Inside Carolina’s Taylor Vippolis and Evan Rogers break down their biggest areas of concern for Carolina Football and Bill Belichick before the season kicks off.
Inside Carolina’s Taylor Vippolis and Evan Rogers continue their Countdown to Kickoff series by shifting their focus to the biggest areas of concern for Carolina Football and head coach Bill Belichick ahead of the 2025 season.
For Vippolis, the conversation starts—and ends—with the offensive line.
“I would go with the offensive line as my biggest concern for this North Carolina team, and I think it was already a concern before this past weekend,” Vippolis said. “Then you get the news that Austin Blaske is going to miss at least the first month of the season. I believe the target return date for him—after that broken foot—is around the Clemson game. And with someone like Austin Blaske, who is clearly Carolina’s top offensive lineman, I don’t think there’s any question about his value.
“His greatest asset is his versatility. He can seamlessly slide between guard and center without any noticeable drop-off. If they have a reliable guard, he steps in at center, anchors the middle of the line, and handles the protection calls. But if a strong center emerges, he can kick over to guard and strengthen that spot instead.”
“In football, with how much things are matchup-dependent and injury-dependent, having your top offensive lineman excel at multiple positions isn’t just a luxury—it’s a huge advantage for this Bill Belichick team. And the offensive line already had plenty of question marks. You’re shuffling guys in and out, bringing in players from the Group of Five level, taking a transfer from Holy Cross to see if he can make the jump, and losing Howard Sampson to the portal and Texas Tech.
“So Carolina already had a lot of uncertainty up front. Losing Austin Blaske this early in camp only adds to those concerns. Right now, you’re probably looking at Banfield, Kelly, and King on the interior. That group could still form a solid line, but you’re already dipping into depth pieces—and this offensive line doesn’t have much depth to begin with.”
Rogers, meanwhile, takes a step back from position-by-position analysis to consider a broader challenge facing the program under its new head coach.
“It’s something people have brought up before, but the fact remains: Bill Belichick has only ever coached professional athletes,” Rogers said. “In the NFL, there’s no NCAA-mandated limit of four hours a day or 20 hours a week for athletic-related activities. NFL players treat it as their full-time job. It’s their livelihood. It’s how they pay the bills and put food on the table.
“College athletes, on the other hand, have class, social lives, extracurriculars and all the realities that come with being a college kid. That’s an adjustment. Are the techniques and schemes Belichick has been teaching and reinforcing at the professional level interchangeable with college athletes? Can they retain that information with less time available, simply because NCAA rules limit how often you can work with them?
Another factor to consider is that Belichick has always been known as an elite coach, a master at developing talent and identifying players’ strengths. But in the NFL, anyone who earns a roster spot already has high-level ability. They were the best players in college and often the best in their conference. In college, it’s different. Some players, no matter how highly ranked or recruited out of high school, just don’t pan out for various reasons. And sometimes that’s something you simply can’t coach out of them.
“So this first season is going to be an experiment. How does Bill Belichick adjust to those differences, both in training camp and throughout the year? And how does he adapt his teaching methods and playbook over the course of the season? Those are all things that could evolve dramatically as the year goes on.”
Category: General Sports