As North Carolina is a few weeks away from wrapping up its highly touted football recruiting class of 2021, the Tar Heels’ staff is grinding deeper into the 2022 class.

Mack Brown and his staff are pursuing quite a few in-state prospects, but they are also looking at a talented group from Virginia and elsewhere to fill out next year’s class. At this time, THI is uncertain how many spots will be available. The NCAA is allowing all athletes to get this season back, so it will take some time before there’s more clarity on how next year’s class may end up looking.

That said, the staff is going after quite a few of the top prospects in the nation, so in our three-part series looking at the class of 2022, we now look at the defensive targets that are rated in the Rivals250: