According to ESPN's David Hale, North Carolina Tar Heels defensive lineman Xavier Lewis is officially a top 25 player in college football.

Hale was one of five ESPN college football experts that came together to compile this list, with the others being: Bill Connelly, Max Olson, Adam Rittenberg and Paolo Uggetti.

They were able to come to a consensus that Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is the top player in the nation, but other than that, things got interesting.

UNC may not exactly be part of the upper echelon of college football, but Bill Belichick is looking to change that.

This defense isn't perfect, but neither is the offense. UNC is off to a 4-2 start, so they've already matched Belichick's win total from year one.

With a chance to surpass that on Saturday, Oct. 24 against Syracuse, this team received a huge boost when they learned that Lewis was listed as the No. 16 player in college football.

These rankings look at each player's notable stats this season and their 2026 preseason ranking. To no surprise, Lewis wasn't ranked coming into the year.

It's crazy to think that the 6-foot, 260-pounder is only a sophomore. Lewis was born in Raleigh, NC, so now everything has come full circle with him playing for the Tar Heels.

Hale called Lewis "a revelation for the Tar Heels' defense," saying he "blossomed" into a force up the middle.

Through Week 7, Lewis is second in the nation with 19 interior pressures. If that's not enough, he's top 10 in the nation with seven sacks and 10 tackles for loss.

Incredibly, Hale pointed out the fact that he has four run stuffs which is higher than the number of missed tackles he has (three).

To get even further into the advanced statistics, Texas's Colin Simmons is the only player in college football with a better average depth of tackle than Lewis.

With a sold-out matchup against the Orange coming up this weekend, it's imperative that Lewis keeps up at this rate.

Syracuse hasn't won a single conference game, so it would be quite embarrassing for UNC's winning streak to come to an end at Kenan Stadium.

Lewis had just eight total tackles last season. He's already at 30 here in '26, and he's recorded a sack in every game he's played in.

When the lights shine the brightest, Lewis steps up, as seen with his career-high 11 tackle game against No. 25 Pittsburgh.