UNC’s Tyler Thompson Details Pass Rush Success, Career Rise

North Carolina defensive end Tyler Thompson spoke to the media at the Kenan Football Ceter on Tuesday where he discussed his sudden rise after he has recorded seven sacks in the past four weeks.

To watch, checkk out the video below.

Partial Transcript

On what has worked the last few weeks…

Tyler Thomson — North Carolina defensive end Tyler Thompson forces Chandler Morris to lose the ball; Oct. 25, 2025 | UNC Athletic Communications

For me, it's just being consistent. You know, getting better every day. You know, there's obviously things out of your control, whether that doesn't, whether that's losing a football game or, you know, outside noise, but like just being consistent day in and day out, I feel like just doing the same thing every day, trying to get better. And then eventually it clicked.

On what has helped the pass rush the most…

UNC — Nov 8, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels linebacker Tyler Thompson (40) reacts with linebacker Jonathan Agumadu (41) after a sack in the fourth quarter at Kenan Stadium. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

I mean, the back end is doing a phenomenal job looking at receivers, so that's giving me and Melly and some of the other guys time to get back there. And just everyone doing their job, is that simple. Everyone doing their job, whether that's covering, whether that's us getting to the quarterback, whether that's linebackers getting to their drops, or covering who they need to cover. So I think that's kind of what's clicked.

On the convarsations with Bill Belichick and the staff on neeing to gain weight…

So as far as gaining weight, that's kind of something I've always known I needed to do coming into college. You know, I came in at 190 pounds, playing defensive and, you don't really hear too many guys coming in that light and playing a lot of meaningful minutes. So other coaching staff have kind of told me, okay, that's one of the main things.

On staying with UNC after departure of Mack Brown…

Nov 2, 2024; Tallahassee, Florida, USA; North Carolina Tarheels head coach Mack Brown during warmups before a game against the Florida State Seminoles at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. | Robert Myers-Imagn Images

I mean, this is home to me. I'm from here. Grew up here mostly. So I love Carolina. I love the University. It's a great degree, great football program.

On the details of him gaining nearly 50 pounds from the his freshman year to now…

UNC — North Carolina defensive end Tyler Thompsons vs. Stanford; Nov. 8, 2025 | Jackson McCurdy, North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

(Director of Football Performance Nutrition) Amber (Rinestine-Ressa), her staff do a great job with, you know, meals, making sure. Like, okay, this is what you need to be eating. This is how much you need to be eating. This is how many calories you need to be eating. And once I really honed in, okay, I need to take shakes home. I need to, you know, pack meals and go home and eat those when I'm worried or something.

I feel like, once that started to kind of click in my brain a little bit more, I think that's when the weight started to get added on, especially with the weight program, also, like we're running a lot in the summer, you know, there's a lot of demand from your body, so I feel like that kind of forced me to eat a little bit more.

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