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UNC Recruiting: Week of 5/27

Your weekly catch-up on all things ‘crootin.

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-Midwest Regional Practice Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

The situation on both the football and basketball fronts remains largely unchanged from last week, when I said there was a lot of waiting coming. It’s summer break for high schoolers, too, after all. That said, the last-minute tweaks and updates on the class of 2019 before they officially become Tar Heels this fall are still coming in, so let’s get a quick update on those:

Football:

  • Thanks to an NCAA rules tweak, incoming freshmen can report to UNC early. Safety recruit Giovanni Biggers, alongside several others, are taking advantage of this rule, meaning that they’ll have more time, by a couple of weeks, working out with the team before the season starts. It can only help with getting the new talent accustomed to their teammates and the speed of the college game.
  • Big-time recruiting the way UNC has been recently means big-time recruiting battles. UNC’s biggest target of the 2020 cycle is defensive end Desmond Evans, who they’re leading in Crystal Balls for on 247 for whom they continue to be frontrunners, but arguably second biggest is linebacker Trenton Simpson, and while he has shown real interest in UNC over the past several months, his recruitment has skyrocketed recently after impressive camp outings. He’s stuffed his May and June with SEC visits, including 2 unofficials and an official to UGA. UNC is going to have to get him back on campus for whatever it is Mack Brown replaces Fedora’s Freak Show with to seal the deal.

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
UNC Football 2020 Commitments

Basketball

  • The news that shook the recruiting world was that one of the top recruits in the 2019 class, R.J. Hampton, is signing with the New Zealand Breakers of the Australia/New Zealand-based National Basketball League in lieu of playing college basketball. A lot of people thought he’d go to Kansas and end up as a package deal with Jalen Wilson, who UNC is pursuing after his decommitment from Michigan. Hampton’s decision to leave the country for contract money and endorsements has to help UNC’s chances. We’ll see how Wilson’s visit goes.
  • UNC’s 2019 recruiting has paid dividends in the eyes of the media. Despite losing arguably its 5 most productive players at a program that typically takes more than a year to rebuild, UNC is ranked in CBS Sports’ early Top 25 at #7. Is such an exercise pointless in May? Absolutely. Does the list have problems? For sure. Is there still some validation here anyways? Yup.

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 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 2020 Offers

Name Position Height Weight Rating National Ranking School Location
Name Position Height Weight Rating National Ranking School Location
Greg Brown III PF 6'9 195 5-Star 5 Vandegrift Austin, TX
Cade Cunningham PG 6'6 215 5-Star 6 Montverde Academy Arlington, TX (hometown)
Jaden Springer SG 6'4 195 5-Star 9 IMG Academy Charlotte, NC (hometown)
Isaiah Todd PF 6'10 195 5-Star 12 Trinity Academy Raleigh, NC
Walker Kessler C 6'10 225 5-Star 16 Woodward Academy Atlanta, GA
Ziaire Williams SF 6'7 175 5-Star 18 Notre Dame Sherman Oaks, CA
Caleb Love PG 6'3 170 4-Star 30 Christian Brothers College St Louis, MO
Bryce Thompson SG 6'5 175 4-Star 38 Booker T. Washington Tulsa, OK
Puff Johnson SF 6'7 185 4-Star 76 Moon Area HS Coraopolis, PA

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