The North Carolina Tar Heels are developing a pipeline of sorts at the expense of the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Penn State’s 2026 class was thrown into turmoil when James Franklin was fired. Bill Belichick and North Carolina, in the meantime, took advantage of that turmoil and started targeting members of Penn State’s 2026 recruiting class.
The Tar Heels had previously added commitments from three-star cornerback Jaziel Hart and four-star athlete David Davis, both of whom had been committed to Penn State before Franklin’s firing.
The Tar Heels have now added a third former Nittany Lion pledge, with the announcement that three-star cornerback Julian Peterson from Atco, New Jersey.
Peterson committed to Penn State back in January 2025, so he seemed to be one of the “ride or die” members of PSU’s recruiting class. Not surprisingly, he decommitted when Franklin was fired, though, and he started looking around.
He received offers from Clemson, North Carolina and Wisconsin when he opened things back up and took official visits to all three schools.
Ultimately, it was Belichick and the Tar Heels who won out, and the legendary, Super Bowl-winning head coach was a major reason why.
