UNC football coach Bill Belichick has his first high school recruit for the 2025 season. 
East Forsyth quarterback Bryce Baker will sign with the Tar Heels, Baker announced Saturday in a social media post. Shortly after the announcement, the UNC football account on X (formerly known as Twitter) released a video with Baker’s thoughts.
The Kernersville native committed to UNC in 2023, but former head coach Mack Brown’s firing on Nov. 26 prompted Baker to wait and re-evaluate his options before ultimately following through with the Belichick-led Tar Heels. 
LSU and Penn State were among the other programs pursuing Baker, who will increase UNC’s 2025 class to eight players as of Saturday. 
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound quarterback is a four-star prospect, according to 247Sports. In his final prep season, Baker completed 74.7% of his passes for 3,523 passing yards and 40 touchdowns in 14 games. He also had 72 carries for 303 rushing yards and six TDs. Baker is eighth nationally among QBs, according to the 247Sports Composite, and the No. 3 among in-state prospects. He was the top unsigned QB in the nation.
During his introductory press conference on Thursday in Chapel Hill, Belichick was asked about the importance of targeting in-state players and getting those recruits to UNC. 
Belichick said it will “absolutely” be a priority to “recruit well” in North Carolina, but it goes beyond getting in-state players to stay home.  
“There’s a lot of good football players in North Carolina and the surrounding states, but North Carolina is a national university. I mean, this is the best public university in the country. Any kid that wants a good education, be in a good football program, be at a great campus, play in a great environment, we’ll recruit any kid to come here,” Belichick said. 
“I mean, I’ve been on just about every campus and major campus in the country. There’s not many nicer North Carolina, can’t get a better education than you can at this school. So there’s a lot going for it. I think we can recruit nationally. And look, there’s certain kids that don’t want to leave their region, I mean, I get that. But I think we’ll be able to recruit nationally. We’ll certainly try to.”
Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them torbaxley@fayobserver.com.

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