Dontavius Nash is ready to formally be a Tar Heel.

Nash was the first member of the football recruiting class of 2021 to commit to North Carolina, doing so at the end of Mack Brown’s Showtime Camp in June of 2019. Nash wasn’t yet a junior in high school, but he knew where he wanted to go.

“It was a big step, but I’m really excited,” Nash told THI moments after committing.

Nash didn’t just opt for the big in-state school, his vision of what Carolina could become before it ever played a game under Mack Brown in his second stint at the helm spoke volumes then and even more so now given how far the Tar Heels have come over the last 18 months.

“I’ve got to get the best guys in-state to come here and win a national championship,” Nash also said that night, and he’s helped deliver.

Rivals ranks UNC’s 18-member class at No. 17 in the nation, but it doesn’t include 5-star cornerback Tony Grimes, who committed in July and enrolled in August. He has started UNC’s last three games. Some other services include Grimes. With him, the class is 19 deep.

So now that Nash is just weeks away from arriving in Chapel Hill, jump-starting his college experience like he did his recruitment, how ready is he for this next step?

“I’m really excited,” he told THI earlier this week. “Just ready to be around the guys and learn from the older guys.”

Nash, who has now graduated from Hunter Huss High School in Gastonia, is a 4-star safety who is rated the No. 25 player in the nation at his position and the No. 14 overall prospect in talent-rich North Carolina.

A public school, Huss didn’t play this fall, it’s season was moved to the spring. So Nash took it upon himself to train and get ready for this next very big phase of his football life.

“I’ve been playing pick-up basketball against my brother Logan Threatt,” Nash said. “He’s a big time hooper in NC. I’ve been training with former NFL guy Jumal Rolle and Tony Davis from Duke. I’ve been lifting with my old coach from Huss.”

Nash is ready to go, and the player from his class he's most excited to play with is already in Chapel Hill and has been since August.

“Probably Tony Grimes because me and him get along well,” Nash said. “We are really good friends and he’s my age. He knows the playbook and he’s my roommate.”

Nash is one 12 members of his class enrolling at UNC on January 15. He’s thrilled to be a part of such a prominent group.

“I’m happy to be a part of a class this special,” Nash said. “We have a great group of guys with the same goal.”

And, as he said 18 months ago, that’s to win a national championship.

*Commitment Inteview, June, 2019

*Summer 2020 interview

*Summer 2020 ISO video