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UNC Recruiting Week of 8/2: Four-star 2022 recruit Tyler Nickel includes the Tar Heels in his top 5

Will Hubert Davis be able to add the dangerous scorer to his already stacked recruiting class?

NCAA Basketball: Davidson at North Carolina Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to this week’s recruiting update! This week we will discuss a new preferred walk-on for the football team, and also the basketball team made a recruit’s top five list. Let’s jump right into this week’s news.

Football

Tuesday night on Twitter, Bibb County High School offensive lineman Bo Burkes announced his commitment to the Tar Heels as a preferred walk-on.

There isn’t a great deal of information out there on Burkes, but what we do know is that he is a three-star recruit according to the 247Sports rankings (not to be confused with their composite rankings, they currently don’t have one for him), and is the 97th best inside offensive lineman in the country. He is also the first preferred walk-on in the 2021 class, and held offers from the Air Force, Akron, Ole Miss, Memphis, and Southern Miss.

UNC Football 2021 Commitments

Name Position Height Weight Rating Positional Rank School Location Status
Name Position Height Weight Rating Positional Rank School Location Status
Malaki Hamrick OLB/Edge 6'4 205 4-star 10 Shelby Shelby, NC Verbal
Omarion Hampton RB 6'0 215 4-star 12 Cleveland Clayton, NC Verbal
Sebastian Cheeks LB 6'3 210 4-star 15 Evanston Township Evanston, IL Verbal
Beau Atkinson DE/Edge 6'6 240 4-star 19 Leesville Road Raleigh, NC Verbal
Tayon Holloway CB 5'11 170 4-star 19 Green Run Virginia Beach, VA Verbal
Tychaun Chapman WR 5'10 160 4-star 26 Princess Anne Virginia Beach, VA Verbal
Marcus Allen DB 6'2 165 4-star 29 Walton Marietta, GA Verbal
Bryson Jennings DE/Edge 6'6 235 3-star 22 Clover Hill Midlothian, VA Verbal
Connor Harrell QB 6'1 189 3-star 43 Thompson Alabaster, AL Verbal
Trevyon Green OT 6'7 338 3-star 58 Life Christian Academy Colonial Heights, VA Verbal
Deuce Caldwell LB 6'1 210 3-star 91 Mauldin Mauldin, SC Verbal
Justin Kanyuk OT 6'5 290 3-star 93 Bethlehem Catholic Bethlehem, PA Verbal

Basketball

Four-star 2022 prospect Tyler Nickel announced the five schools he will be focused on for the rest of his recruiting process, and he will take official visits to each school starting in October. His final list includes UNC, Butler, Iowa, Virginia Tech, and LSU. What’s interesting about him having Butler on his list is that 247Sports had them listed as “cool” in his recruiting, but NC State was “warm.” Obviously these labels are never set in stone, and unfortunately for the Wolfpack they will have to move on to the rest of their recruiting board.

Nickel spoke with 247Sports about each school remaining on his list. Here’s what he had to say about UNC:

“I feel like I have a really good relationship with Coach (Hubert) Davis. He’s made it very clear to me how important I am to them and what I would bring to the table. He’s also built a good relationship with my family and I. He feels like someone you can trust the more and more you talk to him.”

“They’ve got a lot of good pieces there now but one thing they said they need now is a scoring wing. That’s what I bring to the table and that’s probably the most notable thing about my game. The fact that it’s a need for them gives me a good opportunity for me to come in and be that.”

Nickel hit the nail on the head when he said that the Tar Heels needed a scoring wing. We still don’t know how Justin McKoy and Dontrez Styles will work out, so there is plenty of room on the team for someone like Nickel, who is known to be a potent scorer. He finished his junior season at East Rockingham averaging 35 points, five assists, and 11 rebounds per game. Earning a commitment from him would give Hubert Davis quite the 2022 recruiting class, and depending on how things work out for players like Armando Bacon, Caleb Love, and maybe even Dawson Garcia, it’s quite possible that he wouldn’t be done from there.

As of right now, UNC has the second-best recruiting class in the country. Davis still has a number of four and five-star prospects left on his recruiting board, with the most notable one being Jaden Bradley should Caleb Love head for the pros. It will be interesting to see which recruits will wait and see what this new version of the Tar Heels looks like and how many will make their decisions based off of existing information. Either way, right now things are looking pretty rosy for Carolina basketball.

UNC Basketball 2022 Offers

Name Position Height Weight Rating National Ranking School Location
Name Position Height Weight Rating National Ranking School Location
Chris Livingston SF 6'6 200 5-Star 5 Buchtel Akron, OH
Derek Lively II C 7'1 220 5-Star 7 Westtown School Norristown, PA
Mark Mitchell SF 6'8 205 5-Star 12 Bishop Miege Mission, KS
Jaden Bradley PG 6'2 178 5-Star 17 IMG Academy Bradenton, FL
Zion Cruz SG 6'5 175 5-Star 20 The Patrick School Hillside, NJ
Cam Whitmore SF 6'6 200 4-Star 55 Archbishop Spalding Severn, MD
Isaac Traudt PF 6'9 205 4-Star 60 Grand Island Senior School Grand Island, NE
Tyler Nickel SF 6'8 210 4-Star 79 East Rockingham Elkton, VA

UNC Basketball 2022 Commitments

Name Position Height Weight Rating National Ranking School Location Status
Name Position Height Weight Rating National Ranking School Location Status
Jalen Washington PF 6'9 210 5-Star 21 West Side Gary, IN Verbal
Seth Trimble PG 6'3 185 4-Star 48 Menemonee Falls Menemonee Falls, WI Verbal
Will Shaver C 6'10 245 3-Star 135 Oak Mountain Birmingham, AL Verbal