Amare Campbell withdraws from the transfer portal, will remain at North Carolina

Five days ago, starting middle linebacker Amare Campbell entered the transfer portal. Today, he has withdrawn from the portal and will return to the UNC next season.

This is tremendously good news for the UNC football program. As a true sophomore, Amare Campbell stepped into the void left by Cedric Grey, now with the Tennessee Titans. He's the latest in a line of superlative linebackers, dating back to Jeremiah Gemmel and now with the outgoing Power Echols. His loss would have been tough to recover from.

In his true sophomore season, Campbell stepped up in a major way. Ever since Mack Brown returned to North Carolina, his three defensive coordinators have not been able to find meaningful snaps for back-up middle linebackers, so if you started, you basically played until you died. Amare Campbell was up for the task.

He was third on the team in total tackles with 72 (four behind Power Echols, and seven behind team-leader Stick Lane). He was tied for the team lead in sacks with 6.5. And maybe most importantly, he was trusted with the green dot, getting the helmet with the radio inside to receive play calls.

Bill Belichick had an impressive lineage of linebackers at New England. Under his tutelage, perhaps we can see Amare Campbell elevate his name among players such as Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, Willie McGinest, Dont'a Hightower, or Jerod Mayo.