It’s tough to believe, but tomorrow, UNC football will be in action, meaning that it’s been hard to focus on much of anything else surrounding UNC sports. But still, the grind of coaching in college means that the recruiting calendar is always on, and after the first week of September, when football coaches were allowed to contact recruits again, we’ve got some new information. Basketball news is warming up as well, as some of UNC’s highest-profile recruits are making moves towards decisions. Let’s get into it:

Football:

• UNC is basically waiting on three prospects’ decisions to wrap up the class of 2021: Bryson Nesbit, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, and Diego Pounds (with Yousef Mugharbhil also in the picture). Despite that, the staff has been relatively quiet with the class of 2022, probably at least partially because the North Carolina junior class is pretty weak and the staff can’t really go outside the state at the moment.
• Diego Pounds did not commit last Friday, which is good news for UNC, because the Heels need as much time as possible to get back in Pounds’ good graces after offering really late in his recruitment. The in-state offensive lineman is currently projected by the 247 Crystal Ball experts to go to Penn State, but the Mack Brown Heels have pulled off more surprising victories before.
• Of those three, it looks like UNC has the lowest likelihood of landing Ingram-Dawkins, who seems SEC-bound. It’s unfortunate, but if the 2020 defensive line recruits are as good as reported, it may be enough to turn that loss from debilitating to generally forgettable.

Basketball:

• Continuing the tradition of recruiting making me look like a fool with its timing, 2022 point guard Skyy Clark is set to release a Top 3 today. UNC and Kentucky are pretty much guaranteed to be on it, and it looks like the fight will come down to those two programs. There’s been a lot of noise about Clark reclassifying to ‘21, and you’d think that having a Top 3 this early would fuel that, but he’s said most recently that he wants to play his senior year in high school for a chance to play with his 8th-grade brothers on varsity. Either way, I can’t imagine UNC isn’t recruiting him regardless of the class he ends up in.
• Speaking of UNC and Kentucky battles, it’s looking more and more like Hunter Sallis’ recruitment will come down to the same two schools. You’ve got to think that if Clark reclassifies to ‘21, it’s unlikely that both, playing the same position (combo guard) with one-and-done aspirations, will go to the same program. Clark’s a little more of a point guard and Sallis is a little more off-ball friendly, making the latter a slightly better fit for a roster with R.J. Davis presumably at the point guard position, but either would be an incredible get for the Heels. If Clark stays in ‘22, all the more chance to land both.
• The next UNC recruit to commit, though, may well be D’Marco Dunn, who is probably deciding between UNC and Arizona. UNC came out on top of that battle this past year with Puff Johnson and Kerwin Walton, avenging to a point the losses of Josh Green and Zeke Nnaji, so Dunn’s recruitment is interesting just in a kind of narrative way. Buzz around him is positive towards the good guys, so be on the lookout for that.
• Trevor Keels named a top 3 of Duke, Villanova, and Virginia, effectively eliminating UNC from consideration. The Heels hadn’t been named in concert with him for a while, so that’s not surprising, but it signifies yet another shrinkage in the offered ‘21 class.