UNC Cheerleader Says Football Program Is ‘Completely Revamping’ Ahead of Bill Belichick’s ‘Historic’ First Season (Exclusive)

This football season isn’t just an exciting time for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill fans; it’s also an exciting time for the players and cheerleaders taking the field. 

As Bill Belichick enters his first season as head coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels on Sept. 1, the university is already implementing some “exciting” changes to usher in the new season, from the debut of a new Chapel Thrill Concert Series to the return of the Old Well Walk, where players will walk from the Old Well to the stadium before games.

Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE, UNC cheerleader and content creator Kayla Engler teases that there is plenty more in store for the season. 

“They’re completely revamping what football’s gonna look like,” Engler, 21, says of the football program for the 2025-2026 season. “They’ve changed where the football players do their entrance, the Chase Rice concert,” she says, referencing the debut of the Chapel Thrill Concert Series, where the UNC alum will perform. “That’s not just because of UNC, that’s because of Bill,” she adds. 

She notes that even having the games featured in the Monday night football slot is “historic” for the school. “Definitely big changes trickling in already, and I just can’t even imagine what’s gonna be coming next,” she says.

She recalls the monumental moment when Belichick was introduced as head coach at the Dean Smith Center in December 2024, noting the energy was “electric” about his arrival to Chapel Hill even then. 

“Already the Dean Dome was buzzing just because it’s the Dean Dome, but when he walked out into the middle of that court, it felt like it was just him, like a spotlight, and hardly anyone else was out there,” she remembers. “I’ve never seen a room erupt like that. My whole team was jumping up and down like popcorn on the sideline. It was unreal.” 

“So to imagine that that early on, not even in his territory, not even as big of a stadium as Kenan [Memorial Stadium] will hold. I can’t even imagine.” 

With all eyes on UNC at the start of this season, she and the rest of her cheerleading squad are feeling the pressure, noting that her coaches are running an even tighter ship now “with the excitement of this season.”

“It is a whole new ballpark,” Engler, a senior and one of the captains on the cheerleading team this year, emphasizes. “All of our coaches were cheerleaders at one point at UNC. They’re like 20 years out of the program [and they’re saying] they’ve never seen anything like it before and they’ve touched this program for a very long time.” 

As the Tar Heels take on Texas Christian University in their first game on Sept. 1, she adds that she’s on the “edge of” her seat to see how the football team turns things around with Belichick as coach.

“I know it’s cheerleader, not cheer follower, but I definitely build off of the energy I get from the crowd,” she explains. “It’s a bit symbiotic, like I’m putting energy out and they put energy back.”  

“Not to be negative, but last season wasn’t the best season we’ve had,” she admits. “So in terms of not [having] a packed stadium, watching people leave through the bleachers, that’s not always the best feeling. I can’t imagine for the football players, but also just being anybody on the field. So I’m excited for how much excitement there will be and that I’m gonna be able to feed off of that energy. Four-hour games are long, but when the crowd is buzzing, they fly by. I am excited for a super dynamic electric season that I’m gonna be super motivated and inspired, and pumped to be a part of. I feel like I’m getting to be a small part of UNC history.”

In between cheerleading practices and attending classes for her business administration major, Engler also keeps busy as a full-time influencer, posting everything from UNC cheer to study diaries.

“I have been enamored with social media for as long as I can [remember],” Engler recalls of how her passion for content creation first came about, noting that she grew up watching popular YouTubers like James Charles.

Though her parents wouldn’t let her post makeup videos online at the time, she says she would create “FooTube” videos, aka fake YouTube videos, in her spare time. 

In college, however, she says she decided to “take a shot at fulfilling a lifelong dream.” She started off by posting about her personal interests, including fitness and being a UNC student, but her content really started taking off when she began to post about being a UNC cheerleader. 

She recalls that in January 2024, she got the exciting opportunity to work with Clinique as part of a campus ambassadorship they were running. And from there, things started to take off. 

“It was a pretty steady growth, but in December 2024, I had a video go viral of me absolutely crashing out over studying for the wrong exam,” she explains of the viral TikTok. “I realized at 3 a.m, before my 8 a.m. exam, I’d studied for the wrong one. I just happened to be filming that day and that got like millions of hits. It was a big leap. From there, a lot more brands were interested. Then, spring of my junior year, I did even more brand deals and kept refining my content creation.” 

Her content creation has seamlessly overlapped with her duties as co-cheer captain as well. 

“Each captain takes a piece of the responsibilities,” she notes. “So one of the captains is over events. One of them is over game days. Mine is social media, very naturally. I’ve been able to use my social media platform as well as my brand connections to try to build the cheer platform more.” 

“We just did a marketing campaign with a small jewelry brand that helped with our fundraising because resources are limited,” she provides as an example. “So it’s helping our team in that way, but also getting our name out there more. Basically, the same brand deals that I do on my page, I’ll just respond back to them and be like, ‘Oh, would you be interested in working with cheer?’ Even our head coach just approved us making a TikTok because they’re really starting to see the opportunity that’s in that space and the way that our program can benefit from that.”

Engler adds that her cheerleading squad has been a lifeline for her during her college years. “My cheer family means the absolute world to me,” she explains. “I’ve met my bridesmaids. They are my everything here. They are the people that I lean back on when I need to have a breakdown or I need to rant about a long day.” 

As Engler lists off all of her resume thus far, from being a cheerleading captain to being a Morehead-Cain Scholar, it’s hard to imagine how she finds time for it all. For her, it all comes down to balance, which she learned first-hand during her junior year. 

“I wasn’t juggling it at a point,” she explains. “Half of my junior year was a wreck. I’ve been learning as I’m going. I think I had to have everything fall apart to be able to keep this put together now. But if I’m trying to give like actual advice for how I’m making it work now, Google Calendar is my best friend. I’m really trying to be super self-aware about my limits because on a college campus with the hustle culture and everything, it’s so easy to wanna say yes to everything.” 

“Learning the benefit of saying no sometimes has been a big deal for me,” she adds. ”People give [more] grace than I expected. What I’ve learned is that asking for help has been a huge deal with my professors, my coaches. A lot of people are way more lenient than I expected and want to help and support, and see me succeed. I’m definitely very lucky to have a robust support system here.” 

As she prepares to graduate in 2026, Engler already has her future mapped out. Though she isn’t completely ruling out NFL cheerleading, she notes her “main priorities are more career-oriented,” adding that she has her eyes set on N.Y.C. 

“I am definitely feeling pulled to what I like to call the New York vortex,” she laughs. “I would love to work in marketing. I wanna do something creative and strategic that takes what I’ve been doing with my personal content creation and sort of flips it.” 

Of course, she’s also planning on keeping up with content creation. After briefly visiting N.Y.C., she says she was enamored with all the opportunities for content in the Big Apple. “That definitely gave me a sneak peek into the sort of content I’d be able to make,” she adds. “My For You Page has totally transitioned into #NewYorkTok.” 

“It’s almost like relating UNC as an identity, New York similarly has its own identity,” she adds of how her content as a student will seamlessly transition to content as a marketer. “I was honestly sad to leave New York because I was like, ‘I’m ready to start my life here right now. I’m ready to make all the content about New York. I’m ready to do my New York Day in the life.’ I’m excited for the job opportunities, but I’m also equally excited to get to capture it and share it on social media still.”