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Controversial college wrestler AJ Ferrari was supposed to join the North Carolina Tar Heels for the 2025-26 season. Ultimately, that didn’t happen, and Ferrari is now a member of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and it turns out that Bill Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson is partially to blame.
Ferrari, who had previous stints at Oklahoma State, Iowa, and Cal State-Bakersfield committed to the Tar Heels program and began to train on campus before being admitted to the university itself. After the student newspaper published a story detailing Ferrari’s sordid past, which includes sexual assault allegations, a fight with a teammate, and a car crash that nearly killed an elderly gentleman, North Carolina chancellor Lee Roberts opted not to admit Ferrari to the university.
“So [North Carolina wrestling coach Rob Koll] called me up and said, ‘You’ve got a great team. You should get AJ Ferrari.”
Mark Manning details the story of how the two-time All-American Ferrari ended up with Nebraska.
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Jordon Hudson Drama Stopped North Carolina From Admitting AJ Ferrari
That’s where Hudson comes in. The mysterious young girlfriend of the legendary former NFL coach has brought plenty of unwanted attention to the UNC athletic department. The Tar Heels were also dealing with fallout from sexual assault allegations against basketball player Zayden High. According to Nebraska wrestling coach Mark Manning, North Carolina coach Rob Koll told him that Ferrari was not admitted to UNC because it would add another controversy the university to deal with.
“AJ was already there training, and they didn’t let him in, admissions-wise, for various reasons,” Manning said during an appearance on a local radio show. “Bill Belichick’s girlfriend had something to do with that … just a lot of drama for that chancellor. Rob was super disappointed, (he) spent a lot of time getting AJ there, but they weren’t gonna let him into school.”
Ferrari was a national champion with Oklahoma State in 2021 and finished third at the NCAA Tournament in March for Cal State-Bakersfield.
Manning says that Koll then called him and suggested that he add Ferrari to his program at Nebraska. It marks the first tangible case of Hudson having a negative effect on North Carolina athletes. And something tells us it won’t be the last.