Usually, I start these out with some sort of short intro about how recruiting and optimism for the future might help you distract yourself from the tire fire that is this basketball season for UNC. That still might be the case, but at least this time UNC’s coming off a win against a rival: the glow of winning, even in a losing season, can still sustain you for days. Ah, sports. Gotta love ‘em. Anyways, there hasn’t been a ton of recruiting action in either of the two major sports; basketball’s nearing the end of its season and football’s been in a dead period since basically 2020’s second signing day. That said, here’s what we’ve got to update you on:

Football:

• The steady stream of commitments between January 4th and February 10th wasn’t going to last forever, but it’s started some good momentum nonetheless. High 3-star safety prospect Bryce Steele, who plays for Episcopal in Alexandria, VA but is from Raleigh, has said he’s pretty close to a decision and hasn’t visited anybody other than UNC so far this year. He’d add to an already loaded defensive back-end class for the Heels.
• I’ve talked before about UNC’s lack of action at quarterback for 2021. They haven’t talked much to their only offered prospect, Garrett Nussmeier, and while Caleb Hood played QB in high school that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for him as a Heel. There are rumblings going around that Mack Brown and co. are going hard to try and flip Drake Maye, currently committed to Alabama, after 5-star 2020 QB Bryce Young’s commitment to the Tide. I’m more convinced Maye decommits from ‘Bama than I am that he’ll be a Heel if that happens, but that would explain why the quarterback recruiting has been light despite the stated need to get one a year.
• We have confirmation that UNC’s Spring Game will be on April 18th, and be a big recruiting event. Mark your calendars!

Basketball

• Trevor William Marks of the Argyle Report made a thread of Caleb Love’s huge performance against Chaminade last week, so go ahead and check that out:

• Other than that, it’s been mostly quiet since Harrison Ingram’s offer. We don’t even really know who might be next on offer watch, though Dontrez Styles wouldn’t be a bad guess: He’s the best 2021 player from the state, which Roy Williams loves, and he’s from Kinston, whose best players have been very, very good (Brandon Ingram, what might have been...). He’s ranked around 60th in the nation, which is a pretty big step down from where the rest of UNC’s offers lie, but it wouldn’t be unprecedented for Roy to do something like that, especially if he sees something special (Day’Ron Sharpe comes to mind). As an aside, Trevor Keels was ranked 35th a few weeks ago and has made a massive jump to 19th and gotten his 5th star on the 247 Composite. Good for him.