Gio Lopez paints a predictable picture of playing for Bill Belichick at UNC

North Carolina, under Bill Belichick, fancies itself the NFL's 33rd team. The better description is the NCAA's equivalent of Belichick's Patriots.

Without, to date, the winning.

Former UNC quarterback Gio Lopez, who played for Belichick in his first year as a college coach, has transferred to Wake Forest. To hear it from Lopez, it sounds less like a transfer and more like an escape.

"Back at the other school, it felt like there’s no air," Lopez recently said, via Logan Lazarczyk of SI.com. "Here, it's fun again. They're moving us in the right direction, energized, and guys are enjoying football. It's like fresh air. I'd never had to respond to tough situations like that on that loud of a scale."

What was the biggest difference about playing football under Belichick?

"It was more like work," Lopez said. "After that first game, it felt like getting through the day. You don't want to live like that, where you're up at night thinking about the next day."

Gio Lopez's father, Barney Lopez, has offered more specific commentary regarding the manner in which the team was run. And regarding the feedback Gio received in real time.

"You were ridiculed if you didn't do it exactly the way he was told," Barney Lopez said. "You could be at the dang line, see the play is about to be blown up, but if you try to call it off or audible, you were ridiculed."

The end result was that Gio Lopez no longer enjoyed playing.

"Gio has always loved the game of football, and he was losing the love for it when he was over there [at North Carolina]," Barney Lopez said.

Gio Lopez started 11 games in 2025, his first and only season at North Carolina. It will be interesting to see what Belichick and/or G.M. Mike Lombardi will have to say about Lopez's comments.

Our guess is that Belichick would grumble something unintelligible before saying he's only focused on the guys who are on the team. Lombardi possibly would find a way to throw shade at Lopez indirectly, saying something about how NFL-style football isn't for everyone and some guys respond the right way to coaching from the greatest coach of all time and others respond a different way.