Chizik will go deep into his roster.

Defense and the UNC football team don’t go well together.

We thought they did early in the season, as the Tar Heels jumped out to a 6-0 record and beat most opponents with relative ease. A 9-sack performance against South Carolina and holding Syracuse to single-digits had Tar Heel Nation believing – had UNC finally solved its historically, underperforming unit?

Think again.

In consecutive weeks, a pair of struggling UVA and Georgia Tech programs combined for over 1,000 yards against Carolina. We thought the woes went away with back-to-back wins against Campbell and Duke, but they resurfaced against a pair of middle-of-the-road offenses in Clemson and N.C. State.

With UNC having not much left to play for, expect for its first bowl victory since 2019, defensive coordinator Gene Chizik plans to give more playing time to a trio of freshman – Kaleb Cost, Tre Miller and Amare Campbell.

“Kaleb Cost is gonna be a guy you see more of than you’ve been seeing all year,” Chizik told Inside Carolina. “It’s a great opportunity for him – he gets three weeks to get ready. You’ll see Try Miller –we planned on playing him more earlier in the year, and then he had some health issues that set him back. Every time he seemed like he was going to move forward, he’d take a step back. We expect to see and play him a good bit at the corner spot. That’s great opportunities for him there. Amari Campbell, who is a guy that we probably should’ve played more during the year, he’s going to get his opportunity. Three young guys that are all freshmen, you’re going to see a god bit of. They’ve had good work and we expect them to play well. It’ll be interesting.”

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Campbell, a linebacker, registered 10 tackles (eight solo, one for loss) across 10 games. He also made a highlight play in UNC’s win over Syracuse, intercepting a Garrett Shrader pass and returning it 19 yards.

Miller, a defensive back, recorded a lone tackle in the Campbell game. According to UNC’s official stats, Cost has not appeared in a game this year.

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Virginia LB in contact with Goodwin, ‘would love to play’ at Clemson

Clemson is among a bunch of schools showing interest in this talented linebacker prospect who already has several Power Five offers and is coming off a strong junior season. Manassas (Va.) Unity Reed High School’s Amare Campbell told The Clemson …

Clemson is among a bunch of schools showing interest in this talented linebacker prospect who already has several Power Five offers and is coming off a strong junior season.

Manassas (Va.) Unity Reed High School’s Amare Campbell told The Clemson Insider recently that he has been in weekly contact with Wes Goodwin since he took over as the Tigers’ co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach, following the departure of Brent Venables to Oklahoma.

“We talk like every week,” Campbell said of Goodwin. “He’s just telling me he wants me to come up there and he wants to see me work out. He loves my film, loves how I play. He just wants me to come down and wants to see me.”

Campbell (6-1, 205) is eyeing his first-ever visit to Clemson soon.

“I plan on visiting, probably junior day in January,” he said.

A class of 2023 prospect, Campbell has collected power conference offers from West Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Maryland, while schools such as Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Virginia and NC State have conveyed interest along with Clemson.

In addition to Clemson, Campbell is looking to visit schools like West Virginia, UNC and Duke moving forward into the offseason. He said he hopes to have his recruitment wrapped up and commitment made by the end of this year.

“I’m just taking it as the process goes along right now,” he added.

Campbell could see himself suiting up for the Tigers if they were to pull the trigger on an offer in the future.

“That’d probably be my biggest one yet. It would be great,” he said. “Clemson, they’re such a great school. I would love to play there. Just getting an offer (would) mean a lot. So, we’ll see how this next season with them goes and how Coach Goodwin goes. That’s definitely going to play a huge role if I do get a scholarship from them.”

Goodwin has already made a good impression on Campbell, who expects Goodwin to have success next season in his new role at Clemson.

“I didn’t think he was going to be how he was, but he seems like a pretty settled, calm guy,” Campbell said. “I feel like he knows what he’s doing. He’s been around Coach V (Venables) for quite a long time. So, I think he’ll do good this upcoming season.”

As for Campbell’s season in 2021, it went very well. He posted 100-plus tackles while earning first-team all-region and first-team all-district honors as a linebacker.

What kind of player will the program he commits to down the road be getting in him?

“I’d say they’d get a player that wants to learn, that’s willing to learn,” he said. “That type of player that’s willing to learn and he will give 100 percent every play, every down.”

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