Back in December 2024, right after Bill Belichick was declared the North Carolina head coach, Kirk Herbstreit made a bold projection. He was one of the first ones to get on the Belichick hype train. “They’re in the playoffs next year. I mean, there’s a very strong chance,” said the ESPN host when the world pointed fingers at Belichick trying his hand at college football at the age of 73. Now that only a few days are left for the 2025 season to kick off, it’s important to know whether Herbstreit still stands with Belichick.

On the August 23rd episode of the ESPN College Football podcast, Rece Davis came up with an interesting question for Herbstreit. The College Game Day host was asked to pick the nominees for the segment, “You just can’t wait to watch.” To which Herbstreit replied, “I can’t wait to see this is a huge storyline and we get a chance in week one of Labor Day night to see him in a big test against TCU. Bill Belichick, the greatest coach in the NFL in the college ranks.” Ahead of kickoff in the Week 1 game, ESPN is deciding to do full coverage for Belichick’s season opener. Along with this, the North Carolina head coach won a special award from the network.

Preseason Herbie Awards, it is. Belichick’s arrival at North Carolina came after a Hall of Fame-caliber career in the NFL. Six Super Bowls later, the former New England Patriots head coach wants to make North Carolina the “33rd team” in the league. And instead of raining on Belichick’s dreams, Herbstreit is the one to encourage the head coach. As he shared, “I can’t wait to see him bring that same blueprint that worked so well in the NFL for so many years into the college ranks.” After all, things are turning in the Tar Heels’ favor moving into the 2025 season. 

As the ESPN analyst noted, “You look at their schedule, it’s favorable. Mack Brown left some talented players. [Belichick] brought in, obviously, a ton of new players.” The Tar Heels have four top transfers entering the 2025 football season. The tough quartet includes Thaddeus Dixon, Daniel King, Khmori House, and Gio Lopez. All of them featured in ESPN’s Top 100 transfers list. But the heart is still beating fast for the UNC fans, including Herbstreit.

The ESPN analyst conveyed that there’s both excitement and uncertainty about Belichick’s new journey. “But I think we’re anxious to see just the fundamentals. The old-school way of playing the game and how these young players pick up the message he’s trying to send to them and the culture that he’s trying to create.” Amidst this, Belichick is now heading to his debut season without much-needed clarity.

An air of mystery thickens around Bill Belichick  

Confusion still looms large in the Tar Heels’ squad when it comes to their quarterback competition. With the kickoff less than two weeks away, Belichick has yet to name his starting quarterback. Over these past nine months, the head coach had kept his quarterback plans behind a veil. He got to choose between Lopez, a South Alabama transfer, and Max Johnson, the sixth-year senior who had a hard time with injuries but his USP remains his strong SEC experience.

On August 20, Belichick faced the media and maintained a cautious wall to not spill too much. “We’re getting ready to do that this afternoon. To announce the starting lineups and the play times and how we’ll be substituting everything,” said the head coach. As Belichick keeps a cryptic touch in his character, his former player shared his take about his ex-head coach’s new journey.

That’s none other than Rob Gronkowski. He played under Bill Belichick for nine seasons. On The Ryen Russillo podcast, Gronkowski shared, “With coach Belichick at North Carolina, it’s a mystery this year. ..He kind of has that Deion Sanders effect right now. Everyone’s interested in what the Tar Heels are going to do this year, but it’s also like what are they going to do? Like no one knows. No one knows how coach Belichick is going to be as a coach there…And also with all of these different headlines going on and so many distractions, how is he going to come out on the other side of all this? So I’m very interested in it.” The buzz is real, but will Belichick’s college experiment pay off or blow up?