UNC Football 2026 Position Preview: Defensive Line

A theme across most of our position previews thus far has been a need for groups to improve after being somewhere between bad and awful in 2025. As we shift to defense, that changes a little bit. While last year’s offense was putrid no matter how you look at it, Bill and Steve Belichick’s defense fared a little better by box-score standards: the Tar Heels ranked 38th in the country in yards allowed per game, 66th in points conceded, and 20th in sacks, which make it easy for some to think that the story of the team was an awful offense letting down a genuinely good defense. Jordan Shipp said as much to media after last year’s loss to Wake Forest that started that end-of-season slide. But when you look under the hood, the story of the 2025 UNC defense isn’t quite as rosy as all that. The Heels ranked 102nd in opponent 3rd down conversion rate and almost dead last on 4th downs and ranked 96th in defensive FEI, which are all similar levels of badness to the offense. Those other numbers don’t mean nothing, and I should also mention that the Heels were a top-20 red zone defense, so I’m not suggesting that the defense needs as much work as the offense. Just that it, too, contributed to last year’s team not being good, rather than simply being let down.

All of that said, probably the best position group on the team last year was the defensive line, and it’s also perhaps the group on the team that has undergone the least attrition and turnover. So it’s fair, I think, to expect good things again from this group — and as we’ve seen so far and will continue to see, that’s a rare thing for these previews. As mentioned, this defensive line spearheaded the effort that got this team to rank 20th in the country in sacks, as well as 23rd in opponent rush yards per attempt. And nearly every major contributor to those efforts has returned, though there are of course a couple of changes. Let’s take a detailed look at how UNC stacks up on the defensive side of the trenches:

Key Departures

We’ll get to last year’s sacks leader in a second, but the player across from him had a pretty respectable season too: that’s edge rusher Tyler Thompson, who put up 7 sacks and 2 forced fumbles as a redshirt sophomore. Thompson played steady rotation snaps but was really a pass-rush specialist; he didn’t have much production as a run defender and got pushed around a fair bit when runs went his way. He’s now transferred to Louisville, where the group might be deep enough to hide his weaknesses a little more.

On the interior, the Heels got decent production from C.J. Mims and D’Antre Robinson, both of whom also transferred out. Mims is now at Texas A&M, while Robinson will be playing for Oregon. Both were reliable run defenders who didn’t offer much rushing the passer, though Mims did have a sack against Clemson.

Key Returnees

Bill Belichick, Mike Lombardi, and their staff had two major retention wins this past offseason. The first was wide receiver Jordan Shipp, whom David profiled in that position’s preview . The second was Melkart Abou-Jaoude, the breakout edge rusher who led not just his team but the ACC with 10.5 sacks after transferring from Delaware, where he’d initially walked on. It’s a fantastic story, and Abou-Jaoude is going to be asked to be the centerpiece of this unit once again, this time while being at the top of every offensive coordinator’s and OL coach’s scouting report. He’s an absolute grinder on the field, has really powerful hands, and is relentless in his attack against offensive tackles with the strength and length to absolutely feast on quarterbacks who hold the ball too long. As I said in my 2027 draft preview , he doesn’t have exceptional craft, bend, or speed, and against a stronger schedule, he feels like somebody whose pass rush production could regress pretty hard. On the other hand, he recorded 42 pressures, and a 4:1 pressure-to-sack ratio is usually indicative of a player whose sack production is for real — and it’s especially good to see in this case, because 10 of those sacks came in 4 games. It’s an open question on whether the vibes/eye test or the numbers will end up being right here. Abou-Jaoude does play the run well, setting a hard edge and being a sure tackler. Those traits set a high floor for him regardless of the other stuff.

Filling the interior are two returners, Leroy Jackson and Isaiah Johnson. Jackson was named a Freshman All-American by The Athletic last year because his play as a redshirt first-year way outpaced his stats. He didn’t record a single tackle for loss, let alone a sack, last year, but he was stout against the run even when double-teamed and created a fair amount of havoc in the backfield. He wasn’t able to finish a lot of plays, but that’s something that can change with experience, as a player knows better what to expect out of an offense. I think he could have a really big year. Johnson was the more disruptive pass rusher, with 2 sacks, and he’s steady against the run as well, but he flagged heavily towards the end of the year as the snaps seemed to catch up to him.

Key Newcomers

The biggest question mark for this group is who’s going to start on the edge opposite Abou-Jaoude. The staff brought in two transfers who appear to be fighting for that spot: Jaylen Harvey from Penn State, and Donovan Hoilette from the University of Richmond. Harvey played around 10 snaps a game for the Nittany Lions last year as a sophomore and wasn’t anything special, recording one sack and 5 solo tackles. The tools are obvious, though — he’s got long arms, is lightning-fast off the line, and shows very good bend. He’s fairly slight, which meant that even in winning positions, offensive linemen were often able to push him around and get him out of the play, but with some time in the weight room, it’s easy to see him being an explosive and disruptive pass rusher. Hoilette, on the other hand, had a ton of production last year, with 9 sacks and 13 tackles for loss en r...

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