Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 1 game
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 35-3vs East Tennessee State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 1 tackles |
| Total | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 |
#3
Ade Willie
Redshirt senior defensive back on North Carolina's 2026 roster.
6′1″ · 190 lb · Baltimore, MD · IMG Academy
Transferred Michigan State → North Carolina for 2026
Recruiting
3★
CB recruit
No. 799 nationally · Signed with Michigan State
No college snaps yet.
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
4 defensive back on North Carolina's 2026 roster.
- Signed as a 3-star recruit to Michigan State in 2022.
- Transferred from Michigan State to North Carolina in 2026.
Ade Willie
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Across four seasons and two programs, three head coaches: Mel Tucker, Jonathan Smith and Bill Belichick. The receipt on tape: 1 tackles against East Tennessee State, Week 2, 2026.
1 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
- season totals
- positional archetype classification
- head-coach lineage
- game log
His career
2022
- Signed with Michigan State3-star out of IMG Academy
2026
- Entered the portal
- Entered the portal
- Entered the portal
Career arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
2 teams
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Coaching lineage · 2023–2026
3 coaches2023
North Carolina
2024era →
Freddie Kitchens
North Carolina
2025–2026era →
Bill Belichick
North Carolina
Played under 3 different head coaches: Mack Brown, Freddie Kitchens, and Bill Belichick. Multi-era developmental context.
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to North Carolina
2025Michigan State
2026North Carolina
2026 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
2023Michigan State4-8HC: Mel Tucker · Balanced
2024Michigan State5-7HC: Jonathan Smith · Balanced, slow tempo
2025Michigan State4-8HC: Jonathan Smith · Balanced
2026North Carolina2-0HC: Bill Belichick · Balanced, slow tempo
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Concern: tackles (0th percentile).
Box-score production (6)
Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.
Splits & context
Splits
Per-game splits
Through 1 game: 1.0 TKL/g, 0.0 TFL/g, 0.0 SACK/g, 1.0 PD/g — splits start at 3 games.
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Bill Belichick
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Awards
Player standing · 2025
Rotational
Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.
Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Career stats
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | North Carolina | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
| 2025 | Michigan State | 16 | 8 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
| 2024 | Michigan State | 12 | 12 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Michigan State | 6 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 35 | 23 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 2 | -- | -- |
Game log
How he plays
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
CFB Index positional classification
DNA match
Player DNA
Hybrid Nickel
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
S
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Evan Fochtman’s 2020 season.
86%match
Matches Evan on
PD rate
Tackle volume
Weight
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Peyton Stevenson's junior season at Rice (2024).
87%match
Matches Peyton on
Tackle volume
PD rate
TFL rate
Background
2025 Senior Season at Michigan State Appeared in the first four games of the season, all starts at nickel before redshirting the year Logged 16 tackles, including first 2.0 tackles for loss and one pass break-up of career, in posting 137 snaps Started game at USC at nickel and tallied two tackles...
The secondary · North Carolina
- #2Kaleb Cost45 tackles · 2025
- #18Jaiden Patterson33 tackles · 2025
- #1Gregory Smith20 tackles · 2025
- #16Coleman Bryson16 tackles · 2025
- #3Ade Willie16 tackles · 2025
16 more on the roster · North Carolina team page
Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology