Since Drake Powell became UNC’s first men’s basketball commitment in the 2024 class, things have been pretty quiet on all fronts for UNC’s recruiting. It makes sense; football players aren’t usually going to commit during their seasons, and basketball players usually wait until a little bit closer to theirs. In the meantime, coaches are traveling and maintaining contact, players are going on visits, and we’ve got plenty of stuff to track, with all of that coming to a head in the next couple of weekends: first for football, which hosts national brand Notre Dame in a season where they look plenty beatable, and then next week for basketball, whose Live Action introduction event will take place next Friday. Let’s take a dive in:

Football:

• I don’t have a list, but Mack Brown is going to be hosting a ton of high schoolers at Kenan Stadium as his Heels take on Notre Dame. Notably missing, though, will be 2023 defensive lineman Daevin Hobbs, a four-star prospect from Concord. He’ll be in Tennessee instead, watching their SEC opener against Florida. Hobbs’ recruitment involves some heavy hitters, including the Vols, Alabama, and Georgia, the latter two of whom he’s got official visits scheduled with later this fall. UNC needs to get him back on campus at some point this season; his commitment is the kind that’s been missing from this class compared to Brown’s last two. The Heels will probably need to get back to winning and shed the image of last year completely if they’re to have a chance.
• That’s not to say recruiting’s in the toilet, though. Even if they add nobody else to the 2023 class, UNC’s got 18 players, which is in line with the class sizes they’ve had the past couple of years, which ranks 21st in the country right now and has points commensurate with the 20-25 range most years. It’s a step back from the excellence of the past couple, but that’s the result of a year on the field like 2021.

Basketball:

• Since GG Jackson’s reclassification to the 2022 class and subsequent flip to South Carolina, Hubert Davis has been looking among the few uncommitted 2023 players who could replace him as a skilled stretch 4/big wing. He chased T.J. Power for a while before his commitment to Duke, and now seems all in on Zayden High, whom the staff had an eye on for a while before offering a scholarship earlier this month. High’s now scheduled to come to campus for an official visit the weekend of Live Action with Carolina Basketball, which is a pretty quick turnaround and signals serious interest. Further, according to Eric Bossi of 247Sports, even though UNC offered later than the other schools targeting High, they’ve got a really legitimate shot at getting the Texas product.
• He’ll be joined by 2024 prospect Boogie Fland, who will also take an official visit that weekend. Fland is a combo guard out of Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, NY, better known among UNC fans as R.J. Davis’ alma mater. Fland is built a bit more like Caleb Love than Davis, and he’s rated as a near-top 10 player in his class thanks to his shooting skills and burgeoning ability as a playmaker and ballhandler.
• InsideCarolina also has an article saying Isiah Harwell, an early standout in the 2025 class, has a visit scheduled in Chapel Hill despite not yet having an offer — I don’t think anybody in the 2025 class does from UNC. Harwell’s dad retweeted @UNCBBRecruits saying that visit will be this weekend, for the Notre Dame game, so I think that’s enough confirmation of that. I assume this is an unofficial visit, because official ones have to be reported and there doesn’t seem to be any external confirmations of this happening. In that case, it’s no small thing for a kid or family from Idaho to spend their own money to get to Chapel Hill. It’s intriguing, at least.
• While the Offers table might show a few players with 2023 offers from UNC, I think it’s safe to assume High is the only one worth keeping an eye on. I won’t remove the others because it’s not like they’re unavailable, but I don’t think Hubert wants more from the class than somebody to replace Jackson.