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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown was quite pleased Wednesday afternoon when he met with the media to field questions about the Tar Heels’ football class of 2022, in which all 17 members sent in their signed letters of intent earlier in the day.
UNC’s class is currently ranked No. 8 in the nation, and when broken down per player, it is the No. 5 class in the nation.
“This is possibly the best recruiting class in our school’s history,” Brown said.
Above is video of Brown’s entire Q&A session, and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say, as well as some notes on the class:
*The class comprises players from seven states. The breakdown: Virginia seven; North Carolina four; Georgia two; and one each from Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
*UNC’s recruiting footprint is Washington, D.C. to Atlanta, and 14 of the 17 signees are from that region.
*Carolina signed five of the top eight players in Virginia, including Zach Rice, the No. 1 player in the state. UNC also got the No. 1 player in its own state in Travis Shaw.
*The Tar Heels are currently 6-6 finishing 3-5 in the ACC in a season that has disappointed the fans and everyone in the program, but that doesn’t mean things are headed in the wrong direction, as we’ve been saying all season. Evidence is in the class Carolina reeled in today, and that there were no decommitments. UNC didn’t have a great season, but the commits still fully trust the message and direction things are headed.
“It says everything,” Brown said. “These young guys can see where we’re headed. And I think it’s such a tribute to our players on our current team. It tells you that they have convinced these young people that they love it here, it’s a tremendous place to go to school, and we’re about to be really good.
“And what we’ve got, and I said it in the last press conference, we’re getting really good players that aren’t a great team yet. And when we lost those five guys last year, those were super stars, and they’re all playing (in the NFL). So, we lost the core of our team, other than Sam, and now we’ve got to rebuild that and move back up.”
*In particular, with 5-star offensive tackle Zach Rice and 4-star wide receiver Andre Greene – both among the top 37 players in the nation – committing in November, long after the Tar Heels season went a bit off the rails, what does that also say about the program and its ability to sell the staff’s vision?
“We’ve been recruiting these young people for two years,” Brown said. “So you get relationships, and recruiting is all about relationships. And you talk to them all week, some coaches, when you have unlimited calls, will talk to these guys every night. And you get some guys that just fall in love with the assistant coach.
“They obviously have to like the program from afar, the university from afar or they wouldn’t come and look. Andre Greene, from being a little kid, he wanted to be here. It was his place. Maybe because mom ran track over at (NC) Central, and maybe she grew up liking the place and it’s close to home.
“Andre was a fight, but Zach Rice was a fight as well. Those two guys were recruited by everybody in the country, and when you see that they chose us, that just shows you what two of the best players in the country thought about the future of this place and where we’re headed.
“I’m so excited that they would trust us, and I’m even more excited that our players would be honest with them and they saw enough here that they wanted to come, because we’re competing with the best football playing universities in the country.”
*Offensive line coach Stacy Searels was integral in UNC getting Rice. Searels has an outstanding track record with winning college teams and producing NFL players, and that appealed to Rice. Plus, they have built a very strong relationship.
“Zach kind of grew with us. He fell in love with Stacy Searels, he loved the fact that the Giants offered Stacy a job last year, Stacy got some coordinator offers,” Brown said. “You start looking at Stacy’s resume with the number of NFL players he’s coached, and any young lineman that comes in here, they’re going to come in here thinking they’ve got a chance to play in the NFL because they have an NFL-type coach.”
*Seven of the kids that signed with Carolina in this class are from the Commonwealth of Virginia. One is a 5-star, three are 4-stars, and the other two are 3-star prospects. UNC’s haul in the class of 2021 was largely from North Carolina, but this year it’s from Virginia.
“It was an interesting year anyway with COVID, or a year-and-a-half, for all of us,” Brown said. “So, there’s probably some guys that all of us in college football missed this year because we didn’t get to go watch them practice, we didn’t get to have them in camp as easily. And the other thing is none of us knew in the spring how many scholarships we were going to have.
“And then the transfer portal, some people would rather take an older corner than take a high school guy, especially coaches that feel like they’re in trouble and they need to win quicker. So, this whole year-and-a-half process with the transfer portal and COVID changed everything, and we didn’t get out as much in our state.
“But we’re fortunate that when North Carolina’s bneen good, they’ve always had great players from the state of Virginia. Always. And that’s an area we know we’ve got to continue to recruit. There’s no doubt that Jay Bateman being from Richmond helps us. Corey Holliday is from Richmond, Dwight Hollier is from Hampton, guys from 757.
“So, we’ve got a lot of presence – I’m probably (missing) somebody – but, we’ve got a tremendous presence in that state, anyway. And it’s an easy drive… So I just feel like that’s going to be our footprint. We’re going to be in Virginia and North Carolina.”
