By Brian Murphy, WRAL

N.C. — North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi said he and new coach Bill Belichick are committed to building the Tar Heels’ program from the line of scrimmage out.

And they are willing to back it up with dollars.

“If you believe in something and you want to improve in that area, you’re going to put your money where your mouth is,” Lombardi said. “It won’t be hard to figure out where we want to put. We’re going to sign defensive and offensive linemen. We’re going to put our money where our mouth is.”

Of the 40 players that the new regime has signed, 16 are offensive and defensive linemen. The group includes transfers from Alabama, Connecticut, Rice, Troy, East Carolina, Holy Cross and Delaware. Three of the six recruits that signed with UNC before Belichick’s hire are linemen as well.

The 65-year-old Lombardi, who has extensive NFL experience, particularly with Belichick, but hasn’t worked for a college team since the early 1980s, said it’s a philosophy he first encountered while working for Bill Walsh’s San Francisco 49ers.

It’s a lesson that was simply reinforced by the Philadelphia Eagles’ dominant performance in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Philadelphia’s stout defensive line harassed Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes into a terrible performance.

“The teams that can control the offensive and defensive line win games,” Lombardi said. “From a team-building standpoint, that’s what we said we were going to do in December, we’re going to build a team inside-out and that’s what we’re going to continue to do. Part of my job is to maintain that philosophy.”

In an era where schools are expected to be able to directly share revenue with players, part of Lombardi’s job is to handle those negotiations. Under Belichick, he said, the program will have a grade on every player.

“If you’re a starter on the team, there’s going to be a certain value in place on what level of a starter you are,” he said. “That’s why you have to have a grading system. You can’t just arbitrarily say, ‘I like this guy, I like that guy.’ We’re not picking fruit here.”

UNC committed $13 million in revenue sharing to the football program as part of Belichick’s contract terms. Reports suggest the program could invest upwards of $20 million in its roster.

A three-year starter?

“He’s going to make significant money,” Lombardi said. “Guy starts one year, he’s going to make a little bit. The next year, he’s got to prove himself again. Because every year, every player can leave. So you’ve got to have some kind of way or unless you have anarchy. You don’t have any system. That’s why you have to have a grading system. That’s why you have to grade your players every single day. You have to grade every player so you know what you’re losing and what you expect to get back.”

If it sounds like the NFL, well, that’s no accident. Belichick has never coached college football, but he won eight Super Bowl titles, two as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants and six as head coach in New England.

“Everything we do here is predicated on building a pro team,” he said. “We consider ourselves the 33rd team.”

These were Lombardi’s first comments to local media since Bill Belichick’s introductory press conference on Dec. 12, 2024. Belichick himself has not met with local media since taking over in Chapel Hill. Both have made appearances on national shows, including “The Pat McAfee Show.”

The New Jersey native and former podcast host dropped several one-liners, name-checked Boston Celtics architect Red Auerbach, Walsh and several NFL players and coaches and dropped lots of nuggets in his 28-minute appearance.

He despises “the process,” as implemented by the Philadelphia 76ers, but admires the way the franchise got its fans to buy into the “lose to win” concept. The small video screens that honor North Carolina’s great players aren’t enough. He wants to celebrate them, make a big deal out of them and have them feel welcome in the football building. He quipped that folks in Chapel Hill are incredibly kind, saying no one had honked their horn at him yet.

Lombardi told about how Walsh assigned him to study wide receivers, including Jerry Rice, in advance of the 1985 draft. The Super Bowl champion 49ers, he said, were finally ready to add a star wide receiver.

When a confused Lombardi asked him why, Walsh replied: “We can get the ball to a great player now because we’re good in both lines.”

“That’s impacted me my whole life,” Lombardi said. “Now we’re in mock draft season on TV and you see 42 receivers going in the first round as if everyone forgot about how the Eagles won the Super Bowl.”

Lombardi, though, was short on certain specifics.

The Tar Heels have not announced their spring schedule nor their coaching staff, though many have been hired and most will have NFL connections. The Tar Heels hired former New England Patriots’ strength and conditioning coach Moses Cabrera. Announcements are coming soon, he said.

Lombardi didn’t delve into UNC’s uncertain quarterback situation or whether the Tar Heels would seek to add another player at the position during the spring transfer portal window.

“We’ve got some really good players here that are working hard that we brought in, some of them aren’t here yet, some of them are injured and everybody’s going to get a fair opportunity,” Lombardi said.

The Tar Heels have targeted players from across the country and have offered or received commitments from some players who lacked other big-school offers. Not a problem, Lombardi said.

“If you trust your eyes and you evaluate players, it doesn’t really matter if some other school wants them,” he said.

Source: wralsportsfan.com