Chandler Morris wanted to play for Bill Belichick.
After throwing for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns at North Texas in 2024, the veteran quarterback entered the transfer portal eyeing North Carolina. Fresh off hiring the six-time Super Bowl champion in December, there was tremendous hype around the program. But Belichick’s new general manager, Michael Lombardi, wasn’t sold. He dismissed Morris as undersized at 6 feet and 190 pounds and doubted his arm strength, preferring Purdue’s 6-foot-4 Ryan Browne.
“You just don’t understand what it takes to play in the National Football League,” Lombardi reportedly told UNC staffers via The Athletic. It was an assessment rooted in NFL thinking, and as it turns out, poorly suited to college football.
Browne transferred to Chapel Hill, only to return to Purdue in the spring. Morris ended up with Virginia. The result was unexpected with the Tar Heels spiraling out of control, and the Cavaliers are surging.
Five games into Belichick’s first college season, North Carolina has become a national punchline. The Tar Heels are 2-3, reeling from blowout losses to TCU, UCF and Clemson, while ranking near the bottom nationally in total offense and passing defense. Belichick and athletic director Bubba Cunningham were even forced to issue statements this week addressing rumors the coach might step down.
“It’s the arrogance of it all,” one university source told The Athletic. “Because they had success in the NFL — and by they, I mean Belichick only — they thought they could come in and replicate that without knowing how college football works.”
Across the conference, Morris is proving exactly how wrong they were. The sixth-year senior has led No. 19 Virginia to a 5-1 start, which is the Cavaliers’ best since 2019, while ranking 17th nationally in QBR and ninth in EPA.
Through six games, he’s completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for 1,428 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions, adding 176 rushing yards and four scores. Behind him, Virginia ranks 13th nationally in total offense and 10th in scoring, a stunning turnaround for a program long adrift.
While Belichick may be struggling to save his job. Morris, the quarterback he didn’t want, might just be saving Tony Elliott’s.
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