Tar Heels fans lighting the torches and sharpening the pitch forks betters stand down … Antonio Gates tells TMZ Sports no matter what happens at UNC this season, Jordon Hudson should not be labeled a villain.

Of course, there appear to be many in Carolina blue who are already angling to make Bill Belichick‘s 24-year-old girlfriend a scapegoat following a recent rash of negative headlines about her … but when we got Gates out at LAX on Friday, he told us the haters should back off.

While he didn’t necessarily love that Carolina’s new head coach is intermingling so much of his personal life with his professional one — he made it clear, Jordon will have zero impact on UNC’s win-loss record in 2025.

That being said, the Pro Football Hall of Famer did acknowledge all the national attention Belichick’s relationship has drawn will require more focus than ever from the 73-year-old legend — a task he’s sure Belichick won’t have issue with.

“He has the green light to do what he needs to do,” Gates said. “I think he understands the preparation of what it takes. So, I think he’ll be great.”