Whew, we’ve got a lot to talk about. Not only did this feature take a week off, but between the flurry of activity from Mack Brown’s end with his taking of the Carolina job and some of the basketball news coming in... Let’s just get to it.

Football

• As is usually the case with a coaching change, the UNC football program has seen some decommitments. So far, Brendan Harrington, Coleman Reich, Allen Smith, Raekwon Anderson, and Jerrod Means have decided to re-open their recruitments. Some of these are frankly puzzling, as for several of them, based on their rankings and offer lists, they were punching fairly above their weight class, so to speak, being committed to UNC. Mack Brown has prioritized a few of the previous staff’s acquisitions, particularly DB Storm Duck.
• The Sam Howell saga continues. With his primary recruiter from FSU, Walt Bell, taking the head coaching job at Massachusetts, it’s hard to see much that ties him to the school where he is currently committed. He’s been notably perfunctory in interviews about the school, particularly in this article from Florida State’s 247 site. That article does say that the writer’s sources believe Howell will stick with the Seminoles, for what it’s worth, but all of Howell’s and his father’s actions and words have have been publicized tell a different story, in my opinion. Banking on flipping a guy, particularly one committed to a historic program like FSU, is a dangerous game, but I like UNC’s chances here.
• Kelly Bryant has, meanwhile, decided on playing his graduate transfer year at Missouri.
• This weekend is a big one for the program, as several players, both committed and uncommitted, are taking a visit to campus. This includes punter Ben Kiernan, who does not yet have an offer from UNC. With 5 of them opening up, maybe he gets one this weekend. He deserves it, and as I wrote last week, UNC needs him.

Basketball

• Since our last update, both Zeke Nnaji and Vernon Carey have announced their college decisions, and neither of them chose to come down to Chapel Hill: Nnaji decided to go to Arizona, while Carey will attend Duke.
• Cole Anthony made a surprise visit alongside 2020 recruit Isaiah Todd to the Dean Dome to see UNC’s game against UNCW on Wednesday. He was greeted warmly by fans, who, according to people there, chanted “We want Cole!” throughout the game.
• Roy Williams has 4 offers left in the class of 2019: Anthony, Matthew Hurt, Keion Brooks, and Anthony Edwards. Anthony and Hurt will definitely decide in the spring, Brooks’ decision may be coming “soon” but there hasn’t been any sort of deadline set to it, and nobody really knows about Edwards. So unless another offer goes out, expect the basketball section of this report to be pretty thin in coming weeks.