CHAPEL HILL – To say June was unlike any other for North Carolina’s football coaching staff or any others across the landscape would be a huge understatement.

It was insane, but in a good way, at least for the Tar Heels.

How about five commitments for the UNC program? But it wasn’t just about adding five new kids to the class of 2022 coffers, it was about getting back into a pre-COVID groove. After 15 months of zooming, face timing, and texting, coaches and prospects could see each other in person. Face-to-face, handshakes, more personal conversations, gauging mannerisms, vibes, workouts, and just getting a feel for one another.

That is what recruiting has been about for as long as anyone with an interest in college athletics can remember, and in June it was back on in full display and then some.

“It was crazy, and there was not a minute off,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said, also noting it wasn’t like any other recruiting month he has experienced during the nearly five decades of his Hall of Fame career. “Every day there were kids showing up in bus loads on tours. And there were guys that would call the day before and say, ‘I’m going to run up tomorrow, can I try out?’

“Our staff did an amazing job from the earliest part of the morning for this first three weeks in June until the last day that they could be here of being available and making sure that on top of thousands of kids at camp and then a seven-on-seven mixed in with all of this that we haven’t done in two years. It was an unbelievable three weeks with a whole lot of energy. We thought we got a lot done.”

As for the commits, UNC entered the month with four pledges for a class that has been targeted at a maximum of 14 players. Though, with some roster reshuffling and the prospect of landing some really big fish, it could grow larger. Four-star defensive end Beau Atkinson popped for the Heels on June 16, just 12 days after he worked out in front of the staff and received an offer.

Three-star South Carolina native Deuce Caldwell, a defensive back UNC recruited as a linebacker, took his official visit to Chapel Hill starting June 17, and he committed a week later on the 25th. Two days after that, 3-star offensive lineman Justin Kanyuk, who had no FBS offers when he visited UNC on June 5, prompting an offer from the staff, announced his pledge for Carolina. Kanyuk since has received quite a few FBS offers.

On June 30, it was 4-star defensive back Marcus Allen, and on Independence Day, 3-star quarterback Conner Harrell told the world he would be a Tar Heel, even though it appeared he gave the staff a quiet verbal following the Mack Brown Showtime Camp on June 19. He was in Chapel Hill again for an official a week after the camp session.

June was hugely successful for UNC, and quite useful for prospects and their families.

“We felt like we were really effective with ours because recruits are taking all their visits now because the ‘21’s didn’t get to visit at all, and now the’22’s want every visit,” said Brown, whose program has nine commitments among high school seniors. “So, there’s a lot of them out there that are going to make all of their visits and they’re slower to commit because they’re enjoying being out and they’re enjoying the process. I do think it will take longer than in the previous years.”

The progress made with many of the remaining 2022 targets was vital, but the inroads built with kids from the class of 2023, which likely will be full at 25 signees, was an enormous part of what UNC accomplished. Plenty of 2024 prospects also checked out Chapel Hill and the Kenan Football Center.

In addition to a boatload of daily visitors and having more players take official visits in the middle of the week than what was the norm pre-COVID, Carolina also held its camp and seven-on-seven season.

Because of the condensed period, and the importance of making up lost time with so many players and their families stopping by the facilities, UNC’s daily camps were large two-a-days: Two days, two sessions a day maxing out at 350 kids per session. That is 1,400 kids in a span of about 32 hours in real time.

Perhaps not ideal, it was a necessity. More than a year had gone by since the last normal recruiting cycle, so the staff and prospects packed in as much as they could.

“We took 15 months of recruiting and put it into three weeks,” Brown said. “If you can imagine, we had unofficial visits, we had official visits, we had evaluations, which we’ve never had before where a young man could come in and we could work him out for an hour with our own on-the-field coaches. And you had to have a trainer there, too. We’ve never been able to do that before.

“So, you all of a sudden went from 15 months of zooming with a player and their family to seeing them walk in your door and get to say hello to them, sit down and visit with them and actually recruit them.”

Recruiting has returned to virtual until the final week in July when the floodgates will open again. But for now, the coaches, prospects, and their families can let out a massive, wind-blowing exhale. A needed respite indeed but bracing for more chaos coming in just a couple of weeks.

By then, it will be old hat for everyone. Sort of.