6/18/2017 football Edit

4-Star DE Beamon Commits

4-Star DE Hakeem Beamon became the first member of UNC's class of 2019 after committing to the Heels on Sunday. (Bruce Young, THI)

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

Publisher

Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

Hakeem Beamon, a 4-star defensive end in the class of 2019, committed Sunday to play at North Carolina. He is the first player in his class to commit to the Tar Heels.

A native of Chesterfield, VA, Beamon attends L.C. Bird High School. His only other offer is from Virginia Tech.

Beamon, who participated in the Freak Show on Saturday night at Kenan Stadium, has been very high on UNC from the outset, identifying it as the school he most wanted to attend. Now, he will be a Tar Heel.

“I like that you can be a good student-athlete over there, education real good,” Beamon told THI. “I like the coaches over there, too. The defensive coordinator, I like him. I just met the defensive line coach when I went there last time.”

Beamon’s relationship with UNC really began to grow when Deke Adams took over as the defensive line coach. They hit it off right away.

“He’s a cool dude,” Beamon said about Adams.

Beamon is a good student and plans on positioning himself to enroll early in 2019.

AJ's interview with Beamon on April 30.