ACC Kickoff: Bill Belichick and the top storylines this week in Charlotte

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 debutThe 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.–Expectations renewed for Clemson entering 2025For 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.

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