UNC is losing its top sack producer from last season, with defensive end Beau Atkinson (6-foot-6, 265 pounds) entering the transfer portal, Inside Carolina confirmed on Tuesday night through multiple sources. It’s a move that registers as a significant departure. He spent three seasons in the Tar Heels’ program, playing in 26 games along the way under defensive coordinators Gene Chizik and Geoff Collins on former coach Mack Brown’s staff.
Atkinson delivered a breakout second half of the 2024 season. He packed 6½ of his 7½ sacks on the season into the final six games. And he erupted for 5½ sacks in back-to-back games, as the Tar Heels rolled up routs on the road at Virginia and Florida State. Atkinson compiled 54 total tackles across the course of the last two seasons, including 16½ stops for lost yardage, 11 of which were sacks.
Last weekend during UNC’s “Practice Like A Pro” event at Kenan Stadium, Atkinson dropped running back Davion Gause on a tackle for lost yardage and later sacked quarterback Bryce Baker, as Carolina wrapped up its final practice session of the spring under new coach Bill Belichick.
Atkinson is a homegrown product from Raleigh (N.C.) Leesville Road High School. His mother (volleyball) and father (football) were college athletes at Connecticut. At UNC, Atkinson played behind power end Des Evans and opposite edge rusher Kaimon Rucker in the Tar Heels’ 4-2-5 defensive schemes of the past, prior to Belichick’s arrival in December.
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