Redshirt senior transfer Pryce Yates, out of UCONN was one of Belichick’s sneaky and under-the-radar acquisitions from the transfer portal.

He comes in with potentially the biggest resume as a pass rusher on the team with a team-leading and Independent League leading 14 tackles for loss during the 2023 season.

However, during fall camp, Yates suffered a concussion – his second in as many years – and he’s still out indefinitely.

Last season during his senior year with the Huskies, Yates had missed the first six games because of severe side effects of a concussion that he suffered in that training camp.

It’s an all too familiar and scary situation for a young man with loads of talent, but for now, it’s difficult to tell when he’ll be ready to go.

“It’s definitely hard to put a timetable on it,” Belichick said earlier this week when asked about Yates. “I know that he’s working hard to be back, and I know that our medical staff is doing the same thing. We’ll just have to kind of take it day-by-day, and see how things progress. But when he’s ready, he’ll be ready. And I know he’s doing everything he can to be ready. But he just hasn’t been cleared yet.”

When he’s on the field, Yates is just about unstoppable as any pass rusher. Even though he missed those first six games for UCONN, he more than made up for it with a staggering stat line.

He registered 21 total tackles, seven tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks, with his best game going against… you guessed it – North Carolina where he won the Defensive MVP award in the Fenway Bowl

Belichick was hired by North Carolina on December 11, 2024, just in time to watch UNC take on UCONN in his former home of Boston.

However, Belichick didn’t attend that game, because he didn’t want to serve as a distraction for the team. Instead, he watched Yates destroy UNC’s offensive line, recording a sack, three tackles for loss, and six solo tackles.

December 2024 was an interesting time for Yates, as he entered the transfer portal on December 13, withdrew eight days later, then he played in the Fenway Bowl, and then three days later, found his way back into the portal to sign with Belichick’s Tar Heels.

As each day passes though, Yates’s presence on the defensive line becomes more needed with conference play soon picking up. 

Given his history with concussions, you want to be extra careful, since there’s never a set time for proper healing. Until then, Belichick will have to continue to lean on defensive ends Melkart Abou-Jaoude and Smith Vilbert.