UNC Recruiting: 2021 Four-star DE Keeshawn Silver will play both football and basketball

If you were wondering who the next 2021 commit for the Carolina basketball program would be, there’s a pretty good chance that you wouldn’t have expected this one.

Tonight 2021 four-star defensive end Keeshawn Silver announced via his personal Twitter page that he will not only play for Carolina football under Mack Brown, but he will play basketball for Roy Williams as well.

Silver announced that he was committing to the Tar Heels back in March which has been one of many exciting commitments under Brown. Now we know that this has the potential of being a fun pick-up for basketball as well, as the 6’5 255-pounder has been working with Roy Williams for a while now to make this happen according to THI. He finished his junior year at Rocky Mount High School averaging 10.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

Silver joins a respectable list of former players that played in both revenue sports. The most notable on the list is of course Julius Peppers, but players like Ronald Curry, Jesse Holley, Brooks Foster, and Greg Little also followed this path. This announcement speaks strongly to how well Mack Brown and Roy Williams have been working together when it comes to recruiting. While it could be that there was no particular reason for not having a dual-sport athlete since 2009, it never really felt like this would’ve been possible under former head coach Larry Fedora. This goes to show that we should expect any and everything from both programs as long as these two Hall of Fame coaches are out on the recruiting trails in Carolina blue.

What do you think of Keeshawn Silver’s announcement? Do you feel like he will have a sizable presence on the basketball court? Let us know in the comments below.