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So, last week was a bit of a whirlwind, huh? A couple of big shifts in Roy Williams’ roster construction are now confirmed as Christian Keeling signed on to play one year as a graduate student for the Heels and Seventh Woods announced his intention to transfer, followed by yesterday’s news of Justin Pierce’s commitment to UNC. Add a big-time high school student event in each sport and we’ve got quite a bit of miscellany to cover this week.
Football
- The Nike Opening Charlotte Regional was this past week, and several UNC targets and commits took part, undergoing athletic testing and participating in some drills and scrimmages. Of note: 4* wide receiver Muhsin “Moose” Muhammad III (son of Carolina Panthers great Muhsin II, if you remember) was named the best receiver after looking absolutely unguardable all camp, and it’ll be a battle to get him to Chapel Hill, although he’s reportedly a fan of the new-look UNC offense. He dropped his Top 8 yesterday, but it doesn’t tell us much we didn’t already know:
Let’s get down to business . .
— Muhsin “Moose” Muhammad III (@MooseMuhammad) May 2, 2019
Top ! ! pic.twitter.com/HBRFoGPSqv
- 4* Trenton Simpson was named best linebacker. Simpson had a great event overall, putting up a 113.91 SPARQ to place him in the 99th percentile of tested athletes. He’s visited UNC every month since at least November, which is only good news for the good guys. He tweeted Wednesday that he’d be dropping big news on Friday. I don’t think it’ll be a commitment, but expect the Heels to be on whatever list he puts out.
- Defensive lineman Jacolbe Cowan had a good day as well, but I’m really just here for the repartee between him and UNC commit Malik McGowan, against whom he had some reps including a McGowan pancake that we don’t have video of and this that immediately followed it:
He’s really gonna DANCE on ya @TheOpening @JacolbeCowan12 pic.twitter.com/DMEFjUSLnB
— Overtime (@overtime) April 28, 2019
Hopefully the two can keep this synergy up after Cowan commits to the Tar Heels as well.
UNC Football 2020 Commitments
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | Positional Rank | School | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | Positional Rank | School | Location |
Malik Hornsby | dtQB | 6'2 | 175 | 4-Star | 5 | Fort Bend Marshall | Missouri City, TX |
Jacolby Criswell | dtQB | 6'1 | 218 | 4-Star | 10 | Morrilton | Morrilton, AR |
Ethan West | ILB | 6'4 | 225 | 4-Star | 11 | Cosby | Midlothian, VA |
Cameron Roseman-Sinclair | DB | 6'0 | 183 | 4-Star | 18 | Myers Park | Charlotte, NC |
Josh Downs | WR | 5'10 | 165 | 4-Star | 41 | North Gwinnett | Suwanee, GA |
Ray Grier | WR | 6'1 | 204 | 4-Star | 66 | South Point | Belmont, NC |
John Copenhaver | TE | 6'3 | 210 | 3-Star | 11 | Roswell | Roswell, GA |
Kendall Karr | TE | 6'4 | 230 | 3-Star | 25 | Stuart W. Cramer | Cramerton, NC |
Trey Zimmerman | OT | 6'6 | 294 | 3-Star | 38 | Roswell | Roswell, GA |
A.J. Beatty | DE | 6'5 | 250 | 3-Star | 41 | Central Catholic | Pittsburgh, PA |
Malik McGowan | OG | 6'4 | 315 | 3-Star | 52 | Charlotte Catholic | Charlotte, NC |
LaMareon James | CB | 5'10 | 170 | 3-Star | 55 | Indian River | Chesapeake, VA |
Tylee Craft | WR | 6'4 | 170 | 3-Star | 74 | Sumter | Sumter, SC |
Cedrick Gray | OLB | 6'2 | 190 | 3-Star | 79 | Ardrey Kell | Charlotte, NC |
Elijah Burris | RB | 5'10 | 210 | 3-Star | 93 | Mountain Island Charter | Mount Holly, NC |
Basketball
- We covered it when it happened, but UNC got Roy Williams’ first 1-year grad transfer and first transfer in 8 years in the same week with the addition of Christian Keeling from Charleston Southern and Seventh Woods’ announcement of his intention to transfer. UNC’s positional breakdown changes a little bit here; Keeling is best suited as an off-ball guard/small forward, adding to a previously meager wing group for the Heels. His history of high-volume shooting success also fills a major hole for UNC.
- UNC got another graduate transfer commitment with William & Mary wing Justin Pierce. You can see our article on that here, but this is a big deal; Pierce becomes the closest thing to a true ‘3’ on UNC’s roster in addition to his scoring and rebounding prowess. UNC has now allocated 6 scholarships to new players in next year’s class, giving them room for a maximum of one more after Woods’ departure. Precious Achiuwa is still not off the table, but the buzz for him going to Memphis has only gotten stronger over time.
- Moving to future classes, there were a bunch of big-time AAU events this past weekend for college coaches to visit and evaluate at. Longtime target Ziaire Williams had a phenomenal weekend, being named as maybe the standout of the 2020 class by several in attendance, and the race for his services is probably about to get a lot more competitive after being thought of as a Stanford-UNC race for a while. Greg Brown III had himself a weekend as well, according to Jonathan Givony:
Who were the 10 most productive players in the opening session of the Nike EYBL circuit this weekend? Here's how our database ranks them in terms of Value Added. The Top-3: Cade Cunningham, RJ Hampton and Ziaire Williams definitely passes the eye test. Big weekend for Texas guys. pic.twitter.com/AECNNIRp2C
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 29, 2019
- Guys UNC hasn’t offered but spent notable amounts of time around include Donovan “Puff” (brother of Cameron) Johnson, Cam Hayes, and Caleb Love. The first plays the same position as his brother and the latter two are point/combo guards. We’ll see if UNC continues/begins pursuit of any of them in the coming weeks.
UNC Basketball 2019 Commitments
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | National Rank | School | Location | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | National Rank | School | Location | Status |
Cole Anthony | CG | 6'3 | 184 | 5 Star | 4 | Oak Hill Academy | Mouth of Wilson, VA | Signed |
Armando Bacot | C | 6’10 | 240 | 5 Star | 20 | IMG Academy | Bradenton, FL | Signed |
Anthony Harris | CG | 6'3 | 180 | 4 Star | 65 | Paul VI Catholic | Fairfax, VA | Signed |
Jeremiah Francis | PG | 6’3 | 190 | 3 Star | 131 | Pickerington Central | Pickerington, OH | Signed |
Justin Pierce | SF | 6'7 | 203 | Grad Transfer | 5 | William and Mary | Signed | |
Christian Keeling | SG | 6'4 | 175 | Grad Transfer | 7 | Charleston Southern | Signed |
UNC Basketball 2019 Offers
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | National Rank | School | Location | Decision Day |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | National Rank | School | Location | Decision Day |
Jalen Wilson | SF | 6'8 | 215 | 4-Star | 50 | Guyer | Denton, TX |
UNC Basketball 2020 Commitments
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | National Ranking | School | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | National Ranking | School | Location |
Day'Ron Sharpe | C | 6'10 | 246 | 4-Star | 26 | South Central | Winterville, NC |
UNC Basketball 2020 Offers
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | National Ranking | School | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Position | Height | Weight | Rating | National Ranking | School | Location |
Greg Brown III | PF | 6'7 | 185 | 5-Star | 6 | Vandegrift | Austin, TX |
Jaden Springer | SG | 6'4 | 195 | 5-Star | 12 | IMG Academy | Charlotte, NC (hometown) |
Isaiah Todd | PF | 6'10 | 195 | 5-Star | 13 | Trinity Academy | Raleigh, NC |
Walker Kessler | C | 6'10 | 225 | 5-Star | 16 | Woodward Academy | Atlanta, GA |
Jeremy Roach | PG | 6'2 | 165 | 5-Star | 17 | Paul VI Catholic | Fairfax, VA |
Ziaire Williams | SF | 6'7 | 175 | 5-Star | 20 | Notre Dame | Sherman Oaks, CA |