UNC football putting the full-court press on to land a stud linebacker transfer

Andrew Simpson exhausted his eligibility, while Khmori House elected to enter his name in the transfer portal.

In what seems like an annual project, the UNC football program must once again reinvent its linebacker core.

The good news is, there are plenty of options available via the transfer portal, one of which has already surfaced as a priority target for Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels.

According to the 247Sports Transfer Portal tracker on X, UConn linebacker Oumar Diomande is arriving in Chapel Hill on Friday for a visit. This visit comes on the first day of the transfer portal window being open for business.

North Carolina won't be alone in its pursuit of Diomande. The 6-foot-1, 230-pounder from the Bronx, New York has five visits scheduled from now until January 9, as his tour starts in Chapel Hill and is slated to end in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Diomande's scheduled visits currently look like this:

North Carolina (Jan. 2)
Northwestern (Jan. 3)
SMU (Jan. 5)
Penn State (Jan. 7)
Colorado State (Jan. 9)

More on Oumar Diomande

Dimoande is an absolute STUD at the linebacker position.

The 2025 season was an outstanding one for Diomande, who recorded 111 tackles (61 solo), 8.0 tackles for loss and five sacks. He had five games in which he recorded 10+ tackles, including a three-game stretch that included games against UAB, Duke and Air Force.

If you watch the tape, it's evident why the UNC football program is making such a push to get him on campus, hopefully being enough to seal the deal for him as he looks for his next stop in his college football career.

With two seasons of eligibility remaining, Diomande could be a multi-season solution at the position for the UNC football program. He would bring an immediate boost to a unit that is in need of a total reboot, as a commitment from Diomande would be a great late Christmas present for defensive coordinator Steve Belichick to work with.