The UNC football drama is a never-ending cycle.

Over the past week, we’ve gone from hearing that the Bill Belichick Hulu documentary wasn’t going to air anymore, to Belichick was openly seeking a buyout of his contract, to both Belichick and UNC each releasing half-hearted statements committing to each other.

Now, it was reported that redshirt senior running back Caleb Hood has decided to retire from football.

There was a chance to start the season that Hood was going to get more carries with it being his final season.

He had already dealt with a myriad of injuries throughout his career, but given how he entered the season healthy, it seemed like this was finally going to be his year.

In the Week 1 opener against TCU, Hood received 10 carries for 31 yards and was the first touchdown in Belichick’s college coaching history.

However, Hood’s usage dropped dramatically – and for good reason. On 16 carries all season, he only rushed for 44 yards, which means for the rest of the season only had 13 yards on six carries after his semi-big Week 1.

It also came on the heels of freshman running back Demon June breaking out and receiving the bulk of the carries.

Conveniently, after all the Belichick drama, that’s when Hood announced his retirement.

Prior to the multi-time Super Bowl Champion signing on as head coach in Chapel Hill,  Hood had entered the transfer portal.

Three weeks after the hiring, Hood withdrew his name from the portal and proceeded to rush for 78 yards, while also throwing a touchdown pass in the Fenway Bowl at the end of December 2024.

There’s no real reason why Hood decided that now was the best time for him to hang up the cleats, but the timing was rather convenient.

In a statement, Hood wrote on social media: 

“After much thought and prayer and discussion with my family, I have decided to retire from football. My journey at UNC has been special and I appreciate my time here. I am excited to start the next chapter and will always take my memories of Carolina with me. I want to thank Coach Belichick, Coach (Freddie) Kitchens and Coach (Natrone) Means for giving me an opportunity, as well as all my other coaches and teammates throughout my years of football for the impact they’ve all had on my life!”

This could mean a whole lot of things.

The easy part is to just assume that Hood is done playing, nothing more, nothing less.

But it could also mean that he wants to go elsewhere. Given how much time he missed earlier in his career, he could apply for an extension of his career.

With Hood retiring, there’s no formal process, it just means he’s walking away from the team.

That way next season, he can “unretire” and request an extension through a waiver.

Or it could simply mean, he's done with football altogether.

But given how he initially entered the transfer portal before Belichick came along, it forces the mind to wonder what exactly is the thought process of this retirement.