With 5-star DT Travis Shaw committing to play football at North Carolina on Saturday, THI dives into our new regular post-commitment feature where we take a look at where Mack Brown’s program really stands in the current Rivals rankings.

Shaw popping for the Tar Heels moved UNC’s team ranking for the class of 2022 up from No. 29 to No. 14. UNC’s average player ranking improved from 5.76 to 5.78; however as a program Carolina dropped from No. 9 to No. 10 in average ranking per commitment in part because that was the ranking after Sebastian Cheeks committed nearly four weeks ago, and other programs in that ranking range have picked up kids since then.

“It means a lot,” Shaw said following his announcement Saturday. “Being from this state, defending my state, it means a lot. I feel like you can be you wherever you go, I feel like I can be myself at Carolina. And just to go play for a legendary Hall of Fame coach, that’s always been a dream. Just to go ahead and live a dream, it just feels like a dream.”

Of course, Brown and his staff had to recruit Shaw hard, as his other finalalists were Georgia, Clemson, and hometown school North Carolina A&T. But the UNC staff clearly came through.

“It was the unconditional love,” Shaw said. “Every time I stepped on campus, no matter what, it was love. When I got hurt, every school knew I got hurt, but they were the only ones to check up on me the day of surgery. That right there just set them apart. Basically, the love that they showed never changed up since day one since eighth grade.”

And Brown's reaction certainly backs up that it was personal for the staff, too.

“I told coach Mack Brown the (July) 31st, and the moment I told him he started crying,” Shaw said. “So just that alone, that set it apart, too. When I told him I was staying home and I believed in him, he started crying and he was like he can’t wait for me to get back on campus; can’t wait to get that ball rolling.”

Shaw is the 13th member of the class for UNC and the first 5-star in the group. They have seven 4-star prospect and the other five commits are 3-star prospects. The highest player rating for any of the 13 commits is 6.1, which is held by Shaw.

Below is a breakdown of top 10 classes based on averaging each player’s numerical rating given by Rivals: