“ I wasn’t going to sign another contract [in New England] even if I wanted to play until [I was] 50. Based on how things had gone, I wasn’t going to sign up for more of it.” This was the NFL’s GOAT, Tom Brady, signaling his strained relationship with Bill Belichick at the Patriots. Everyone knows now that Brady and Belichick’s relationship was complex than one can envision. And yet at the end of it lies the legacy of the New England Patriots, with 6 Super Bowls and an incredible 249-75 regular season record. So the success did come, and now, Belichick is trying to replicate the same blueprint at UNC.
It was probably perplexing at first that Bill Belichick, a 72-year-old head coach, was coming to take the place of another 73-year-old head coach, Mack Brown. Not many saw the UNC’s future with Belichick, and UNC’s AD, Bubba Cunningham, even expressed reservations at first at the prospect of Belichick joining. However, now Belichick is showing just why he was hired in the first place.
UNC’s starting quarterback, Gio Lopez, who joined the team from South Alabama, sat on the July 24 podcast episode on 99.9 The Fan and discussed how Belichick is instilling the ‘Patriots way’ in the team. “We actually watch a lot of Patriots film. So, that’s a big difference. You know, this is really cool coming from a G5, usually just watch yourself or where your coach was before then. But now it’s like we have all this NFL tape, and I’m like, why would I not take advantage of being able to watch almost every game that’s been recorded about the Patriots,” said Gio Lopez.
Lopez passed for 2,559 yards and rushed for another 463 yards last year, becoming a reliable quarterback for the team. But coming from a G-5 conference and then making the transition to the ACC is something anyone would feel the pressure of. However, now with Bill Belichick following the NFL blueprint and instilling the same in him. It seems ACC might be a cakewalk for the guy in 2025. And to do that, Lopez is learning from the legendary Tom Brady, but Coach Belichick doesn’t always agree with everything that Brady does.
“Belichick is honestly super cool about talking through stuff. We’ll still watch tape of Brady, and he’ll literally say like, ‘Ah, he messed us up. I don’t like this. Like, I don’t like how Brady did this.’ And you’re like, ‘Oh, okay. Like, he’s still really hard on him, too. And he’s not even coaching him anymore,’” said Lopez.
There were several moments in Brady and Belichick’s relationship, ranging from the 2014 Jimmy Garoppolo signing to the contract disputes from 2017 to 2019. Still, on the field, Brady provided results for Belichick, and the relationship went on for years. That’s the beauty of it. As for Gio Lopez, he is learning a lot from Brady’s tapes, as he said, “I want to operate like that,” but still called himself a “better runner” jokingly. But Brady’s not the only one impressing Gio.
Gio Lopez is excited by Bill Belichick replicating Rob Gronkowski’s blueprint
Bill Belichick is coming to UNC, bringing a whole new offensive philosophy, which can seem miles apart from what college teams deploy. One of those aspects is Belichick’s use of the tight end position and how he used two tight ends in the NFL to create unbalanced formations and confuse defenses. That is one of the aspects that Gio is also loving about Belichick’s offense.
“The tight end does play a big part in this offense, and just from the NFL comparison standpoint, I mean, when it comes to formations like we were a lot more three receiver, one tight end, but here, you get a little more two on like two receivers, two tight end, and stuff like that. So it’s a difference. But at the end of the day. I mean, all of them are eligible receivers, so they’re open,” said Gio Lopez on ACC Kickoff Interview.
UNC has brought some talented players to the tight end position, including Jordan Owens from Oklahoma State and Connor Cox from South Carolina. Apart from that, the squad was returning with Jake Johnson, who will look to exceed expectations. All in all, the offense does look ready for Bill Belichick to deploy his signature NFL offense, and Gio Lopez just needs to sling those passes irrespective of the position group.
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