Recruiting Snapshot: North Carolina Tar Heels
While most of college football has been put on hold, recruiting marches on. The class of 2021 has seen a wave of commitments since the start of April, and the team rankings have adjusted to reflect growing classes. We are taking a snapshot of each class in their order of the Rivals Team Rankings, and up next is No. 3 North Carolina.
MORE: North Carolina's commitment list
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022: Top 100
NORTH CAROLINA
Current rank: 3
Number of commits: 14
Top commits: Four-star RB DeAndre Boykins (No. 57 overall), four-star WR Gavin Blackwell (No. 91), four-star QB Drake Maye (No. 124)
Top targets: Five-star DB Tony Grimes (No. 13), four-star DT Payton Page (No. 28), four-star DE Jahvaree Ritzie (No. 125)
LOCAL REACTION
“Mack Brown and his staff have done an amazing job building a fence around talent-rich North Carolina and also making UNC the ‘Cool place to be,’ a stated mission of Brown’s. While it’s not yet May, the Tar Heels have 14 commitments (13 from NC), six of whom are four-star prospects and a few of the three-stars could well have a star added by the end of the summer.
"For UNC to hold on to its No. 3 national ranking, or finish close to it, the staff needs to grab a few more four-stars (and maybe a certain five-star from the 757) while some of its current commits move up because it’s unlikely they will be in a full 25-man class. Regardless, it appears UNC is headed for a top-10 finish.” - Andrew Jones, TarHeelIllustrated.com
NATIONAL REACTION
“It’s hard to say enough about the job Brown and his staff have done attacking the recruiting trail in this cycle, especially in their home state. All but one of their 14 commitments hails from North Carolina and, with as talented as the state is in this recruiting cycle, that is a winning strategy.
"Flipping Maye away from Alabama was huge for the future of the Tar Heels and that helped put this recruiting momentum in motion, but one of North Carolina’s best recruiters has been defensive line commit Keeshawn Silver.
"Look for the Tar Heels to concentrate the bulk of their upcoming recruiting efforts to center around the three targets listed above (Grimes, Page, and Ritzie) as well as a few more offensive linemen.” - Adam Friedman, East Coast recruiting analyst