Bill Belichick press conference at ACC football media days
Making his debut at ACC Kickoff, the league’s annual preseason media event, UNC football coach Bill Belichick discussed the Tar Heels entering the 2025 season.
For the first time since 2019, UNC football didn’t have a player on the preseason All-ACC team.Clemson had a league-best 11 players on the preseason All-ACC squad.Duke had two players and N.C. State had one player on the preseason list.
For the first time in six years, UNC football didn’t have a player listed on the preseason All-ACC team.
Released by the conference on July 31, the 2025 All-ACC squad features 27 players representing 10 programs. Clemson, the favorite to win the ACC championship, has a league-best 11 players on the all-conference list. Duke had two players make the cut and N.C. State had one player on the list, which was voted on by 183 media members.
The Tar Heels have seen multiple players selected to the preseason All-ACC team in four of the last five years, including three in 2023 and 2020. In 2019, former coach Mack Brown’s first season in his second stint at UNC, the Tar Heels didn’t have a player make the preseason list. UNC finished that year with a 7-6 record, including a 4-4 mark in the ACC.
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Ahead of Bill Belichick’s debut season with the Tar Heels, UNC had four players represented on the preseason All-ACC ballot: offensive lineman Austin Blaske and Christo Kelly, linebacker Andrew Simpson, and defensive back Thad Dixon.
Belichick-led UNC will kick off the 2025 season on Sept. 1 (8 p.m., ESPN) against TCU at Kenan Stadium.
