The start to the Bill Belichick era for the North Carolina Tar Heels has been somewhat bumpy following the eight-time Super Bowl Champion’s shocking hiring. One constant, however, has been the play of freshman running back Demon June.
After not seeing the field in North Carolina’s disappointing season-opening blowout home loss, a 48-14 defeat at the hands of the TCU Horned Frogs, June has rushed for 200 yards and a touchdown on just 23 carries and has accumulated another 19 yards on two receptions.
In the Tar Heels’ first win of the season, a 20-3 victory over Charlotte, he had 52 yards on nine carries. June really turned it up in last week’s 41-6 victory over Richmond, going for 148 yards and his first career touchdown on 14 carries.
June initially committed to the Tar Heels when Mack Brown remained head coach, and many believed the 3-Star out of Jacksonville, NC, may jump ship after Brown’s departure. That proved not to be the case as June seems to be following the lead of some former Belichick players in ‘trusting the process.’
Mack Brown Commit Demon Junes Shows Loyalty to Bill Belichick
When Brown and North Carolina went their separate ways, June had plenty of options.
June visited schools like the Florida Gators and South Carolina Gamecocks while officially visiting the Georgia Southern Eagles and East Carolina Pirates prior to the 2024 season before committing to Brown in August of last year. He even officially visited Florida State to see the Seminoles in November, but ultimately stuck with the Heels.
Once Belichick took over, there was speculation that June could hit the transfer portal, but he decided to stick with Belichick and the Heels instead. June joined Carolina Insider to talk about why he chose to stick with Belichick and the heels.
“When it was announced that coach Belichick came in I mean who wouldn’t want to play for the greatest coach,” June said with a smile. “But you know at the same time born and raised in North Carolina. you just want to stay close to home so when you do get the opportunities to you know produce for the team or play, you just have a even bigger why behind you.”
June went on to say that he has been getting a lot of texts and calls from those in the Jacksonville area who are excited he wound up staying home, telling the Carolina Insider crew, “it feels good.”
“I really did need to be here. That’s kind of what I was thinking,” June explained. “It definitely does feel good to represent back home and stuff doing a good thing for the city.”
Once June got on the practice field, he finally had a moment where it really hit him that he was being coached by arguably the greatest NFL coach of all time.
“I think the first time like I had like a coaching moment on like kickoff or kick return and we had a conversation and stuff,” June told Carolina Insider. “It just kind of that was my wow moment like wow I’m getting coached up by the greatest coach. But it definitely feels good.”
June also seems to appreciate the way Belichick and his staff are coaching him. “You know, he’s never going to tell you nothing wrong. It’s always for the better. So no matter how you take it, you just got to know that it’s for the better and you got to run with it.”
June and the Heels will look to improve to 3-1 when they hit the road to take on the UCF Knights on Saturday. The game will air on FOX at 3:30 ET on September 20, 2025.
