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What UNC feeds its football players in the Bill Belichick era
Not all college football players are excited to eat their vegetables. But Bill Belichick’s staff at North Carolina has found ways to make sure their players are.
Through a precise food science that requires chopping vegetables into “micro” pieces, or even sneaking extra grains and vitamins into the batter used to fry chicken, the staff is taking every liberty to gain a competitive advantage in the lunch room. UNC’s nutrition, hydration and training strategy has become more critical than ever as the team looks to make a second-year jump, as each player has a specific strategy curated to them and their biology.
The strategy even includes a contingency plan, when the team is on the road, sometimes in locations where access to anything but fast food is limited. Public records show the team spent $129,644.38 at vendors that classify as fast food or fast casual during the 2025 season, but head nutritionist Amber Rinestine-Ressa claimed there was a scientific method behind those transactions.
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UNC football head chef Josh Grimes was the New England Patriots executive chef under Belichick from 2018-24. When they came to UNC last year, they recalibrated the nutrition strategy, an NFL-style approach, and Belichick says it is aligned with the fundamental purposes of Tom Brady’s approach to nutrition.
“In New England, we had a lot of components and certainly some of Tom’s things were important,” Belichick told Fox News Digital.
“In the NFL we trained a lot of players who were significantly older than our players are here, and so some of the things that Tom did have more application than players who are older. But still fundamentally, good nutrition, good hydrations, pliability in the muscle tissues and so forth are are fundamentally good things that Tom worked with and that we embrace as well.”
For UNC and its players, the strategy may also have NFL Draft implications.
“When you look at an NFL performance. Everything’s important and everything that leads to your performance is important. So preparation training nutrition hydration, technique, fundamentals, it all adds up,” Belichick said of whether he previously looked at a college player’s diet and nutrition program when scouting them for the NFL.
Director of nutrition Amber Rhinestine-Ressa and Grimes aim to make food that players actually want to eat in order to keep them eating in the team cafeteria, and not out. To do that, they prioritize flavor, and work in the nutrition from there.
“If they’re not going to change for me, I have to change my approach for each one of them,” Rhinestine-Ressa said.
“We don’t live in a perfect world, and to create buy-in, I have to have a little leniency… 80% of our diet, we are eating great food for us.”
Of the remaining 20%: “Would we rather eat brown rice or a piece of bread? Well, brown rice might have more fiber, but how does our whole day look? Okay then, maybe we could eat this piece of bread.”
BILL BELICHICK DOWNPLAYS HALL OF FAME CONTROVERSY, SAYS FOCUS REMAINS ON NORTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL
She admitted that some players have harder times eating their vegetables than others.
“Some of these kids come in and they see a whole green bean, and not a canned green bean, and they’re not receptive to it,” she said. “A lot of guys come in here and they have a very small box.”
Once they work what kind of food the players want to eat, then come the “sneak” plays to make it as healthy as possible.
“Anywhere we can manipulate an ingredient to where it tastes good, but they don’t know, we do,” Grimes said.
The kitchen micro-dices vegetables into barely-noticeable pieces, and mixes that into several dishes, along with quinoa, to bolster the vitamin value.
The nutrition team even has a way of manipulating batter for deep-frying things like chicken, Grimes said through a combination of whole wheat flower and Avocado oil.
“We kind of use the fried stuff as more strategic, kind of morale. Like, we try to keep them happy,” the chef said.
Grimes said he gave the players a suggestion box when building the menu, and the number one-selected suggested dish that came back was Oxtail. Thus, Oxtail has become a recurring favorite in the team cafe, and a critical play by the staff.
Famed Kansas City Chiefs former head dietitian Leslie Bonci employed similar strategies when curating food to keep the Chiefs healthy through the start of the Patrick Mahomes era and their first two Super Bowls in the last decade.
“Hide the health. Start with familiar and then amplify the nutrition for the intuition in the kitchen,” Bonci told Fox News Digital in response to UNC’s strategies.
The university credit card statements for Rinestine-Ressa, during the 2025 season and training camp (Jul. 1 to Dec. 4), were been obtained by Fox News Digital via a public records request.
Of the $129,644.38 that was spent on fast food or fast casual, the team spent the most money at was Al’s Burger Shack, at $15,803.
“Al’s Burgers, they use 90-10 meat with me,” Rinestine-Ressa said, adding they often purchased the burger place for post-game meals last season, for up to 260 people. “So I can influence what they use because we’re buying it in such quantity.”
Chick Fil-A was second at $13,092.03.
“Chick Fil-A is only ever done when we’re about to get on a plane, because it’s heavy, they’re about to go on a plane, they’re about to sleep, and we have no activity for the rest of that day. So I don’t really care that much.”
Jersey Mike’s was third at $12,613.51 and Mission BBQ was fourth at $12,598.52. Other big spends on the statements were made at popular national chains like Zaxby’s, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Dave’s Hot Chicken, CAVA and Panera Bread.
Still, there were zero transactions for American fast food staples McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, KFC, or Taco Bell. That is where Rinestine-Ressa draws the line.
“Hell no, those are hard no’s, because I can’t manipulate those, I can manipulate every other place,” she said.
As UNC looks to improve on its 4-8 record from 2025, it will lean on the creativity and discipline of its chefs and nutritionists to make sure the players are fueled to do their jobs.
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ALERT: Trump Set To Make ‘Special Announcement’ From Oval Office
President Donald Trump is set to make an Oval Office announcement Monday afternoon, but the White House is keeping the subject under wraps.
According to the official daily guidance and press schedule released Sunday night, Trump will make the announcement at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, September 28.
The schedule provides just one tantalizing line: “THE PRESIDENT makes an Announcement.”
The event will take place in the Oval Office and will be open to the White House Press Pool. No additional details about what Trump plans to announce were provided.
Trump has a packed schedule leading up to the event.
His calendar includes executive time at 8 a.m., followed by policy meetings at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m. The Oval Office announcement follows at 2 p.m., with a print interview scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Trump spent Sunday at the President’s Cup in Medinah, Illinois, before returning to Washington.
After arriving, the president briefly spoke with reporters on the tarmac and revealed that his day still wasn’t over, noting that he had a 10 p.m. dinner meeting scheduled with Anthropic founder Dario Amodei.
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump hints that his big announcement tomorrow in the Oval Office is related to his meeting with ANTHROPIC
And his meeting is TONIGHT at 10pm
DESPITE the long day today in Chicago. REALLY incredible how he can do it. pic.twitter.com/snEZd99jCE
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 28, 2026
“So that’s a long day, right?! We leave early in the morning, and now I have a dinner with Anthropic,” the president said.
Trump also noted that he had held lengthy discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping and several additional American technology leaders earlier in the week.
For now, exactly what Trump intends to reveal Monday remains unknown.
The White House had not released additional information about the announcement as of this report.
The 2 p.m. Oval Office time slot has previously been used by the administration for policy announcements, including healthcare-related events. In those instances, the White House similarly announced the time and location beforehand while withholding the substance of the announcement until the event.
Monday’s announcement will be available through official White House livestreams and available press pool coverage.
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CEO Charged In Scheme To Infiltrate Secret Service
A U.S. tech CEO and a Russian national have been arrested in a federal case alleging they concealed Russian ownership and software development while securing U.S. government contracts — including work involving the Secret Service.
Federal prosecutors say Lee Reiber, 55, CEO of Virginia-based Oxygen Forensics Inc., and Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, 52, of Moscow, hid the company’s Russian ties while selling digital forensics technology to federal agencies.
Reiber was arrested in Idaho on September 20 and later released on bond. Davydov was arrested the same day at London’s Heathrow Airport while preparing to board a flight to Istanbul. U.S. authorities intend to seek his extradition.
“The CEO of a Virginia-based software company and a Russian national have been arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging them with concealing from U.S. government agencies that their company was owned and controlled by Russian nationals and that its software was developed in Russia,” prosecutors said.
Authorities allege Reiber made representations to the federal government that directly contradicted the company’s actual ownership and development structure.
They further stated that “Reiber allegedly represented to the government that the company had no foreign ownership or control and that its software was developed in the United States, when in fact five Russian nationals, including Davydov, owned and controlled the company and its software was developed in Russia.”
Importantly, the criminal complaint does not allege that Oxygen Forensics’ software contained malicious code or that it was used to obtain unauthorized access to customers’ systems or data.
But the alleged concealment becomes particularly significant because of who was buying the company’s technology.
According to an affidavit supporting the complaint, beginning in March 2022, Reiber, Davydov and others allegedly conspired to obtain federal contracts through Oxygen Forensics.
The company’s software is designed to recover, preserve and analyze information extracted from digital devices.
Federal agencies identified in the affidavit include the Department of War as well as Department of Homeland Security components, including the Secret Service and its National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI), Homeland Security Investigations and the DHS Office of Inspector General.
Prosecutors allege the company presented a dramatically different picture of itself to the U.S. government than what existed behind the scenes.
“According to the affidavit, Oxygen Forensics held itself out to the U.S. government as being an independent, U.S.-based company. In fact, Davydov and four other Russian nationals owned and controlled the company through a holding company based in Cyprus,” prosecutors said.
The Russian connections allegedly extended well beyond ownership.
According to the affidavit, the same five individuals owned a Russian company formerly known as Oxygen Software LLC and later renamed MKO Systems LLC. Davydov co-founded that company in 2000, and developers worked in Russia.
MKO reportedly sold similar software inside Russia to customers that included the FSB, the Russian Investigative Committee and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Davydov served as the Russian company’s chief technology officer and helped establish the Virginia-based firm in 2013.
Then came Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and expanded U.S. sanctions.
According to federal investigators, that is when efforts to conceal the company’s Russian ownership and development structure intensified.
The affidavit alleges that the parties agreed to hide both Russian ownership and the role Russian developers played in producing the software.
Reiber was installed as Oxygen Forensics’ CEO, president and board chairman in March 2022.
Russian owners were removed from public corporate filings, according to the affidavit, but prosecutors allege their actual power over the company remained.
The Russian owners allegedly continued making significant corporate decisions, setting Reiber’s compensation, overruling him on payments and retaining signing authority over company bank accounts.
Federal investigators also pointed to certifications submitted directly to the government.
In December 2022 and again in October 2023, Reiber allegedly certified that Oxygen Forensics had no immediate or highest-level owner.
Then, in November 2023, a reporter began asking questions about the company’s ownership.
According to the affidavit, Reiber subsequently wrote to Davydov and two other owners that the resulting public reporting “could destroy this entire opportunity,” referring to a pending NCFI contract.
He also warned that the “current existence of this company hangs in the balance.”
The government’s allegations did not stop there.
In July 2024, prosecutors say that, at Reiber’s direction, the company certified to the Department of War that no foreign person controlled the appointment of directors or company decisions.
Then, in March 2026, Reiber allegedly told DHS personnel that no Russian was involved in software development and that nobody in Russia had access to the company’s build environment.
Federal investigators allege the reality was very different.
According to the affidavit, the software was written and managed by a Russian development team operating under Davydov in a cloud environment administered by one of the Russian owners.
The allegations now place the company’s federal contracting history — and its representations about who actually owned, controlled and developed its technology — at the center of a major federal criminal case.
Reiber and Davydov have been charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The allegations contained in the complaint remain accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
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Trump Torches Supreme Court Over Controversial New Ruling
President Donald Trump unloaded on the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday after the justices blocked Missouri from using its controversial 2025 congressional map in the upcoming midterm elections — a decision with potentially significant consequences for control of the U.S. House.
The map, which Missouri used during this year’s primary elections, was designed in a way that could have given Republicans an opportunity to pick up another congressional seat. But after months of legal battles and conflicting court rulings, the Supreme Court put an end to its use in the November 3 general election.
Trump wasted little time responding.
“The Supreme Court of the United States will just not let Missouri have an Election Victory. They continuously, three times now, overrule Judges who came to the correct decisions,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
The president then praised Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe and those who fought to keep the new congressional districts in place.
“Thank you to the Governor, and all of the Great People of Missouri, who are fighting so hard for Fairness and Election Security. Such tremendous Spirit and Love of our Country. I won Missouri BIG, all three times, and I couldn’t be more proud of doing so. A great place — I love you all,” the president continued.
The Supreme Court’s Friday order brought another dramatic turn in a redistricting fight that has bounced between state and federal courts.
The order, issued without noted dissents, halted a federal appeals court directive that would have required Missouri to use the 2025 congressional map.
Timing proved critical.
According to the Supreme Court, ballots based on Missouri’s 2022 congressional districts had already been printed and mailed, while absentee, military and overseas voting was already underway.
Changing maps at that point, the justices wrote, “would usher in electoral chaos.”
The court consequently directed lower courts not to prohibit Missouri from using the 2022 map or require the state to implement the 2025 map for the 2026 congressional election.
The dispute traces back to Missouri Republicans’ decision to enact a new congressional map, known as House Bill 1, during a special legislative session.
Governor Mike Kehoe signed the measure on September 28, 2025.
The map significantly reconfigured congressional districts, including the Kansas City-based 5th Congressional District represented by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver. The redraw was intended to create another Republican-leaning congressional district in a state where Republicans currently control six of eight U.S. House seats.
But opponents quickly launched an effort to stop it.
People Not Politicians gathered signatures seeking a statewide referendum on the new map, relying on a provision of the Missouri Constitution that allows voters to review certain acts passed by the legislature.
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins declined to certify the petition, and the state’s August 4 primary elections proceeded using the 2025 congressional boundaries.
Then came another major reversal.
On September 3, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the referendum petition was legal, sufficient and timely.
That decision meant House Bill 1 had never taken effect and would remain suspended unless Missouri voters ultimately approved it.
What followed was an extraordinary series of conflicting court decisions.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh initially denied an emergency request seeking to block the Missouri Supreme Court ruling.
Minutes later, however, a federal district judge issued an order requiring Missouri to use the 2025 congressional map.
The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently stayed that order.
A federal appeals court then entered the fight, concluding that conducting the primary and general elections under different congressional maps would violate the Constitution. The appeals court directed Missouri to return to the 2025 map.
Once again, the Supreme Court intervened and blocked the ruling.
The result is now clear for November.
Missouri will conduct its November 3 general election using the state’s 2022 congressional districts, despite having conducted its August primary under the newer boundaries.
At the same time, Missouri voters will decide the referendum determining whether the 2025 congressional map should be approved for future use.
Governor Kehoe has said Missouri will comply with the Supreme Court’s order, bringing the immediate legal fight over which map will govern the upcoming general election to a close.
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