“No Disrespect to Anybody”: Cam Newton Rates Coach Prime Over Bill Belichick in College Football

The college football universe got an incredible shock earlier this week when Bill Belichick became the North Carolina Tar Heels head coach. Belichick’s move to the college ranks comes after 40 years at the professional level and one season as a media analyst. He’ll now compete with Deion Sanders, among others, for the country’s most prized recruits.

Belichick has only been a collegiate head coach for roughly 24 hours, but he immediately slides in alongside Sanders as the biggest name in the sport. This has created an interesting theoretical question for former players: if you were in college again, would you rather play for Coach Belichick or Coach Prime?

Cam Newton debated this question on his 4th&1 podcast and stated he’d join Sanders at Colorado. Part of his reasoning stems from Sanders seemingly proving he can get a quarterback selected early in the NFL Draft.

“I’m going with Coach Prime… it’s Coach Prime… no disrespect to anybody. I’m going for everybody who’s Black. But let me see a Jalen Milroe go to UNC, and Belichick get that [guy] drafted No. 1.”

Belichick obviously has not had the chance to get anyone drafted yet. Sanders didn’t oversee Milroe (Alabama) but has coached his son, Shedeur, into consideration for the 2025 NFL Draft’s top spot.

The new college landscape does give Belichick an opportunity to hit the ground running, though.

Cam Newton: Belichick can succeed quickly at the college level

It used to take coaches years to build a college program. They’d have to lay a foundation with their first recruiting class, then build on top of it over time. Nowadays, you can turn a team around in a flash with the transfer portal. Instead of needing multiple seasons to cultivate something, you can field a good roster after one offseason.

The transfer portal isn’t an exact replica of NFL free agency, but it has similarities. Those will enable Belichick to adapt to the college game faster than otherwise possible. Newton believes the portal could allow Belichick to flip North Carolina’s fortunes in the same way it helped Sanders change the Buffs’.

“No [it won’t take a long time]… [cause there’s] the transfer portal… anybody [can become] an instant success. Cause hat’s the only reason why Colorado is good: they went in the transfer portal! We have to be a realist to understand that college football is no longer an amateur sport. People are deciding schools by how much money they can make.”

The Tar Heels wouldn’t hire Belichick unless they were willing to give him the resources he desired. The energy around the program has already risen considerably in the immediate aftermath of his hiring.

North Carolina might not compete for a College Football Playoff spot next year but should be a better outfit. Belichick’s debut comes at home Aug. 30 versus TCU.