UNC Recruiting Week of 12/9: Roy Williams pays visits to Caleb Love and Paolo Banchero

Welcome to this week’s THB recruiting update! Things have been a little busy on the recruitment front, though there are no big announcements that took place. Football is getting ready for the Early Signing Period next week, and expect at least most of their 26 recruits to sign their National Letters of Intent. On the basketball side of things, Roy Williams has spent a lot of time on the road visiting current commits as well as 2021 prospects. Let’s go ahead and dive into this week’s news.

Football

• Four-star 2020 quarterback Jacolby Criswell is on campus this weekend for his official visit.

Criswell’s official visit is taking place before the Early Signing Period which begins on December 18th. His commitment is one that has been interesting to this point, as Sam Howell’s performance this season has led some to believe that he may explore other options instead of signing with the team. While Criswell himself has showed no concrete signs of wanting to look into other schools, Arkansas’ new head coach Sam Pittman reportedly reached out to the dual-threat quarterback in order to apply some pressure in the alternate direction. There’s likely nothing to worry about here, but it’ll still be something to keep an eye on until ink potentially hits the paper next week.

• Speaking of the Early Signing Period, be sure to check in with us next week as we will be providing coverage during that time. We will have a primer that will be released early in the week, and we will be sure to announce each signing as they happen.

Basketball

• Roy Williams made his way to St. Louis Tuesday to check in with five-star 2020 commit Caleb Love. His team Christian Brothers College took down St. Louis U High 86-66, and Love finished the game with 29 points, five rebounds, four assists, and drained four of his three-point attempts.

Following the game, Roy Williams took the time to take a photo with CBC’s student section:

• Roy Williams’ traveling didn’t stop at visiting Love, as he and his assistants had time to visit some of the recruits in 2021 classes. According to Jake Weingarten with Stockrisers, UNC paid visits to five-star point guard Kennedy Chandler, four-star guard Wade Taylor IV, and five-star junior Paolo Banchero. Kennedy Chandler’s list of offers got a little bit more interesting this week, as Duke extended an offer in order to ensure another recruiting war between the two Blue Blood programs. He also currently holds offers from notable programs such as Florida State, Michigan, Syracuse, Arizona, and Tennessee.