UNC Recruiting Week of 5/3: Hubert Davis offers two five-star players in the 2022 class

Welcome to this week’s recruiting update! In this edition, we will discuss some of the football recruits that showed up for the spring game a couple of weeks ago, and we will also discuss a recruit that will be visiting next month. As far as basketball goes, there is quite a bit of news to cover, including some major offers made by Hubert Davis. Without any further delay, let’s dive right in.

Football

• Yesterday Rivals recruiting analyst Adam Friedman published a piece discussing 2022 five-star offensive lineman Zach Rice’s upcoming official (and unofficial visits). At this time, Rice will make official visits to Ohio State, Virginia, Notre Dame and Alabama. However, he also said that he will be making an unofficial visit to UNC on June 1st, and he may be making an official visit at a later date.

When discussing the Tar Heels, Rice stated that he had just spoken with Dre Bly the other day, who has a close relationship with his mother. It’s always tough to pull a great deal of information from comments about the schools that are recruiting him, but it is worth noting that if the Mack Brown did land Rice he would not be traveling far from home — Rice plays for Liberty Christian Academy in Lynchburg, VA. He currently plays at the right tackle position, and according to scouts he is overpowering the competition, but has also done well against tougher competition at camps. Offensive line depth will be important to build going into the 2022 season, as a number of lineman are expected to graduate the spring prior.

• A couple of weekends ago UNC held their annual spring game in Kenan Stadium. While Division I schools can’t hold any in-person recruiting visits until June, there were a number of Tar Heel prospects that decided to attend the rainy exhibition anyway.

Here is a list of recruits that we are able to confirm were in attendance:

2022 DT Travis Shaw
2022 WR Andre Greene Jr.
2022 DE Eli Hall
2022 DB Marcus Allen
2022 LS Ben Anderson
2023 OL Joshua Miller
2024 ATH Jaiden Spearman
2024 WR Keylan Adams
2024 ATH B.J. Brown

Considering the fact that player contact is so limited right now, it’s impressive to see this many recruits show up to Chapel Hill to check out the team. It may be a very good sign for the future that half of the players on this list are 2022 prospects, with the headliner of them being five-star target Travis Shaw. Leave it to Mack Brown to continue to find ways to be extremely successful in recruiting during a pandemic.

Basketball

• This Tuesday Hubert Davis offered a scholarship to 2022 five-star wing Chris Livingston. The news broke when Livingston made the announcement via his Instagram page:

Livingston is a 6’6 wing from Akron, OH, which is also the hometown of NBA superstar LeBron James. He currently plays for Buchtel High School, and is currently the fourth-best player in the country according to the 247Sports Composite. As of right now Livingston holds a number of offers from schools like LSU, Kentucky, Kansas, Louisville, Ohio State, and Florida.

According to Ben Sherman with Inside Carolina, Sean May will be the lead recruiter for Livingston. It remains to be seen what to expect from this new coaching staff, so we will learn a lot about just how impactful Roy Williams was on the recruiting trail, or how badly a change needed to be made. Livingston as well as others will be good test subjects, so we will have to wait and see how well Davis & Co. does.

• Another five-star 2022 target that received a scholarship offer from Coach Davis is Jalen Washington. The 6’9 power forward currently plays for West Side High School in Gary, Indiana, and is the 20th-best player in the 2022 class. Washington also holds scholarship offers from Duke, Penn State, Oklahoma, Alabama, Iowa, Indiana, and many others. His recruitment is also being led by fellow Indiana native Sean May.

Here is what 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi had to say about Jalen Washington:

“Washington put on an impressive display of skill and touch as he continues to evolve and adjust as a player. When he first hit the scene two years ago, Washington was a long and lanky four man with some athleticism and ability to get out in transition. Now, he’s overcome a knee injury and has turned himself into a skilled faceup player. His footwork in the post is well above average, he is a very dangerous shooter from deep and he has a presence on the floor beyond his years. The maturity he plays with is remarkable.”

When looking at players like Washington, Livingston, and all of the players Hubert Davis has targeted in the transfer portal, it’s becoming clearer and clearer what his plans are when the ball is tipped in November. We are likely going to see a more modernized version of Roy Williams’ system, with players that will be able to spread out the floor as well as make plays in the paint. Brady Manek and Justin McCoy are two great players to usher in this new era with, and how well they do will likely have a lot of pull on whether or not Washington and others decide to take their talents to Chapel Hill.

• Finally, four-star 2022 power forward Isaac Traudt has announced the he will be taking an official visit to Chapel Hill June 27-29th per Jake Weingarten with Stockrisers,

Traudt will also take official visits to Michigan State, Nebraska, and Virginia. He also plans to make an unofficial visit to Creighton on June 1st. The 6’9 power forward currently plays for Grand Island Senior School in Grand Island, NE, and is ranked 51st in the 2022 class, but is listed as the eighth-best power forward in the country. He is another power forward who, you guessed it, can shoot the ball from the perimeter as well as play aggressively at the rim. Buckle up, folks: this new era of Carolina Basketball is going to be a lot of fun.