Four-star running back Kamarro Edmonds has committed to UNC

What, you thought a worldwide pandemic was going to slow Mack Brown and his staff down? You must be new here. On Friday night, the Heels secured their third commitment since the COVID-19 situation, while uprooting all of our lives, relegated coaches to remote recruiting only. After Tymir Brown and DeAndre Boykins, running back Kamarro Edmonds out of Havelock, North Carolina joined what is now the nation’s #3 recruiting class of 2021:

The four-star running back prospect is the latest in a recent string of commitments from Havelock to the Heels, joining last year’s Welton Spottsville and 2018’s Avery Jones. He’s ranked, according to the 247 Sports Composite, as the 17th-best player in the state of North Carolina in his class, and the 16th-best running back in the country. 247 itself has him even loftier, at 9th-best in NC and 11th among running backs. Either way, he’d join the Heels as easily the highest-rated ball-carrier on the roster. His film backs it up, too, showing a very fun foot-in-the-ground-and-go runner who loves making guys miss with footwork and agility, especially juke moves. Enjoy this highlight tape before finishing this article:

(if you’re reading on Apple News, just check out the video on Hudl)

With this commitment, UNC has moved up to the 3rd-best recruiting class in the country, though at this point, the Heels are in about the same position that being borderline top-10 put them last year: With 12 commits, they have more players committed than all but two schools, making the ranking a reflection of quantity as much as quality. Still, with high school football questionable to return, this is a newly vital time for recruiting and getting kids ready for the programs they’ve committed to: having a lot of commits early is far from a bad thing. And with 9 of those 12 commits being four-star guys, quality isn’t exactly lacking here, either.

Edmonds fills a notable hole in UNC’s 2021 recruiting class, as incredible as it has been so far: it doesn’t have a bona fide running back prospect, and that’s one of the positions that basically needs multiple recruits a year given the wear and tear that ball-carriers put on their bodies and the higher-than-normal attrition at the running back position. Caleb Hood might get a look at running back, and might be pretty dang good at it to boot, but he’d be learning a new position. Edmonds comes in as somebody who’s played the position at a high level already, and with Michael Carter and possibly Javonte Williams primed to leave after 2020, the position’s going to need all the ready-to-play talent it can get. I wouldn’t be surprised if the staff still has eyes on a Bryce Steele or Will Shipley, though both seem like long shots.