One of my favorite things to do each season for the Heel Tough Blog is the scouting reports of the local Tar Heel targets and commits. This year, with the focus of Mack Brown’s staff being to recruit the state of North Carolina and keep the best in-state prospects at home with the Tar Heels, there were so many great games that we had to pick from to put together our scouting schedule for the 2019 season. With that being said, the list has been narrowed down and here is the 2019 Heel Tough Blog Scouting Schedule (schedule is subject to change).
8/22 Orthocarolina Charlotte Kickoff Night
Sun Valley vs. Charlotte Christian
Hough vs. Butler
The yearly event has been moved up from a Saturday evening event to kicking off the state’s high school football season on that Thursday. The focus in the first game will be on 2021 4✮ WR Gavin Blackwell, who is one of the players the Tar Heels closely tied to in the 2021 class. Blackwell returns after a big sophomore season as current Tar Heel quarterback Sam Howell’s top target and should be the go-to option in the first game of the season for a team replacing a historic quarterback. 2021 3✮ OG Michael Gonzalez will also be worth keeping an eye on.
2020 3✮ OG Anthony Carter Jr. and 2021 4✮ RB Evan Pryor will both be scouted in this year’s night cap. Carter Jr. played well in last year’s Orthocarolina Charlotte Kickoff Game, but will face a tougher task against a Hough defensive line that will be headlined by 2022 DT Curtis Neal, who has already received an offer from Carolina. When Hough has the football on offense, the focus will shift to Pryor, who we saw split carries a year ago when we scouted him. His running mate is back this season, but Pryor should receive plenty of reps for a Hough team that will likely be more run heavy with the fact that they lose an FBS bound starter at quarterback.
8/23
Providence Day @ Mountain Island Charter
In a quick turnaround, the Heel Tough Blog will head to Mt. Holly, NC for one of the more interesting of the first week in the Charlotte area. 2020 3✮ RB Elijah Burris, a Tar Heel commit who enters 2019 after leading the state in rushing a year ago, will face the toughest test of his senior season in Week 1, as he matches up with one of the best defensive lines in the state. Both 2020 4✮ DT Jacolbe Cowan and 2020 4✮ DT Kedrick Bingley-Jones, two other major Tar Heel targets, will be trying to slow down the workhorse. We will be keeping an eye on all three with the main focus being Burris here.
8/30
Rocky River @ Hunter Huss
An early step up for a Hunter Huss team that had a historic season a year ago. Against a 4A opponenet, we’ll look at the first and only Tar Heel commit in the 2021 class in 4✮ ATH Dontavius Nash. With Hunter Huss losing so much at both wide receiver and corner from a year ago, this game should be a fantastic look at the junior against a solid opponent.
9/6
Archbishop Rummel @ Charlotte Catholic
This will be a phenomenal test for one of the state of North Carolina’s powerhouse programs in Charlotte Catholic. In a game against one of the top teams from Louisana, 2020 3✮ OG Malik McGowan will be on display against likely his toughest competition of the season. With Charlotte Catholic expected throw the ball more than they have in recent years, this will be a great game to see his all-around game on display.
9/13
Mountain Heritage @ Stuart Cramer
Although we will not be heading to the highly-anticipated matchup between South Point and Stuart Cramer, this is a solid consolation prize. 2020 3✮ TE Kendall Karr, a Tar Heel commit, will face a strong test against a Mountain Heritage team that allowed just 136.7 passing yards to opponents a year ago.
9/20
Fike @ Lee County
In what might be the most anticipated game on this schedule, we head to Sanford, NC to get a look at the Tar Heels top remaining target and the top player in the state of North Carolina in the 2020 class in 5✮ WDE Desmond Evans. While Fike is not the toughest game on the schedule, this might be a chance for Evans to put on a dominant display against a lesser opponent. While there, we will also be keeping a watchful eye on 2020 3✮ CB Jayden Chalmers, who is a Tar Heel commit.
9/27
Southern Nash @ Northside-Jacksonville
This one is not set in stone, but is one that we really do want to get to. The focus here will be solely on 2020 4✮ S Ja’Quirious Conley, one of the top targets at one of the Tar Heels biggest positions of need in this current cycle. This will be one of, if not the toughest test of his entire single season.
10/4
Pine Forest @ Westover
Another nice travel, we head into the Fayetteville area to check out the second running back that is committed in this class. 2020 3✮ RB D.J. Jones will face a Westover team that almost upset his Pine Forest team a year ago, so this will be an interesting test for him.
10/11
Ardrey Kell @ West Mecklenburg
For the first time in nearly a month, we will return to the Charlotte area for another Tar Heel commits toughest test. 2020 3✮ ATH Cedric Gray will face a West Mecklenburg team that has become a consistent threat at the 4A level. Gray will have a chance to shine on both sides of the ball in a game where his team will need him to.
10/18
East Rutherford @ South Point
It takes us until deep into the schedule, but we do eventually get to Belmont to see 2020 4✮ WR Ray Grier. Although this will not be the toughest matchup that South Point faces in 2019, East Rutherford enters 2019 off of a 10-win season and would love to spoil the Shelby-South Point matchup that usually decides the Southwestern 2A conference.
10/25
Parkland @ Dudley
Maybe the most anticipated game for the readers on the schedule, this matchup will give us a look at the most recent Tar Heel commit, 4✮ SDE Myles Murphy. In what should be a very interesting matchup against a Parkland that has been steadily progressing over the last few seasons, Murphy will have the task of getting after the quarterback Camien Shell, who tore apart Murphy’s Southwest Guilford team a year ago.
11/1
Porter Ridge @ Myers Park
This matchup always seems to have an influence on the Southwestern 4A conference and this year should be no different. For the third straight season, we will be looking at 2020 4✮ S Cameron Roseman-Sinclair, who was Mack Brown’s first commit in 2020 class back in January. This game will be a double scouting opportunity, as for a second straight year, we will double up on Roseman-Sinclair trip, as we will scout 2021 4✮ PRO Drake Maye, one of the Tar Heels top quarterback targets in the 2021 class. It took a huge performance from Maye to win this game a year ago and with Porter Ridge expected to be strong once again this should be another good matchup.
11/8
Grimsley @ Page
We close down the regular with another tremendous matchup between two Greensboro rivals. 2022 WDE Travis Shaw, a player that some project may be the best player to ever hail from the state of North Carolina, face an always difficult Page team for what will likely decide the Metro 4A conference champion. Can Shaw help lead on Grimsley past Page for what would be their first division title since 2006?