The top-ranked prospect out of the state of Kansas’ 2018 class is now off the board. Dual-threat quarterback Jace Ruder spent the better part of the last week touring schools in the southeast part of the country, and made his college decision before returning home Monday night.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Ruder originally committed to Tulsa last December, but re-opened his recruitment after continuing to receiving scholarship offers from Power Five programs throughout the spring. Among those offers were Florida State, Georgia and North Carolina. Ruder started his most recent string of visits by camping at Florida State on Wednesday, stopping by Georgia on Thursday before spending parts of four days at North Carolina between Friday and Monday. He gave his commitment to the Tar Heels before flying home on Monday.

IN HIS WORDS

“(North Carolina) felt like home. I'm a long ways from home and I needed a place with a small town feeling and a group of coaches that care about their guys and their transition into being men and that's exactly what North Carolina had to offer.”

RIVALS’ REACTION

After seeing junior film it was clear Ruder was going to generate a lot of Power Five attention in the off-season, even if he did not expect it at the time. Now that he is headed to Chapel Hill the comparisons with recently departed first round Draft pick Mitch Trubisky are sure to come, and Ruder should not shy away from those. No doubt we had Trubisky underrated coming out of high school, but having scouted both at the same age Ruder grades out as high or higher pretty much across the board. The one area that may be a question mark is leadership just coming from a small town and stepping onto the big stage in the ACC, but in all my interactions with Ruder I have found him to be a level-headed, humble and classy individual. This is a great all-around pick-up for North Carolina.