Tar Heel fans were amped up when Bryce Baker not only committed to the UNC football program, but reaffirmed his commitment when Bill Belichick took over the reins as the head coach.
While everyone thought that Baker was the quarterback of the future in Chapel Hill, it now appears that we'll never actually see what he's capable of doing on the field.
Bryce Baker enters the transfer portal
After not appearing in any game action as a true freshman, Baker has entered the transfer portal. This news was first reported by Hayes Fawcett of On3.
BREAKING: North Carolina true freshman QB Bryce Baker is entering the @TransferPortal, @On3Sports has learned
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 22, 2025
He was ranked as a Top 65 Recruit (No. 9 QB) in the 2025 Class per On3https://t.co/RlUbB6Fk7q pic.twitter.com/6dYF70Oc6X
Regarded as a consensus top-10 quarterback in his recruiting class, the hope was that Baker would end up continuing a strong line of quarterbacks who have led the Tar Heels offensive attack. However, we didn't even see him step foot on the field, as the expectation (or rumor) was that he was redshirting.
Even with how bad the UNC football program's quarterback play was in 2025, it was baffling that Belichick and his staff didn't at least try to get a look to see what he was capable of doing.
Still plenty of answers at the QB spot
There's still plenty of questions surrounding the UNC football program's quarterback situation.
Max Johnson has already hit the transfer portal, Gio Lopez (although he's due to make a ton of money as part of his NIL contract) surely isn't the answer, and other options from last year's squad aren't cut out for the job.
There is true freshman Travis Burgess, but is he going to be ready for the opener after suffering a season-ending injury in the early part of his high school senior season?
You can rest-assure that the UNC football program desperately needs to bring in a capable starting quarterback via the transfer portal, as the current options are not it moving forward.
The big "What If"
What's frustrating about this whole situation is that we'll never see what Bryce Baker could've done with this program. Even in a year where quarterback issues were the lead issue, Baker still didn't see the field, as there are a lot of questions that need to be asked about how his situation was handled by the staff.