UNC prioritizes linebacker help with key portal visitors on campus

4 days ago 6

Going into the transfer portal window, North Carolina must add bodies to its linebacker corps after losing Khmori House (transfer portal) and Andrew Simpson and Mikai Gbayor, who have exhausted their eligibility.

Bill Belichick and North Carolina have made that a priority, and they already have targets on campus. Two players visited Chapel Hill this weekend: Oumar Diomande from UConn and Peyton Seelmann from Richmond. Diomande visited on Friday, while Seelman visited UNC on Sunday and will stay through Monday.

Here is a look at who they are and what they did at their respective schools last season.

Oumar Diomande

Diomande is a true inside linebacker who had a breakout season last year for the Huskies. The Bronx native recorded 116 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks, averaging nearly 10 tackles per game.

UConn, an independent that plays a diverse schedule, faced three ACC opponents last season: Syracuse, Boston College and Duke. In those three games, Diomande recorded 34 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. His best game came against Duke, when he helped UConn upset the eventual ACC champions 37-34 by tallying 14 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

Besides UNC, Diomande will visit SMU (Jan.5), Penn State (Jan. 7) and Colorado (Jan.7). He also visited Northwestern (Jan. 3) before he came to Chapel Hill.

He has two years of eligibility remaining.

Peyton Seelmann

Seelmann also had a breakout season last year, emerging as one of the most productive linebackers at the FCS level. He recorded a team-high 120 tackles, including 52 solo stops. That total ranked second in the Patriot League and eighth nationally. He also had 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, two interceptions, seven pass deflections, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

He played on a defense that allowed 290.3 yards per game, which ranked second in the conference and sixth nationally, and finished second in the Patriot League in scoring defense.

Belichick and UNC are familiar with Seelmann because they faced his team on Sept. 13, 2025, a game the Tar Heels won 41-6. Seelman still stood out, finishing with nine tackles and a quarterback hurry in the loss.

Make sure to follow Tar Heels Wire for more transfer portal updates as the portal period ramps up.

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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Football: Tar Heels host transfer LBs Oumar Diomande, Peyton Seelman

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