Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris did not speak to North Carolina during the recruiting process in the transfer portal. He does not know where that came from.
The initial report is completely false.
This latest college football story about the disaster in Chapel Hill involving Michael Lombardi, Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels seems to be fabricated. Or, at the very least, misconstrued.
Who is Chandler Morris?
Morris is one of the ultimate journeymen within the sport. A former three-star recruit, he initially committed to play for his father at Arkansas. However, his father was fired so he flipped to Oklahoma.
The 6-foot-0, 190-pound quarterback attempted only five passes in five games with the Sooners before he entered the transfer portal. Morris landed at TCU, where he went 5-4 as the starter over three years.
And then it was back into the portal.
Morris had a career year at North Texas in 2024, completing 62.9% of his passes for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns with only 12 interceptions en route to a record of 6-6. He was the AAC’s leading passer.
His play was good enough to give him one final opportunity on the “power four” conference level as a sixth-year senior so he jumped back into the portal just one last time. Here is where things get murky.
Did he get rejected by North Carolina?
According to Bruce Feldman, Brendan Marks and Stewart Mandel of The Athletic, Chandler Morris “made it known he was interested in coming to play for” Bill Belichick at North Carolina. Lombardi, who serves as the general manager of football operations, supposedly turned him away.
Belichick’s right-hand man, general manager Michael Lombardi, was already making the decisions when it came to overhauling UNC’s roster. He didn’t want Morris, who was about 6-feet, 190 pounds, and did not have the strongest arm. Purdue’s Ryan Browne, a 6-4, 210-pounder who had started two games for a 2-10 Boilers team, better fit the mold he and Belichick were seeking. Lombardi didn’t hold back letting UNC’s personnel staffers, a mix of holdovers and new hires, know why.
“You just don’t understand what it takes to play in the National Football League,” he told staffers, according to a person briefed on the conversation, who, like more than 20 people interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity about their experiences of private conversations and decision-making within the program.
— The Athletic
Morris eventually transferred to Virginia, where he has completed 69.9% of his passes for 1,428 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also ran for four more.
The Cavaliers are currently ranked No. 16 in the country at 5-1. The Tar Heels are unranked at 2-4.
As funny of a story as this would be, according to Mike Barber, Chandler Morris says he “never talked to anybody at North Carolina during his portal recruitment and was surprised when this story came out.” His teammate sent him the story during the bye week because Morris doesn’t have an account on X.