With Deion Sanders preparing for a rebuilding season at Colorado, the focus of the college media landscape shifts across the country to another former NFL legend.
Bill Belichick is preparing for his first season at the helm with the University of North Carolina, and the sheer spectacle of the 73-year-old dropping down a league in an effort to bolster his legacy has ramped up the anticipation for his debut.
The Tar Heels have a relatively easy schedule loaded with conference bottom dwellers, but it's impossible to pinpoint how Belichick will fare with a roster seemingly lacking talent in key areas.
His colleagues are allegedly a bit more pessimistic about his chances of succeeding.
While a guest on the "3&Out Podcast," insider Josh Pate suggested fellow ACC coaches think Belichick will flop at UNC.
"Most coaches in the ACC think he's going to fail," Pate said. "Most coaches think he'll fall flat on his face. I've had zero personal people or staffers in the ACC trash Bill Belichick, the NFL coach. It's more of an insult for them to read all these headlines about how this guy and this team are going to come in and show college football something. The way they look at it, college football is going to teach Belichick way more lessons than the other way around."
Belichick was largely excommunicated from the NFL because of his inability to adapt to the league's changing landscape—at his age, that mentality magically changing is nearly impossible.
It's more likely he flames out before his first contract ends, before he finds high-end success in the progressive NIL era of the sport.