WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Barney Lopez still has to choke back tears thinking about that first phone call nearly a year ago.

Barney's son, Gio, was a rising star quarterback at South Alabama, but it had always been an uphill battle for affirmation. Gio Lopez was a bit undersized at 6 feet, from a small town in Alabama and largely overlooked by bigger programs coming out of high school.

But the gravelly voice on the other end of that call belonged to a six-time Super Bowl champion, and Bill Belichick wanted Gio as his QB1 at North Carolina.

"Gio's always been the kid who doubts that he's good enough," Barney said. "I told him, 'If you ever doubted yourself, you've got one of the best -- if not the best -- coaches to have ever done it say he wants you.' That was one of the proudest moments as a father. It just was unbelievable."

When North Carolina first showed interest in luring Gio to be Belichick's starting quarterback in his first college season in Chapel Hill, father and son both assumed it was a joke. Gio ultimately landed a lucrative contract worth a reported $2 million, leaving behind a 7-6 team in the Sun Belt to step into the center of the college football universe.

Gio took the field for the first time as a Tar Heel on Labor Day night, in front of a packed house at Kenan Stadium with stars such as Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm and Lawrence Taylor in attendance. Gio's 39-yard completion on the fourth play of the game set up a touchdown that electrified the stadium. It was, arguably, the most thrilling moment of UNC football in a generation.

Less than six months later, Barney received another call, this one from Gio. They talked nearly every day, but this call was different. Barney could hear the pain in his voice. Gio, always so effortlessly joyful, was a wreck.

Lopez throws a pass during North Carolina's game against TCU. Nicholas Faulkner/Icon Sportswire

"You're promised everything -- what's going to happen, how it's going to happen," Barney said. "And then nothing that you were promised is how it transpired."

Barney knew his son wouldn't let the frustration show publicly. It's hardwired into Gio's DNA to keep up appearances around the team, so he hopped into his truck and made the 10-hour drive to Chapel Hill to be a sounding board. When he arrived, it was clear: The dream was already over.

Belichick's arrival at UNC was sold as the signature moment in the professionalization of college football, a logical next step in a sport that had come to embrace the transfer portal and big-money contracts seemingly overnight. In the process, Gio -- the QB at the center of the storm -- became Exhibit A for the argument that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the portal and a reminder that not everyone is eager to turn college football into big business.

Now, just 80 miles away from UNC after transferring to Wake Forest, Gio is a world apart from the ghosts of last season. He's making considerably less than he did a year ago, but he's dancing in the weight room, juking his way past defenders on the practice field and beaming in front of cameras. He's where he's supposed to be.

"Back at the other school, it felt like there's no air," he said. "Here, it's fun again. They're moving us in the right direction, energized, and guys are enjoying football. It's like fresh air."

Lopez finished with 1,747 passing yards last season. Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire

JAKE DICKERT'S MOTTO for his program at Wake is "Built in the Dark," ostensibly a nod to all the work that happens before game day to create a winner. But it's fitting, too, because even during good years -- like last season's nine-win campaign -- Wake tends to orbit outside the spotlight.

North Carolina's 2025 season had gone off the rails almost instantly. That opening drive touchdown was followed by a TCU onslaught. Gio, who had been in a car crash just days before kickoff, finished just 4-of-10 passing and, at one point, went nearly two hours of real time without completing a pass. He was banged up at the end of the game, got hurt again against UCF and then missed the Clemson game entirely.

When the dust settled, UNC had lost its first five games against Power 4 competition, and a media frenzy surrounding Belichick's personal life and professional failures engulfed the program. Tar Heels fans who had been promised a renaissance under their renowned new head coach wanted answers, and amid a near vacuum of accountability from the coaching staff, Gio became a focal point for their ire.

"I'd never had to respond to tough situations like that on that loud of a scale," Gio said.

Barney said "pressure was an understatement" and that his son routinely received angry messages on social media from fans eager to blame Gio for the team's struggles or other students on campus who had pushed him to salvage a lost season.

Still, Gio said the right things with the media and worked to rally his teammates.

"We know people over there, and everyone we talked to said, 'Man, Gio's awesome. Gio handled everything great,'" Dickert said of Gio's recruitment. "Gio always had a positive attitude walking into the building with energy."

But Barney knew how bad things had gotten. He could hear it in the tone of his son's voice.

"The situation there -- I'm not a Super Bowl champion, so I don't know, but I don't think it was handled in the best way for college football, for students and players," Barney said. "It set my son backwards."

For Gio, football was supposed to be fun. He played the game with a palpable joy that pervaded every aspect of his experience at South Alabama. At Carolina, things were different.

"It was more like work," Gio said. "After that first game, it felt like getting through the day. You don't want to live like that, where you're up at night thinking about the next day."

Gio gushed over the atmosphere upon arrival at Wake Forest in January, where players danced and joked and pushed each other through tough winter workouts. At UNC, the vibe in the weight room could be akin to the waiting room at the dentist's office.

"Even down to the music selection those guys had," Barney said. "I'm a fan of Mozart, too, but not when I'm on the football field. That's not going to hype me up."