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Bill Belichick is hitting the recruiting trail as head coach of North Carolina, something Tom Brady said earlier this month that he could never envision him doing. On an appearance on FOX NFL Kickoff, Brady, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski poked fun at the idea of their former New England Patriots head coach recruiting teenagers.
“Listen, you really wanna come here?” Brady said, pretending to be Belichick as a recruiter. “I mean, we don't really want you anyway, but I guess you could come. We'll figure out if you'll play.”
TOM BRADY IMITATING BILL BELICHICK AS A COLLEGE COACH RECRUITING…
“Listen, you really wanna come here… we don’t really want you anyways… I guess you could come… we’ll figure out if you can play.”
💀💀💀
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) December 8, 2024
Belichick responded to the jokes from his former players.
“Look, those guys were great to coach, and many of the other hundreds of players I’ve coached throughout the years, I’ve got those types of comments,” he said on the Let's Go podcast. “And we can all laugh about them because they can make fun of me, but I could make fun of them too, and it’s a good, healthy relationship. I appreciate their support and all they’ve done for me and my family.”
The six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach will now battle with the nation's top college programs for recruits.
Bill Belichick throwing his hat in recruiting ring for North Carolina
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Belichick was known for his stern, disciplinarian demeanor with the Patriots. He was asked if he would change his approach now that he will recruit high school and college players.
“Well, I think that in the end, Tom, Julian, and Rob would all tell you that I just try to be honest with the players,” Belichick said. “I tell them what their strengths are, I tell them what they need to work on, and I tell them what we need to do as a team to win. So I don’t try to make it overly dramatic or overly negative or any kind of false enthusiasm. I just try to be truthful and real with them. And this is what we need to do, and here's how we're gonna do it.”
“Recruiting is all about just being honest and developing those relationships with the players. Here are our opportunities, and this is what you can do. We’re excited to have those student-athletes on our team. We’ve had a lot of interest from all positions to come to Carolina. Some guys in the portal, some players that hadn’t made commitments, or maybe they had made verbal commitments, but that now want to be considered… We're open to all that; we recruit nationally… We've had a lot of kids and a lot of agents who represent these kids call with inquiries about how they can be part of our program. So that part of it has been overwhelming and exciting, really.”
Belichick landed a significant commitment last week from North Carolina native Bryce Baker, a four-star recruit and fourth-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2025. He landed his first transfer portal commitment on Monday, with Christo Kelly, a senior offensive lineman from Holy Cross, signing with the Tar Heels.
