Aj Marks was getting ready for what he thought would be a normal school day when one of his coaches at IMG (Fla.) Academy sent him a text message. “Come over to the fieldhouse. Bill Belichick wants to talk to you, wants to see you.” Marks had no idea Belichick was in town, let alone on his high school campus. But as any tech-savvy teenager would do, the 2026 cornerback recruit quickly screenshotted the message so he could keep it in his files forever. When he made his way to the fieldhouse, Belichick was waiting with another surprise. “I was thinking maybe I’d just go over there and introduce myself, have a quick conversation and be done, really,” Marks said. “But I ended up talking to him for an hour and 30 minutes and then he ended the conversation by offering me a scholarship to North Carolina. Meeting him, that’s a lot of people’s dreams. He’s really the greatest coach of all time.”
Belichick, the 72-year-old first-time college head coach, has hit the recruiting trail over the last few months as he looks to build North Carolina into a national contender. In the last month, he has been from Massachusetts to Florida and everywhere in between, connecting with prospects like Marks to make his pitch. Belichick has his work cut out for him. North Carolina has six commitments in the 2026 class but just one prospect who ranks in the top 500 nationally. But ask any recruit what it has been like to spend time with him, and all of the answers have echoed Marks’ sentiment — just being in the presence of the six-time Super Bowl winner feels surreal.
Belichick first hit the road in January, and focused most of his efforts on the East Coast. Hiring former IMG Academy head coach Billy Miller to his staff gave him direct access to some of the nation’s top talent. He offered four other players on that January morning, in addition to Marks. Belichick also pounded the pavement in North Carolina, stopping in to visit a trio of four-star edge rushers — Zavion Griffin-Haynes (Rolesville), Noah Clark (Durham) and Aiden Harris (Matthews) — and perhaps most notably, five-star Oregon tight end commit Kendre Harrison, who attends Reidsville High and is expected to play football and basketball at the collegiate level.
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