Bill Belichick and the North Carolina football program have yet to announce its starters for the 2025 season, and the program hasn't even found its starting quarterback yet. The battle between South Alabama transfer Gio Lopez and veteran Tar Heel Max Johnson has heated up, possibly more than expected throughout the offseason, and Belichick can only laugh about it. But it will be Duke fans who will be the ones laughing with the roster chaos currently surrounding the UNC program.
During his media availability on August 20th, WRAL's Pat Welter asked Belichick if any progress had been made on the QB battle currently going on in Chapel Hill, and Belichick could only muster a sarcastic, joking comment.
"Yeah, we're getting ready to do that this afternoon and announce the starting lineups and the play times and how we'd be substituting everything," Belichick jokingly exclaimed, resulting in a laugh from the audience. "...We want to make sure we get that out there right away."
The former New England Patriots coaching legend has never been the type of guy to go into great detail in press conferences with the media, but it doesn't look like the Tar Heels are close to finding their Week 1 starter for the team's opening matchup against TCU on September 1st.
It looked like Lopez was the heavy frontrunner for the starting QB job after he announced his commitment to UNC via the portal, but the race has become increasingly tight through preseason camp, with little lead as to who the candidate will ultimately be.
"When South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez picked the Tar Heels this spring, any thoughts of a competition for the starting job seemed like an afterthought," On3's Pete Nakos wrote. "But Max Johnson has pushed Lopez in fall camp and made it a legitimate competition. Lopez has a slight edge to this point, per a source."
While UNC frantically moves to find their starters, the Duke Blue Devils are ready to kick the season off and compete towards the top of the ACC standings with new QB Darian Mensah, who transferred to Duke from Tulane.
Duke has been continuously swept under the rug as true contenders, both in the ACC and on a national scale, but head coach Manny Diaz said he couldn't care less what analysts and fans around the country think. Mensah told reporters at ACC Kickoff that he and the rest of the team were ready to "shock some people" in 2025, and as UNC continues offseason chaos, Duke is fine-tuning all the little things before its kickoff on August 28th against Elon.
The Blue Devils face the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill towards the end of the regular season. The date is still to be determined.