Notes & Quotes As Fedora Talks Signing Day
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina football coach Larry Fedora met with the media Wednesday afternoon at the Kenan Football Center to discuss how his program did on the first ever early signing period for college football.
The Tar Heels got 14 signatures in the morning, several of whom Fedora discussed specifically.
Here are a few notes from what UNC’s seventh-year coach had to say:
*Six of the 14 players that signed Wednesday will be enrolling in January. We are working to confirm the six names at this time.
*Late Quarterback commitment Cade Fortin, a 3-star prospect from Georgia and recent Texas A&M decommit, had been on UNC’s radar for some time. So a relationship of sorts was established there a while ago.
“It really wasn’t a scramble, we’ve been recruiting him for the whole time,” Fedora said. “So its not like we just all of a sudden started recruiting him two weeks ago, we’ve been recruiting him from the beginning.”
*Javonte Williams was offered and committed the weekend he led Wallace-Rose Hill to a state championship in Kenan Stadium less than two weeks ago, so why hadn’t UNC previously offered and what led to the late offer?
“He was on our radar,” Fedora said. “He came to our camp and worked out at safety with us and just was not what we were looking for at the safety position. And in his senior year, we started keeping up with him and what he was doing at the running back position and were like, ‘wow,’ he does fit that mode, now.
"He’s 5-9, 212 pounds, rushed for a bunch of yards and led his team to a state championship, was MVP and all those things. And then the off-the-field things were probably what put him over the top.”
Williams has a 4.0 grade point average and has been honored with several volunteer and citizen awards at his school and in his community.
*UNC signed 4 of the top 20 prospects in the state of North Carolina,and is still in pursuit of several other highly touted players, so how does Fedora feel about the job the staff did within its own state?
“I think we did great,” Fedora said about recruiting in the state. “I’m happy with every single one of these guys that we have on our roster from the state of North Carolina, and we’ve got to continue to recruit the state of North Carolina has hard as we can, because there’s great players here and we want to keep these kids at home.”
*Fedora said he’s concerned that 4-star wide receiver Jordyn Adams could have a huge baseball season at Green Hope H.S. this spring and get drafted high enough in the MLB draft in June that Adams could have a tough decision to make.
“It’s a possibility, he’s a really good baseball player,” Fedora said. “I don’t really have anything I can do about that. He’s going to play baseball, and if that (signing professionally) is not a part of it, the plan is for him to play baseball and football here.”
*Two of the prospects that signed Wednesday are from nearby Wake Forest H.S., which is about 32 miles east just north of Raleigh. A year ago, UNC got Xach Gill, also from Wake Forest. Is UNC developing a pipeline to one of the top programs in the state?
“It’s always good, especially if it’s a really good high school, and (Wake head coach) Reggie Lucas has done an unbelievable job over there at Wake Forest with back-to-back state championships, and we’re fortunate to have some of his players on our football team,” Fedora said. “But you want to do that throughout the state everywhere that you can, especially the teams that have good players.
“It’s always helpful because those guys come to your school and they have success, they’re treated right, they go back and say good things about you to teammates and it automatically puts you in a position where you have a chance.”
*Fedora was asked what happened with Payton Wilson flipping to N.C. State, but didn’t answer the question.