Here’s how experts ranked Bill Belichick’s first UNC recruiting class

Patriots

“Belichick inherited a recruiting class in tatters upon landing at North Carolina.”

By Hayden Bird

February 7, 2025 | 2:48 PM

2 minutes to read

After Bill Belichick opted to accept the head coaching role for the University of North Carolina’s football team in December, one of the immediate questions was how he would do in the evolving world of college recruiting.

With NIL adding a new dimension to the process in recent years, and also given that Belichick had never worked in college football after a half-century spent on NFL sidelines, questions lingered over how the accomplished New England legend would build a roster.

Following the conclusion of National Signing Day on Feb. 6, experts have a first measuring stick for how Belichick is doing in his new role.

Across Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN, North Carolina’s 2025 recruiting class received mid-level scores in terms of national rankings:

Of course, given that Belichick took over with only weeks to go in the current window for recruiting, there’s some important context to consider when placing UNC on a list with more than 120 other Division-I football programs.

“Belichick inherited a recruiting class in tatters upon landing at North Carolina on Dec. 12,” noted ESPN reporter Eli Lederman. “Less than two months later, his remade class enters Wednesday’s national signing day at No. 48 in ESPN’s class rankings, up from its place outside the top 75 in late November, when the school fired Mack Brown.”

To an extent, Belichick’s strategy has been an obvious one: Putting himself (as an eight-time Super Bowl champion) front and center. The cache his name brings to the world of recruiting has already been a factor, with players like quarterback Au’Tori Newkirk (a Virginia-based three-star recruit) admitting that he was “starstruck” being pitched on UNC by the former Patriots head coach.

Another aspect of the Belichick approach has been to massively expand the ground North Carolina coaches cover to make scholarship offers.

Per Tar Heel Illustrated, Belichick has extended “offers going well outside of what used to be the recruiting map.” This has included stops around New England.

And while many of the players receiving offers aren’t highly-touted recruits, it fits with Belichick’s longstanding roster-building principle of finding diamonds in the rough, and players who will help build a team culture.

Initially, an underrated component of the process was simply holding onto existing commitments.

“A key first move was keeping in-state QB Bryce Baker in the mix,” wrote ESPN analyst Craig Haubert. “During the coaching change, [Baker] gained a lot of interest but stayed with this class and gives the Heels a passer that is a bit raw but who possesses good natural arm strength and shows good touch on his deep ball.”

In all, UNC ended up taking in 19 new players.

“We are excited about integrating the 17 incoming freshmen as well as two transfers to our current team as we being the process of building our 2025 roster,” team general manager Michael Lombardi said in a statement on Wednesday.

For his efforts to salvage the school’s recruiting class so late in the process, Belichick and UNC was named ESPN’s “biggest riser.”

While it remains to be seen how the team will look on the field in 2025, the current recruiting pitch — appealing to players’ aspiration to one day play in the NFL — has gained some traction.

“I couldn’t believe how often they talked about development throughout the visit,” said running back Joseph Troupe, a three-star recruit who flipped his commitment from Temple to North Carolina in January after an extensive visit with Belichick and his assistant coaches. “This staff has gotten to experience what I want to experience. If you want to be the best, why not learn from the best?”