McDonald Becoming NFL Prospect While Running Belichick’s Defense
By David Glenn
Bill Belichick’s second North Carolina football team is off to a solid 3-2 start largely for two reasons. The Tar Heels are playing high-quality defense, and they are successfully executing a low-mistakes, high-gridiron-IQ formula.
Derek McDonald personifies both elements.
UNC’s starting middle linebacker, McDonald is a 24-year-old, sixth-year graduate student. Since arriving at UNC in January, after five seasons at Syracuse, he has become one of the Tar Heels’ team captains, their defensive signal-caller, one of their top all-conference candidates, one of the nation’s leading tacklers, a legitimate candidate for the 2027 National Football League draft, and maybe even one of Belichick’s favorite players.
Derek McDonald, image via UNC Athletics
While the typically tight-lipped Belichick hasn’t yet said much publicly about McDonald, he repeatedly has praised the veteran linebacker in private conversations, including to the various broadcast teams calling the Tar Heels’ games each week. Belichick, an eight-time Super Bowl champion (counting two as an assistant) who spent nearly a half-century in the NFL, reportedly has said multiple times that McDonald is good enough to play in the NFL “right now.”
During the Tar Heels’ 3-2 start this season, their defense definitely led the way, with their 19 points per game yield ranking fourth in the 17-team Atlantic Coast Conference. Their high football IQ also has been central to the formula, as they are by far the least-penalized ACC team (only 27 yards per game), and their defense ranks fourth in the league in stopping fourth-down conversions (69 percent) and second in red-zone defense (only seven touchdowns in 15 trips).
With returning All-ACC defensive end Melkart Abou Jaoude limited by a hand/wrist injury, McDonald has stepped up as the unit’s top player, calling the signals for de-facto coordinator Brian Belichick (Bill’s son and the team’s secondary coach) and making tackles literally from sideline to sideline, both from his middle linebacker position and on special teams.
During Belichick’s 20 seasons (and six Super Bowl championships) in New England with legendary Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, the coach rarely singled out his Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback for praise, publicly or privately, so nobody should be surprised that he chooses his words carefully with the Tar Heels, too, even if he’s asked specifically about McDonald or one of the team’s other top players (e.g., wide receiver Jordan Shipp, tight end Jelani Thurman).
“Good team defense,” Belichick said. “It’s not one guy that does it. If you play good team defense and force a runner to go (in the intended direction), someone is there to tackle him. So everybody just has to take care of their responsibility.”
Like Belichick, McDonald doesn’t seem interested in divvying up the credit for UNC’s defensive improvement, either.
“We’re just focused on getting better every day,” McDonald said. “We have a group of really hungry guys, I think guys that do everything the right way. … We’ve really grown together.
“We have a great defensive staff, too. We have so much experience out there.”
McDonald is one of the most experienced players in the entire ACC.
At Syracuse, he started for two seasons under coach Dino Babers and for one season (the Orange’s 10-3 campaign in 2024) under coach Fran Brown. Now McDonald rarely leaves the field for Carolina’s defense, which plays an extraordinary number of snaps because the Tar Heels are last in the league in time of possession, and he helps on punt/kick coverage, too.
A rare four-year college starter, McDonald said he is thankful that his football journey eventually led him to Belichick. That wouldn’t have been possible without the serious hip injury he suffered last season at Syracuse, which limited him to four games and enabled him to receive a medical redshirt.
“I definitely learned a lot from that process,” McDonald said. “That’s just part of football, obviously; everyone goes through injuries. … You have to learn to deal with adversity, playing this game and going through ups and downs. It was another obstacle in the road.”
Entering Week Seven of the college football season, McDonald leads the ACC and ranks eighth nationally in total tackles, with about 10 per game. He has made big plays for UNC against the run, when dropping into pass coverage, and as a member of the Tar Heels’ special teams.
In UNC’s 21-17 victory at #25 Pitt last Saturday, McDonald made one of the biggest plays of the game. Late in the fourth quarter, on a crucial fourth-and-two play near Carolina’s defensive 30-yard line, he punched the ball out of a Pitt running back’s hands after a one-yard gain. Although the runner was ruled down, negating the fumble, the play resulted in a turnover on downs, and the Panthers never threatened again.
A three-star prospect from Atlanta at the Marist School, a college-prep institution known for both high-level athletics and academics, McDonald long ago developed a reputation as a “coach on the field,” a gym rat and an obsessive student of game film.
That background ultimately made him a great fit for Belichick, who now has a high-IQ, NFL-caliber talent right in the middle of his much-improved UNC defense.
David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.
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