Report: At least five UNC football players cited for alarming speeding issues since January

The off-field concerns surrounding North Carolina are once again under a harsh spotlight. According to a lengthy investigation from WRAL’s Pat Welter, Randall Kerr and Brian Murphy, at least five UNC football players, including transfers and returning contributors, have reportedly been cited for speeding violations since January. 

Some of the allegations are alarming, including repeated reckless driving charges and reports of players driving over 100 miles per hour. The report also details accusations of players improperly parking in handicap-designated spaces on campus, speeding through parking decks and repeatedly ignoring university parking rules.

The latest revelations come less than a year after WRAL previously uncovered widespread driving violations throughout the program during Bill Belichick’s first season in Chapel Hill. According to the newest report, one player has already been cited four separate times since arriving on campus in January, including two reckless driving charges. Another player reportedly received three citations since February, including one involving allegations of driving over 100 mph. 

The concerns have apparently frustrated faculty members for months. Longtime UNC professor Mark Peifer, a member of the university’s cancer cell biology research program, has reportedly spent the past several months emailing administrators, athletics officials and parking authorities while pleading for action: “Is there no one who can rein in these players?” Peifer wrote in one email to athletic director Bubba Cunningham, according to WRAL.

Peifer and other university employees alleged players routinely ignored parking regulations, backed into spaces against policy and occupied handicap-designated spots near Kenan Stadium: “That’s just not right,” Peifer told WRAL. “Nobody should park in a handicap spot.”

The situation only adds to growing scrutiny surrounding the culture inside the program. Last fall, WRAL reported that nearly 20 percent of UNC’s football roster had received traffic violations since October 2024, totaling 31 speeding citations and 10 reckless driving charges. One player alone, linebacker Khmori House, reportedly accounted for nine violations.

At the time, Belichick acknowledged the program had addressed off-field behavior: “Our conduct outside of the building, outside of the program, is important to us,” Belichick told WRAL last November.

Still, the latest findings suggest the issue has hardly disappeared. What makes the situation even more notable is the comparison to rival NC State. WRAL reported that despite carrying a larger roster, NC State players accumulated only 10 speeding citations and two reckless driving charges during the same span.

UNC’s athletics department released a brief statement saying the university continues educating players on driving safety and will “continue to work with all of our teams on safe driving education.”

Whether that will be enough moving forward remains to be seen. As college football programs increasingly operate like professional organizations in the NIL and transfer portal era, scrutiny surrounding player accountability off the field is only becoming more intense, especially when safety concerns are involved.