North Carolina rising junior defensive end Beau Atkinson is headed to the defending national champions Ohio State.

Atkinson arrived at UNC as a tall, lanky but talented Rivals.com four-star prospect in the class of 2022. The Raleigh (N.C.) Leesville Road product was ranked No. 115 overall in the country, No. 4 overall in the state of North Carolina and No. 14 strong side defensive end nationally in the class of 2022. He had 71 tackles, eight sacks and 22 tackles for loss his senior year, and finished his prep career with 22 sacks.

Atkinson considered North Carolina, South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Virginia, California and NC State, before picking the Tar Heels quickly after they offered.

Atkinson redshirted his freshman year and grew to 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds. He had 19 tackles and 3.5 sacks in 2023, and then increased his production to 35 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks and five quarterback hurries.

Pro Football Focus had him as the Tar Heels No. 1 defensive player with a 77.0 grade. He played 381 snaps in 13 games.

North Carolina hired new coach Bill Belichick and Atkinson entered the transfer portal following spring practices.

Stay locked in on the Rivals Transfer Tracker to keep up with the latest transfer news, portal entries, commitments, and rankings. For a deep-dive into the transfer portal, make sure you visit the Rivals Transfer Search page.

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The spring college football transfer portal window is scheduled to open on April 16th, 2025 for 10 days. It is the second transfer window of the 2025 recruiting cycle. The winter college football transfer portal window opened on December 9th, 2024 for 20 days. There was also a five-day window for players to transfer after their team finished postseason play. Additionally, players get a 30-day window to transfer when their head coach leaves.