UNC Recruiting week of 9/2: Can Roy Williams win over 2020 CG Cade Cunningham?

Welcome to this week’s recruiting update! There hasn’t been a lot of football recruiting news this week, but there are a couple more official visits for basketball to discuss. Also, we will talk about how the 2020 class could be boom or bust for Roy Williams. Let’s dive right in.

Football

• While there isn’t really any recruiting news this week, the win against South Carolina this past weekend is in its own way a huge boost for recruiting. Up until this point a lot of what Mack Brown and his staff have been able to get done with recruits was done without having played a single game yet in his return to Chapel Hill, and now that he has helped UNC win against a Power Five team in a season opener for the first time since 1997, there is finally some form of a sample for him to point to when he is making his recruiting pitches. Granted, it’s only one game, but this whole season will be about winning on the field so that they can win the recruiting battle off the field.

This weekend’s game against Miami will be a huge recruiting opportunity for the Tar Heels, as it will be prime time with a sold out Kenan Stadium ready to welcome home their beloved Hall of Fame coach. It should be an exciting game, but it’ll be even more exciting to see if this can somehow boost the already excellent job that Brown has done on the recruiting trail.

Basketball

• Cam Johnson’s little brother Puff Johnson has scheduled his official visit to UNC per 247 Sports Recruiting Director Evan Daniels:

Last month Johnson cut his list down to seven schools: Arizona, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Pitt. Currently the 247 Sports Crystal Ball has Arizona as the overwhelming favorite to land him, but these things are always subject to change following official visits. It is worth noting that Johnson transferred to Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix, where his brother also plays in the NBA. It could be that all of the stars align for him to stay in the desert, but we’ll have to wait and see how everything plays out.

• Another recruiting target that scheduled an official visit with the Heels this week is four-star wing Earl Timberlake. He will be on campus October 12th, and it will be his third visit of the school year following visits to Pitt, Miami, and Alabama. There’s no solid read as of right now on what Timberlake is thinking, but according to Rivals’ Corey Evans he is a player for fans to keep a close eye on.
• Speaking of Corey Evans, earlier this week he responded to a fan’s Twitter question about who he thinks the Tar Heels will end up landing for the 2020 class. The short answer is that he thinks this is a boom or bust class for the Heels, as they could land a class that consists of Cade Cunningham, Caleb Love, Ziaire Williams, Greg Brown, and Day’Ron Sharpe, or they could miss out on most or all of those prospects (minus Sharpe, of course). The idea of this happening is weirdly understandable and yet terrifying at the same time, as the Heels have a recruit board loaded with a lot of players that would likely have an immediate impact after Cole Anthony and others leave the program this spring.

Perhaps the most intriguing comment that Evans made was that UNC is the top upset pick to steal Cunningham away from Oklahoma State. He is not the only analyst that has this opinion, and it is likely that any success that Anthony has this season could help sway Cunningham’s decision. Pulling him away from his brother will be a tough task, but we’ve seen things like this play out various ways before. Let’s hope that Roy is able to come out victorious in what will be a tough recruiting battle.