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Sounds like reality has hit Bill Belichick right between the eyes.
Think of some things Belichick and his general manager Mike Lombardi said when they arrived in Chapel Hill. The image they used a lot was building the 33rd NFL franchise.
Sounded good, especially coming from a coach who built a famous program and won six Super Bowls. But neither him nor Lombardi hardly use that anymore, if at all, in their public comments.
After one-third of their first season with the Tar Heels, whatever they expected and hoped for is not exactly happening. Two wins over mid-major opponents and two losses by a combined 61 points has had a sobering effect on alumni and fans and on them, as well.
Getting familiar with Dabo Swinney and his Clemson program, Chapel Bill would likely agree that the Tigers are the best 1-3 team in the country. And they, too, have been working on their costly mistakes just as the Tar Heels have done over both their idle weeks.
“We’re preparing for a good football team,” Belichick said Tuesday at his weekly presser of the two-touchdown favored Tigers. “They’ve lost a couple of tough games, but they obviously have a lot of talent with some very explosive players on both sides of the ball. They’re a very experienced team, and they definitely know what they’re doing.”
Belichick said that quarterback Gio Lopez is still recovering from an injury against Central Florida, and by now they know that Clemson veteran Cade Klubnik is a more talented and decorated leader.
UNC’s roster and two deeps seem forever in flux with players leaving school for undesignated reasons and others like Lopez who are fighting their way through injuries to get back on the field.
He was asked about recruiting and seemed anxious to answer a question about the future following the eight ACC games ahead.
“We can only worry about one game at a time so our focus is on Clemson,” he said and acknowledged that they don’t have a very developed roster for power college football.
“We don’t have very many players that were here when we got here, and there are only a handful that are playing who we recruited here. I look at it as I’m gonna do the best I can to coach the team today . . . and at the same time recruit and build the team for next year through the high school opportunities we have now.
“There’ll be a (transfer) portal that will occur later on, but that’s very vague at this point because nobody knows who will be in the portal. So that’s really a bridge to cross at another time. But we’ve recruited a lot of high school players that I think will be good fits in our program here.”
To date, 247Sports lists UNC as the largest recruiting class in the country, ranked No. 17 with 37 commits, seven 4 stars and the rest 3 stars.
Featured image via UNC-Chapel Hill/Jon Gardiner
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.
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