UNC Football: Jonathan Adorno flips commitment to Tar Heels from NC State

One week after it started with Stephen Gosnell’s switch from NC State to UNC, Flipmas continues to bring gifts. On Tuesday, UNC received the verbal commitment from offensive guard Jonathan Adorno. The Flipmas gift once again came from Raleigh as Adorno had committed to the Wolfpack in June.

As with Gosnell, Adorno is yet another in-state recruit playing at Rolesville High School in Rolesville, NC. Standing at 6-4, and 290 pounds, the three-star is considered a top-25 prospect in the state by Rivals (#18) and 247 Sports (#23). According to the 247 Sports Composite rankings, Adorno is UNC’s eighth recruit that’s ranked in North Carolina’s top-25. No other school currently has more than five. Obviously, these evaluations are constantly fluctuating, but the results are clear.

Adorno joins a class that already has three committed offensive linemen in Trey Zimmerman, Malik McGowan, and most recently Cayden Baker. After watching injuries and inconsistent play hamper the offensive line this season, the coaching staff continues its quest to load up on as much depth in the trenches as possible. Adorno aligns with that philosophy, and adds another massive piece to the protection puzzle on the front five.

Adorno also continues a youth movement along the line. There are 20 offensive linemen listed on UNC’s roster for this season, but just three upperclassmen. Seniors Nick Polino and Charlie Heck are expected to depart, leaving junior Layton Barber as potentially the only returning upperclassmen next season. That’s a lot of young bodies vying for offensive snaps, but Mack Brown is clearly intent on creating competition and depth. There is always the possibility for attrition by way of transfers or medical hardships, but regardless, adding a big man in the middle can only be a positive development.

Adorno is now the second flip for Mack Brown of this cycle, both coming from NC State. Adorno is also the third overall former State commit to flip since Mack came back, with OL Triston Miller starting the trend in the 2019 class. Zero of UNC’s recruits have switched allegiances to State in that same time frame. Since his arrival, Mack Brown has flipped 11 recruits who were formerly committed to other programs and that number is likely to increase by Early Signing Day in December.

Adorno is the 26th overall recruit for UNC in the 2020 class, in what is trending towards a class that will sign more than the “allowed” 25 recruits in a single class. Not to get technical, but a school can sign more than 25 recruits by counting a certain number of early enrollees to last year’s class. That magic number depends on the total number of signees in the previous class, but cannot exceed five. The staff is likely expecting some attrition and have some wiggle room, due to Larry Fedora rarely signing a full 25-man class and Mack Brown only signing 24 players last year.

Most importantly, Adorno is the 15th recruit from North Carolina. That sets the record for most in-state recruits in a single class since 2000. As we’ve mentioned previously, John Bunting and Butch Davis each had 14 in-state recruits in 2006 and 2009. Those seasons were their sixth and third seasons, respectively. Mack bested those results in less than 11 months on the job. (Note: If anyone knows what the all-time high of in-state recruits in the modern era, please let me know.)

North Carolina maintains a consensus top-20 recruiting class.