Tar Heels Insider Podcast: How Important is Caleb Wilson?

On this episode of the Tar Heels Insider Podcast, North Carolina Tar Heels on SI beat writer Grant Chachere is joined by associate beat writer Jeremiah Artacho discuss how important Caleb Wilson is to Carolina this season whther it's on the court or recruiting.

To watch today's episode, view below.

Below is a transcript from a presser involving UNC safety Will Hardy at the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte.:

Q. Will, you’ve been on this team for a number of seasons now. You’ve seen the ups and downs. What is it for you as a guy who’s been with this team for a while to see Bill Belichick come in and be your head coach and how the aura of the team and the mindset of the team has changed over the last seven, eight months now?

WILL HARDY: Yeah there’s going to be a lot of new this year. I’m excited for the new change, the new spark, the new energy that this season is bringing to the team, to the players on the team that stayed, but also just to the whole fan base and the community of Chapel Hill. I think everyone is looking forward to it. I’m no different. I know all the players on the team that were here last year are excited for this new change. When we got the news that Coach Belichick was going to be our new coach, we were all pumped for it. Shocked at first, but ready to get to work, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.

Q. We’re obviously in this new era of college football where the transfer portal is ever prominent. UNC was one of the teams that was more active this year. Being a guy who stayed, what has been your role in keeping these guys — getting these guys used to life at Chapel Hill and getting them accustomed to Tar Heel culture?

WILL HARDY: Like you said, we’ve got a lot of new players on this team because we brought in a ton of new guys that have a lot of talent. Anytime there’s change, it’s good, especially in this day and age.

As a leader on the team that’s been here, it’s one of my roles to get everyone established, learn everyone’s names, but just learn everything about these guys and really create a team chemistry that can go win on Saturdays.

It’s hard to play successful football when you’ve got a bunch of individuals out there playing for themselves. So this summer and fall, our mindset is how can we play successful, play fast but play together so we can have success on the field?

Q. Kind of building upon that, what’s been your leadership style over the spring, over the summer, now heading into fall camp, and how are you getting the rest of your defensive unit ready to hit the ground running in the 2025 season?

WILL HARDY: Yeah, we’ve got a competitive group of guys, especially in the defensive back room. Everyone wants to improve themselves and just build a unit.

As a leader for that unit, man, it’s been important for me to be an encourager. We have some hard days, maybe some days where we didn’t practice as well as we wanted to or some hard workouts that are tough to get through. Being a guy that people can know that they’ll get some encouragement from, it’s important for me. I think leadership, it’ll come in all shapes and sizes, but being someone that people can count on and can trust, that’s important for me.

Q. Defense was a spotlight for not the best of reasons last year. What have you learned in the time you’ve trained leading up to this season that would lead you to believe you’re going to be a better defense in 2025?

WILL HARDY: Yeah, new coaching staff with a great scheme and great new players, which is very exciting. But the thing about defense and football in general is you need all 11 playing on the same page. One guy messes up, and an explosive can happen. Building that team chemistry and really holding each other accountable through practices and everything, that’s important, and that’s on the top of our minds, playing all together, all 11. That’ll help us this year.

Q. That development off the field from Bill Belichick and the coaching staff, just speak to that. On the field, obviously there’s a lot that’s going to happen, but off the field, building into a stronger young man in society. Just talk about that.

WILL HARDY: Coach Belichick has brought former players to talk to us just about what else is there outside of just football. It takes a lot to be a great football player, and that’s not just on-the-field stuff, that’s nutrition, that’s sleep, that is recovery. And so when you pour all this into football, man, anytime — we’re all going to end football at some point, so how can you pour all that investment into something else, whether you’re a dad, whether you’re a spouse, whatever it is, how can you pour everything into a relationship, so we’ve learned that. He’s brought many guys, former players to come and speak on that.

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