As college football's 2025 transfer portal cycle works through January, the winter window is in the books with North Carolina front and center among 247Sports' five burning questions. The Tar Heels entered Tuesday at No. 33 in the transfer portal team rankings, leaving some to wonder why Bill Belichick and company haven't been the most aggressive. North Carolina currently has 12 incoming transfers committed or signed, with just one sporting a four-star label (linebacker Khmori House from Washington).
Excluding a kicker take, North Carolina's transfers have an average rating of 86.45, which points to a potential Power Four-level starter but not one with exceptional upside. It's not quite the roster flex North Carolina fans might have been hoping for with additional investments in the program.
Belichick has always done things his way, and he's continuing to follow the New England Patriots model with his transfer additions by not signing the absolute best available players in the portal but more of the best program fit or what we used to call "the Patriot way." Belichick has added toughness, proven production and depth at cornerstone positions with some players who might be diamonds in the dirt.
For instance, the Tar Heels took Christo Kelly, a center from Holy Cross with 1,584 career snaps, who is the transfer portal's No. 174 overall player and No. 15 interior offensive lineman. The 6-foot-4, 305-pound Kelly isn't the most talented in terms of NFL upside, but he checks all the right boxes in terms of technique and polish at the center position.
Notably, too, is that none of the non-specialist transfers rank below the watermark of an 85 rating. We don't really see any wasted takes here, though in future years the Tar Heels won't want to major in taking multiple players from East Carolina, plus others from Prairie View A&M and Delaware.
Belichick also took some calculated shots on players with high upside but have yet to prove themselves.
Ex-Alabama offensive tackle Miles McVay was a four-star prospect from East St. Louis (Ill.) High in the Crimson Tide's 2023 recruiting class. The 6-foot-6, 342-pound McVay is the transfer portal's No. 280 overall player and No. 19 offensive tackle.
Former Purdue signal-caller Ryan Browne, meanwhile, was a three-star prospect from New Berlin (N.Y.) Milford Academy in the Boilermakers' 2023 haul. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Browne completed 43 of 76 passes for 532 yards and four touchdowns to two interceptions while adding 155 yards on 50 rushes in eight games this past season.
He enters a UNC room that includes Kernersville (N.C.) East Forsyth four-star freshman Bryce Baker and the returning Max Johnson, among others, as the transfer portal's No. 383 overall prospect and No. 36 quarterback.
"The portal will extend a little bit as the College Football Playoff goes and teams get eliminated, and those players will be eligible to jump in it," Belichick said in December. "Right now, the numbers are pretty high, but that will start to taper off a little bit as we go.
"We're selling the program. Quite honestly, we have a lot of players and agents coming to us saying they want to be part of the program: 'Is there a spot for us?' A lot of the agents representing players in the transfer portal are ones that we dealt with in the National Football League. A lot of those relationships are carrying over into into college football.
"It's been an interesting process. It's going fast, but it's fun. It's great to be at North Carolina, this great university and back in the game."
Will "the Patriot Way" work in college football? We'll see.
