CHARLOTTE — Talking season in college football continues this week with ACC Kickoff, and anticipation has never been higher because of a certain coach arriving in Chapel Hill.
Every head coach and marquee players representing all 17 ACC football programs descend on Charlotte on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming 2025 football season.
Here are three storylines to monitor during ACC Kickoff.
–Bill Belichick’s long-awaited debut
The University of North Carolina has historically been a basketball school. But this offseason, the Tar Heels have been the talk of the college football universe since hiring legendary NFL head coach Bill Belichick last December.
Belichick, who turned 73 in April, is now a first-time college coach in Chapel Hill after winning six Super Bowls as head coach of the New England Patriots from 2000 through 2023. He replaces Mack Brown, who was fired to end his second stint as UNC head coach last November.
It’s been an interesting first offseason for Belichick, who has been in the news quite a bit with regard to his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson and her involvement with the UNC football program. However, he’s also transformed the roster by bringing in 41 transfers, third-most of any Power-Four program.
While ACC Kickoff can always be a bit of a media circus, Belichick’s first appearance in Charlotte on Thursday should add a new level of buzz before his much-anticipated UNC coaching debut Sept. 1 vs. TCU.
–Expectations renewed for Clemson entering 2025
For awhile there, Clemson winning the ACC Championship under Dabo Swinney felt like a bit of a foregorn conclusion.
Swinney and the Tigers won six straight conference titles from 2015 through 2020 and a seventh in 2022, along with a pair of national titles in 2016 and 2018.
And yet, when Clemson went 9-4 (4-4 in ACC) in 2023, people wondered if the Tigers’ run of dominance under Swinney was coming to an end. Clemson quickly proved that doubt foolish last season, capping off a 9-3 regular season with the program’s eighth ACC title in the last 10 years and an appearance in the first 12-team edition of the College Football Playoff.
The Tigers now enter 2025 with high expectations once again drifting off their 2024 resurgence and the fact that many prominent players from that team return.
Senior quarterback Cade Klubnik is back after amassing 3,639 passing yards, 463 rushing yards and 43 total touchdowns (36 passing, seven rushing) in 2024. On the other side of the ball, T.J. Parker Jr. and Peter Woods Jr. are set to anchor a defensive line that is expected to be among the best in the country.
–How does SMU follow up its impressive ACC opening act?
As conference realignment boomed over the last few years, quite a few teams that changed conferences struggled to adapt to the increased level of competition.
That proved to be no problem for SMU, however. The Mustangs finished their first season in the ACC last fall with an 11-1 regular season and made appearances in the ACC Championship Game and College Football Playoff. That makes for a tough act to follow in SMU’s second season in the ACC under head coach Rhett Lashlee.
Starting quarterback Kevin Jennings is back this season after anchoring the Mustangs’ undefeated season behind 3,245 passing yards and 23 touchdown passes. He’s likely out for redemption after he threw three interceptions in SMU’s 38-10 CFP loss at Penn State.
The Mustangs will have to replace leading rushing Brashard Smith (1,332 yards, 14 rushing touchdowns in 2024) and standout defensive linemen Elijah Roberts and Jahfari Harvey, who combined for 15 sacks in 2024.
–Field Level Media
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