Peach Jam Loaded With Many Carolina Targets
Grassroots' biggest event kicks off Friday in North Augusta, SC. The EYBL Peach Jam is the Nike EYBL's showcase, and many of the top players high school aged players in the world will be participating in front of wall to wall college coaches.
Hubert Davis and his staff will lead the charge. They worked the original EYBL live period three deep in late May in Indianapolis, and one would expect no less the upcoming week.
There are currently seven players in the 2025 class with Tar Heel offers who will be participating. Add three more in the '26 group, and it is no reason to assume why the coaches will have a busy schedule. There will also be a large presence of underclassmen who the staff will be evaluating.
But for now here is a loot at the players that have offers who will be front and center during the ever important July period:
The Peach Jam can be a cattle call. Instead of the floors being inside one gymnasium, the individual courts here are inside different sections. The incoming crowd for a game often has wait outside in a crowded hallway while the fans from the previous game exits. The reason is simple. There isn't enough room when the top teams and players are on hand.
It won't get any bigger that the Oakland Soldiers. It should be enough that they have A.J. Dybantsa, the top player in all of high school basketball, but they also have Tyran Stokes, who might be the top player in the Class of 2026. The Soldiers were one of three teams to come to Nike's showcase event with a 14-1 record.
Dybantsa is averaging 22.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists through the spring while Stokes ran up 20.0 points, 8.3 boards, and 2.9 assists per game.
Dybantsa transferred from Prolific Prep in California to Utah Prep. He insists that he has had no dealings or conversations with coaches in his recruitment. Instead, he says his father has handled all of the details. However, Dybantsa says that will change after July when his final AAU season is over. All anybody knows right now is that he pledges he is going to college. All of us should begin to know more in August.
The same thing that we wrote about the Oakland Solders goes just as much for the Nightrydas out of South Florida. They and Team Takeover make up the other two 14-1 EYBL squads. The Nightrydas won the 16U Peach Jam title last July. Cameron Boozer and Cayden Boozer have been the faces of this dominant team for the past three seasons. But they pulled a coup in May by adding the No. 4 player in the 2025 class, Caleb Wilson.
Cameron leads the EYBL in both scoring and rebounding at 24.5 and 13.4 respectively, while Cayden is on top of the 17U division with 6.5 assists per game. He is also going for 11.1 points, and 3.3 rebounds. Wilson brings 11.9 points and 5.3 rebounds to the roster.
North Carolina does not appear to be in the strongest spot with the Boozer twins. They could be either Duke or Miami commits with Florida also trying to make a case. Wilson is in the process of setting up fall visits, and he is planning on taking in a game at the Dean Smith Center this coming winter. He is definitely an elite high school player that Tar Heel fans should monitor closely the next few months.
Jasper Johnson is one of the handful of rising seniors that Hubert Davis has paid the most attention to on the recruiting trail. He has his family took an unofficial visit to North Carolina in June, and were very complimentary about the experience afterwards. They also took an official last winter. The Tar Heel staff has been zeroing in on the point guard for over a year.
North Carolina and Kentucky have been considered the leaders for much of the recruiting process, but Alabama has made a strong move of late, and some now believe they are in the front of the line.
Johnson has been the leader of Team Thad who enters the Peach Jam with an 11-4 mark. He averaged 14.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.9 assists through the spring.
Acaden Lewis released a list of schools Wednesday that consists of Auburn, Duke, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Syracuse, Tennessee, and UCONN. He took unofficial visits to see the Tar Heels, Wildcats, and Huskies in June before making the cut. He told Tar Heel Illustrated a few days ago that he would take official visits in the fall to all of the schools still in consideration.
Lewis went from a good guard who wasn't considered great to one of the hottest high school players in the country. A stellar spring with Team Durant had a lot to do with that as his recruitment blew up after the live period. He averaged 16.7 points, 6.1 assists, and 4.9 rebounds through the four sessions.
Derek Dixon was one of the players offered by North Carolina after the May live period event in Indianapolis. It didn't take long for the Tar Heels to pique his interest. He has already set up an official visit for September 6-8. Dixon mentioned Pitt, Syracuse, Villanova, and Virginia to THI as schools who have been recruiting him hard for an extended period of time. North Carolina is one of the new schools that he has mentioned predominately.
Team Takeover is the other 14-1 team in the EYBL 17U division, and unlike the Oakland Soldiers and Nightrydas, they have done it without all of the fanfare. Effective players like Dixon who fly under the radar to a degree are a big reason. He is averaging 15.6 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.3 steals per game.
The 16U division will also get heavy attention from the North Carolina coaching staff while in North Augusta. Last July saw college coaches packed wall to wall watching Cooper Flagg and the Boozer's play in the 16U Championship Game.
This time around Team CP3 has the look of the team to beat. Not only are they undefeated, they can boast of having a pair of top-30 players in the 2026 class in the starting lineup. Cole Cloer comes in at No. 22 while Kendre' Harrison is just six spots back at No. 28. Both players have Tar Heel offers, and each one will be considered heavy candidates for UNC at this time next year.