College football begins next month. For your North Carolina Tar Heels, that means bouncing back from a disappointing 2025.
UNC welcomes a highly-graded recruiting class for its 2026 campaign, with incoming high school recruits like Travis Burgess and transfer portal adds like Derek McDonald. Head coach Bill Belichick, known for his ability to recruit talent, needs these newcomers to work this fall. North Carolina is also building a solid 2027 class, minus one player. Recently, the Tar Heels lost 3-star offensive lineman Lauifi Tosi to Stanford.
According to his 247Sports recruiting profile, Tosi is the 119th-ranked interior offensive lineman nationally, plus the 34th-ranked prospect from Arizona. Not only did Tosi flip his commitment to the Cardinal, but he also chose them over interest from Boise State, Washington State, Eastern Michigan, Idaho and Sacramento State.
Stanford, one of just four teams UNC beat in 2025, will play its first season this under head coach Tavita Pritchard. As the Cardinal build for their future, they now adds a former North Carolina commit to the mix.
The Tar Heels have a tough campaign to prepare for themselves, starting with an August 29 rematch against TCU, this time in Ireland. UNC has a bye week over Labor Day weekend, hosts ETSU for its home opener on September 12, then travels to Clemson a week later for its ACC opener.
North Carolina shouldn’t be too concerned about losing Tosi to Stanford, as he grew up on the West Coast. If the Tar Heels play well themselves this coming season, they’ll be the ones flipping recruits to Chapel Hill.
