Caleb Wilson made it known what type of time he was on all the way back in the first week of September. Swarmed by students on the quad while making his way to UNC’s football game against TCU, a camera caught his attention, prompting him to offer a few words for fans to hold onto before the basketball season. The highly touted freshman and No. 5 player in the Class of 2025 didn’t hold back. Not one bit.

“I’m going to tell you how I feel right now.  I don’t like Duke. I don’t like NC State. I don’t like Wake Forest. This year, we’re putting the belt on everybody. I’m talking about real belt. Sparkle, bedazzled,” Caleb said.

At first, the words were shrugged off. Chalked up to just talk. But for those in Chapel Hill who had seen what he was doing in practice, in runs against the alumni who had hung the banners that waved above, they knew Caleb Wilson was speaking the truth. And after dropping a 24-piece in a win over No. 19 Kansas and kicking off the year 5-0 as the No. 18-ranked program in the nation, everyone outside of Chapel Hill is starting to listen real closely to what Caleb Wilson has got to say.

“Honestly, like, people were saying we weren’t UNC no more. Like we’re not a blue-blood program anymore because we’ve had rough years. I just wanna send [a message] like, we’re back,” Caleb says. “We’re a great team and we’re a great family.” 

The freshman is fully bought into all walks of North Carolina pride. Hearing the Marching Tar Heels play before games. Strolling down Franklin Street, chopping it up with fellow students. He hits up the AG dining hall with his guys, Ben and Cohen, almost every night, religiously sticking to chicken tenders and fries with barbecue sauce. He even pulled up to that Kansas game with his braids drawn back in the Argyle pattern. When he needs to clear his head, he goes to the very last row of section 218, gazing down onto an empty Roy Williams court. And he loves adding new traditions at one of the most storied programs in college basketball, like the now-famous sparkle bedazzled belt that was wrapped around his arms throughout his SLAMU cover shoot.

“It went viral, of course, and everybody was talking about it,” Caleb says about his quote from September. “And some people were saying, Nah, they suck, they ain’t gonna do nothing. And it was all funny to me, because I was just having fun. I just embodied it, like, if that’s what we’re gonna do, then that’s what we’re gonna do. I’m not gonna go back on my word for sure. If I say something, I’m gonna act by it.”

Soon after his remarks, a belt company offered to send Caleb a belt that matched the description he gave. Covered in silver and Carolina blue gems, the belt has morphed into an exclusive tradition held only by this year’s team. But its first appearance dates back to early November, when Caleb Wilson and North Carolina got their first chance to prove this year would mark a change for Tar Heel hoops.

The tone inside the Dean Smith Center was set hours before game day when Caleb single-handedly got the biggest cellphone carrier in the nation to shelve an entire promotional night in favor of the fans’ wishes. A movement had started on social media where students and fan pages alike were pushing for UNC’s first game against Kansas in 23 years to be a white out. So Caleb gave the people what they wanted, tweeting out a photo of himself from media day, proclaiming that everyone who showed up to the 7 p.m. contest should wear white. The only problem was that Verizon had free Carolina blue t-shirts ready to hand out to the first 2,500 fans who came through the door. 

With Caleb’s tweet taking off, and the student body celebrating the confirmation, Verizon and the program quickly got behind Caleb’s influence, having him announce a few hours before tip that the white out was confirmed.

On the very first play of the game off of a broken-down possession, Caleb came flying in, snagging a missed three off the rim and flushing it through. A sea of 22,000 blank white tees roared, sending off a deafening crowd pop throughout the arena that even the most tenured of beat writers haven’t heard in years. Another occurred after he flew onto the ground for a loose ball. And a third shock to the eardrums came just after the second half started, with No. 8 fearlessly ripping the rock away from a defender to win the possession. 

“I feel like I’m tremendously skilled, and I feel like that’s gonna be shown throughout the year,” Caleb says. “But what I’m most excited to show is [that] I’m not your typical freshman. Like, I’m gonna dive on the floor for a loose ball, I’m gonna get the crowd hyped up. I’m gonna scream, I’m gonna yell. I’m gonna be at the top of the press with energy. I’m gonna do a lot of stuff that people don’t wanna do, and that’s just the type of player I am.”

Final score, 87-74, North Carolina, with Caleb leading all scorers with 24 points, 7 boards and 4 steals on 9-11 shooting from the field. Right as he got into the locker room, the belt made its debut, dancing in the locker room light around his shoulders. And as soon as the post-game celebration photo was uploaded to social media, the draft projections and conversations around who was leading this year’s freshman class started to shift. But for Caleb, it was just on to the next. He’d spent the past four months in the weight room, in the gym, turning this outcome into the expectation.

“I had reasons why I felt like I needed to work. I just need motivation to do something, or I just need a reason. So once I find out my why, it’s gonna be over with. I wanted to be the No. 1 pick, and nobody was discussing me as the No. 1 pick. So that was definitely one of my motivations to work really hard,” he says. “And also, I just counted down the days, honestly. A lot of things seem so far away until they’re there. So I knew when we were 100 days away, I knew when we were 60 days away, I knew when we were one day away. I approached it all the same way.”

Two weeks before Caleb arrived in Chapel Hill, he was out in L.A., training with NBA players and guys going through the pre-draft process. When he got to campus, he worked around the NCAA’s regulations for team practices by clocking in on his own. Lifting, shooting, conditioning, all mapped out from dawn to dusk. He’d get up early in the a.m. just to run the stairs of the Dean Smith Center and get shots up after. At around 10 p.m. that night, he was right back on the court. Since June, he’s added 15 pounds to his 6-10 frame. And during the program’s annual summer camp games, he left alumni in awe of what would soon be taking place on a nightly basis.

“My coaches actually told me I needed to take a break. They told me I was doing too much,” Caleb says. “But, I was just doing a lot of stuff to separate myself. Also, coming in as a freshman, you gotta get the respect of your teammates. And I feel like respect is earned through work, so that was really one of my main goals also.” 

The hours spent alone were crucial, but the runs with his squad planted the seeds for the season we’re seeing unfold. With a roster filled with freshmen, transfers and returners claiming more prominent roles, the Tar Heels’ tradition of 12 a.m. offseason pick-up games set the foundation for this year’s team.

“I’ll get texts, ‘12 a.m. runs tonight.’ I’m like, Man, there ain’t nothing to eat after it besides Cook Out. Everybody’s going to Cook Out after the runs,” Caleb says with a laugh. “It would be the most physical [though]. It’d be like streetball out here. And it was all beneficial to us, because it helped us gain respect for each other and kind of know we’re all some dawgs. And I feel like that’s what really influenced us to play the way we play now.”

While Caleb holed up in Chapel Hill, expanding his game and priming the team for the gauntlet of the season, the other names from this year’s star-studded crop of freshmen kept dominating the headlines. One article in particular tabbed Wilson as the fifth-best freshman in the ACC. Not in the country. In the ACC.

The disrespect was at a peak. And in his very first taste of collegiate action, Caleb became just the fifth freshman in UNC history to drop 20+ points in their Tar Heel debut. With every dunk and fluid turnaround jumper that fell through the net, the lack of noise quickly shifted into a constant stream of praise, and taking things back. 

“I just wanna be a dawg,” Caleb says. “Like, I want respect from everybody. I feel like I’m the best player in the country, and all I can do is go prove it. If nobody else believes it, all you can do is go prove it. And somebody’s still not gonna believe it, and that’s what motivates me until everybody will. But that’ll never happen.”

Until that impossible moment takes hold, Caleb’s got even more words for those who dare to doubt what he’s speaking into existence. 

“The message I just wanna send is that the times are changing,” he says. “We’re gonna play hard, we’re gonna get wins. And I just wanna be remembered as a hardworking player, a player who got it done, a player who won games. I feel like that’s the most important thing and that’s what people are gonna remember you for. You can drop 40 and lose, nobody cares. It’s about winning games. So [I’m] just doing what it takes to win.”

---

 

Portraits by Zach Wolfe.