The big recruiting news for this week happened last night, as combo guard Seth Trimble committed to UNC after business hours Central Time. But, since it’s still June, there’s still a ton of recruiting activity going on elsewhere, and that means this is going to be a fairly juicy list of events and news regardless of our having covered the big deal. Keep reading to find out what else is going on in the UNC recruiting universe:

Football:

• Three-star quarterback prospect Connor Harrell has announced a commitment date of July 4th. He posted a Top 10 a few days before UNC offered him a scholarship, but then, after the offer, visited campus this past weekend and announced a commitment date. Both of his 247 Crystal Ball picks are to UNC, so all of that looks pretty well positioned to give UNC another ‘22 commit. A developmental quarterback is a low-key need for the upcoming class, so this is welcome news.
• But all eyes for this class, as I’ve said before, are on 5-star Greensboro defensive tackle Travis Shaw, and right now, his recruitment has never been hotter. It was thought that he’d stretch the process out well into the fall, but now, he’s named a Top 4 of Georgia, Clemson, UNC, and NC A&T (“‘They’re right in [my] backyard [and] an HBCU,’ Shaw said. ‘So, you always have to show love to them’”) and could be making a decision soon. He’s visited UNC unofficially at least three times this month and has an official visit scheduled for this weekend, so you have to believe he’s getting every possible pitch from UNC’s staff. The past two weekends, he was at Clemson for their Elite Retreat and then at UGA for an official visit. According to intel from JP Priester, a Clemson beat writer for Sports Illustrated, after all this, Clemson is running third in the battle for Shaw’s services, with the Bulldogs and Heels jockeying for the leader spot (247’s Steve Wiltfong concurs, though it seems his is more a gut feeling). The UGA visit apparently went as well as it possibly could have, and Kirby Smart’s already wrapped up Jalon Walker, a close friend of Shaw’s who’s actively recruiting him. The official visit to UNC this weekend might make or break this one for Mack Brown and staff, and it might be over sooner than we thought. In the meantime, this is worthwhile reading about how Shaw got to where he is now.
• Plenty of other prospects have been visiting UNC, including 5-star offensive tackle Zach Rice, 4-star running back Omarrion Hampton, 4-star offensive tackle Fisher Anderson, 3-star edge rusher Bryson Jennings, 4-star receiver Andre Greene, and 4-star running back Damari Alston. There isn’t a ton of available news about any of them, but that’s a decent sample of the caliber of talent UNC is hoping to attract with this class.

Basketball:

• If you somehow missed it, point/combo guard Seth Trimble, a 4-star prospect out of Menemonee Falls, Wisconsin, has committed to the Tar Heels. Trimble, despite his name and a striking facial similarity, isn’t related to former Maryland point guard Melo, but is the younger brother of former UNC wing J.P. Tokoto, who accompanied him on his official visit to UNC. Trimble is a high-level athlete who can score at three levels and should see his composite ranking of 54 rise significantly in the coming weeks, after 247 updates their rankings: Rivals has him ranked as the 31st best player in the country after a June update (their December rankings had him at 109), while 247 still has him at 101.
• Justin Taylor, the 4-star wing from Charlottesville who officially visited UNC in June, will announce his commitment on Saturday out of a Top 5 of UNC, UVA, Syracuse, Indiana, and Virginia Tech. Taylor hasn’t been linked much to UNC since the visit, in which time he’s taken visits to Syracuse and Indiana. Hubert Davis offered a couple of other players who both kind of play Taylor’s position in the last week (more on them in a second), sort of indicating that both sides might have moved on from the other — but Davis’ momentum isn’t to be discounted entirely. That said, Rivals’ experts seem to think Taylor will end up in upstate New York.
• Speaking of those offered players, both of them happened just this week — After watching him put up 34 points against Independence High in Charlotte this past weekend, Davis offered 4-star wing Tyler Nickel, who, in a funny coincidence, is from Elkton, Virginia — less than an hour north of Charlottesville. Nickel’s a straight-up scorer, with a sweet shooting touch and the size (at 6’8) to post up on wings and guards when needed. Two days earlier, Davis watched Cam Whitmore, a small forward/small-ball power forward, absolutely dominate in two straight games (totalling 66 points, 26 rebounds, and 5 blocks) at the DMV Live event in the D.C. area before offering him a scholarship on the spot. Whitmore, from near Baltimore, is a through-and-through power player, at a solidly built 6’6, 200 pounds. I expect Davis envisions him similar to how he’ll probably use Dontrez Styles this year, splitting time between the 3 and 4 positions as either a powerful slashing wing or a small-ball 4 who can take advantage of mismatches and occasionally stretch the floor. It may be hard to pull Whitmore away from backyard Maryland, who’ve been involved with him for a while, but his recruitment is starting to absolutely blow up after that event (alongside UNC, Alabama and Louisville offered on the spot, and more are probably coming), so any intel on this recruitment that anybody had might be moot because it’s a different ballgame now.