Fearless predictions for 2025

NSJ's sports staff breaks out the crystal ball

The ACC logo sits atop the chain marker during the second half of a football game between Duke and North Carolina A&T. If our staff predictions are accurate, we may not be seeing it for much longer. (Karl B DeBlaker, / AP Photo)

As we do each year, the North State Journal’s sports staff came up with fearless predictions for 2025. We’re not gamblers, but you can pretty much bet the farm that all of this is going to happen:

 

Ryan Henkel, sports reporter

Carolina Hurricanes Shake Up the Core

The Carolina Hurricanes have been hot and cold for the past month and a half and a big reason for those inconsistencies has been the inability for the team’s top player to consistently find the score sheet at even strength.

In response to these struggles, the Canes brass will have no choice but to pull off a blockbuster move for a new star and will have to move out one of their top forwards to make it happen– either one of Andrei Svechnikov or Martin Necas – in the biggest trade in franchise history.

 

NC State Moves On From Dave Doeren

This past season, NC State looked poised to make a real run at not only an ACC title, but even potentially a place in the College Football Playoffs.

However, what came about was instead one of the most disappointing seasons in recent memory for the Wolfpack.

Next season, NC State will once again struggle out of the gate and Dave Doeren, who will be in his 13th season as the head coach of the Pack without a 10-win season nor conference championship appearance to show for it, will be relieved of his duties.

 

Jesse Deal, sports reporter

Panthers sneak into 2025 playoffs

While the Carolina Panthers haven’t notched a playoff appearance or even a winning campaign since 2017, this will be the year that this long-suffering franchise manages to slip its way back into the playoffs as Dave Canales and Bryce Young get the job done in a breakout season amid a weak division.

If the team can continue to build around Young and bring in another reliable wide receiver option to throw to, Carolina’s offense will continue to shape its identity around Chuba Hubbard, Adam Thielen, and the up-and-coming wideout duo of Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker.

After a few rough seasons, the Panthers’ defense gets its act together and stays healthy as Derrick Brown and Jaycee Horn lead a defensive unit that can hold its own and isn’t just a punching bag for opposing offenses; defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s decision to stick with a 3-4 base scheme finally pays off.

The x-factor will be the competitive drive of Young, who takes the glimpses of elite play he showed in 2024 and doubles down on them into a scenario where he and Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield become the clear-cut top QBs in the NFC South for years to come.

 

Charlotte FB has first winning season since 2019

The two-year Biff Poggi coaching experiment will be followed up by an actual step into prominence as the Charlotte 49ers football team continues to establish a sense of culture as a recent addition to the American Athletic Conference.

Charlotte’s five wins in 2024 matched its highest total in three years, and with two-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year and newly-minted MAC champion Tim Albin now in the fold as Charlotte’s fourth full-time head football coach, the Niners will now take the leap to their first winning season since 2019.

Albin will have to hit the transfer portal hard to replenish the team’s roster after a group of team exits, but the 59-year-old coach has a proven record of 31 combined wins in the past three seasons after an initial 3-9 campaign at Ohio University in 2021.

Although the Niners certainly have their work cut out for them, Albin has the credentials and necessary experience to take Charlotte to the next level as the program enters Year Three in the AAC. The team had some minor successes during the 2024 season that it can view as a structure and groundwork for entering the next chapter of Charlotte football.

 

Asheebo Rojas, sports reporter

Charlotte FC wins its first playoff series in 2025

It’s been a steady rise for Charlotte FC since their inaugural season in 2022. The Crown missed the playoffs in its first season, played in the wild card round the next year and this past season it made it to round one and won its first ever playoff game. Going into the 2025 season, the team has its leading scorers Patrick Agyemang, Liel Abada and Karol Swiderski and 2024 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Kristijan Kahlina under contract. The team also looks to be going in the right direction under Dean Smith who just led the Crown on its most successful season to date. So, why not take one more step and advance in the playoffs next year?

 

Duke men’s basketball wins it all

Duke’s win over No. 2 Auburn on Dec. 4 served as a not-so-surprising indicator that it can play with anybody in the country if the losses to Kentucky and Kansas didn’t show that already. Yes, Flagg and the rest of the team’s late-game execution has been questionable at times, but that’s just what comes with being a young team early in the season. Those moments are good preparation for March, and Flagg, who has lived up to the hype, can very well learn from those mistakes and be the player Duke needs in clutch situations down the stretch. The team also has a deep roster of talent that can lift each other up when an individual isn’t playing well.

 

Shawn Krest, editor

Short stay in Chapel Hill for Bill

UNC made a splash by hiring NFL coaching legend Bill Belichick, but the move backfires when he leaves before ever coaching a game. A large number of NFL coaching vacancies, including some with teams—like the Jets—open to allowing him to chase Don Shula’s career coaching wins record, are enough to lure him back to the pros. In order to avoid paying a steep buyout, the Jets actually hire son Stephen Belichick in February. He then steps down, allowing his father to replace him on June 2, the day after UNC’s $10 million buyout drops to $1 million.

 

ACC rocked by defections

While the ACC battles two of its members—Florida State and Clemson—in court, it suffers an attack on a second flank when a group of teams, including UNC, NC State and Duke, also make an attempt to leave the league. The number of schools unhappy with their current affiliation, or worried about the ACC’s future, continues to increase, approaching the magic number that would allow a vote to change the grant of rights that currently makes it difficult for other leagues to poach ACC members. At the start of the 2025-26 football and basketball seasons, there is a very real sense of concern that it may be the last one for the league as we’ve known it.