After Belichick’s year one, UNC football GM Michael Lombardi previews offseason
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lombardi previews individual player reports and prioritizes evaluations before recruiting.
- Single 15-day transfer window (Jan 2-16) creates enrollment and timing challenges.
- Staff expects transfers, large 35+ high-school class to fill roster gaps under Belichick.
UNC football has one game remaining in its regular season but is already looking ahead to the offseason and the chaos of roster turnover, recruiting and the portal.
Tar Heels general manager Michael Lombardi — believed to be the highest-paid GM in college football thanks to his $1.5 million annual salary — previewed the program’s plan for building next year’s roster on the Carolina Football Live radio show Monday night.
The staff’s first priority, Lombardi said, will be evaluating returning players. Each Tar Heel will receive a grade and personalized report based on performance. The North Carolina staff will then work to identify areas it will need to bolster via the transfer portal.
This process is partially dependent on which players enter the portal in the offseason. The timeline is different this year, with the NCAA condensing the transfer portal from two windows to a single period from Jan. 2 to Jan. 16.
This window creates some challenges. As faculty athletics representatives have lamented, and Lombardi pointed out, UNC begins spring classes on Jan. 7. The last day of late registration falls on Jan. 14. For players whose former schools may still be competing in the postseason, enrollment at North Carolina or other universities with similar academic calendars may prove challenging.
“The good thing about this year is, when the portal ends [on] the 16th, we will have our team,” Lombardi said. “We’ll have a team meeting on the 17th and there’ll be no changes of that team.”
Compare that to this past offseason, which saw Belichick and his staff bring in 30 new players after spring ball ended.
Building cohesion, as a result, was a challenge. Belichick joked after UNC’s 20-15 win over Stanford on Nov. 8 that he’s unsure his players “knew the name of the person to the left or the right of them several weeks ago.”
Quarterback Gio Lopez, also speaking to the media after the Stanford game, said it took time for the players to get to know one another and “how people do things, how they react to bad plays, react to good plays.”
Lombardi emphasized the importance of offseason bonding again on Monday as he addressed the shortened transfer portal window.
“We’ll be able to build a culture,” Lombardi said. “We’ll be able to build the continuity within the team … they’ll have an opportunity to integrate themselves within the team and not worry about, ‘Hey, what’s going to happen? There’s going to be a spring portal?’ So there [are] some benefits to it.”
Several players have already informed the UNC staff that they plan to transfer, Lombardi said. Still, he expects Bill Belichick’s first high school recruiting class — a group of over 35 commits, per 247Sports and On3 — will help fill gaps.
This is in line with what Lombardi has previously outlined in his leaked letter to donors and prior talks about the program’s multi-year rebuilding plan.
“It’s a really good recruiting class,” Lombardi said Monday. “I think that we have a lot of different positions. We’ve been able to add players as we’ve gone along.”
The staff will meet with each player to discuss the future, particularly as most NIL contracts will run out in January, according to Lombardi.
“Every player wants to know, ‘What’s my revenue share? What am I going to get this year?’” Lombardi said. “And if I don’t like the number, then maybe I’ll just go in the portal … so I think that’s the conversations you have to have with everybody.”
But before the Tar Heels can fully focus on the future, they’ll have to face N.C. State. That rivalry game is slated for Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. The contest will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and be broadcast on ACC Network.