It’s been a couple weeks, huh? Well, the long and short of it is that there just hasn’t been a ton of news on either the men’s basketball or football recruiting trails in the past month or so. I went over the reasons for football’s slow news drip in my last recruitcap, and nothing’s really changed there, so check that out if you’re wondering or if you forgot. The basketball fans among you might be a little more familiar with slow recruiting times thanks to Roy Williams’ preference to hand out comparatively few offers, but still, especially when we’re starved for news, it can be frustrating. But we’ve got some stuff to talk about now, so without further ado...

Football:

• While the Class of 2022 remains empty for the Tar Heels, at least one interview conducted in the past week looks pretty good for them: This interview with 4-star running back Michael Allen (from Greenville, NC) features the facts that UNC might be the program he’s closest in contact with and that he’s a huge fan of how UNC is using its backs right now. Then again, who wouldn’t be?
• In roster attrition news, erstwhile backup center Ty Murray has taken a medical hardship, effectively retiring from football after being unable to play so far this season. This makes a fairly thin offensive line thinner, though next year’s incoming class should counterbalance it with its two interior line prospects. I don’t expect Mack Brown and staff to pursue anybody else, especially given the blanket redshirt that college football is getting this year.

Basketball:

• The big news of the week is that on Wednesday, the beginning of basketball’s Early Signing Period, both Dontrez Styles and D’Marco Dunn signed their Letters of Intent to become Tar Heels, officially tying them to the program. You can now read Roy Williams’ thoughts on both players on GoHeels.com, if you didn’t trust our evaluations already.
• This doesn’t mean that UNC is done with the 2021 class. Three players have outstanding offers from the Heels that they are still, at least nominally, considering: Chet Holmgren, Patrick Baldwin, and Hunter Sallis. The first two feel pretty much like non-options for the Heels; UNC might have too many multi-year bigs for Roy to be comfortable seriously pursuing Holmgren and Baldwin hasn’t been seriously connected to the Heels in forever. Sallis, as we’ve been saying forever, is really the one to watch, though he isn’t committing until spring, when he hopes to make some visits. If UNC gets him on campus, I like Roy Williams’ chances. If he commits before that, I expect it to be to Kentucky.
• Speaking of Kentucky, I want to take this space to add to a conversation I had with some of you in the comments section the last time I wrote a recruitcap, on the topic of one-and-done players’ school choice mattering. The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjarks wrote this excellent article comparing Kentucky and Duke’s draft picks from the last decade, and came out with a perhaps surprising conclusion: It seems like where they went to school actually has made a difference for their NBA futures, both due to each coach’s priorities with a roster and their coaching styles. If you’re into the way that Roy Williams prioritizes teambuilding over individual talent, you may come away from the article with a newfound respect for the work that John Calipari has done since being overtaken as college basketball’s recruiting king.