With 25 commitments signing back in December’s early signing period, National Signing Day 2020 was an extremely quiet one for Mack Brown and the Tar Heel staff.
The only bit of news that came out of Wednesday’s festivities was the loss of Elijah Burris’ commitment. After having to delay the signing of his letter of intent back in December, Burris, a 3✮ RB from Mountain Island Charter high school in Mount Holly, NC, was reportedly unable to meet certain academic requirements forcing him to look elsewhere. Rumors had been circulating about this scenario for a while, so it doesn’t seem as if this was completely unexpected. Burris did have a decorated prep career, running for 7,515 yards and 102 touchdowns on 638 carries, an average of 11.8 yard per carry in his four season as the starting varsity running back at Mountain Island. He will now be taking his services to FCS Hampton University, as he signed with the Pirates this afternoon.
The Tar Heels class is still a strong one at running back, as both D.J. Jones and Elijah Green signed back in December. The Tar Heels are also solidly in the running for 2021 4✮ Evan Pryor, the top running back in the state of North Carolina in the cycle (Will Shipley is listed as an all-purpose back) and this leaves more room on the roster next season for Pryor if he was to commit to Carolina. While Burris’ hard nosed running style would have been welcome in this Tar Heel offense, this is not a major concern by any means and may actually help this team's chance with some 2021 targets at the position.
The Tar Heels 2020 class will close out with 25 total signees and ranks in the top 20 in all of the major recruiting site’s team rankings. 247Sports lists the team 17th in the overall team rankings and 2nd in the ACC rankings, while Rivals.com has the class ranked 15th overall and 3rd in the ACC. As for ESPN, the Tar Heels class as the 16th best class in the nation and 2nd best class in the ACC. The 247Sports Composite, which combines player rankings from all three sites to give the most accurate and fair assement places the Tar Heels 2020 class 19th in the nation and 3rd in ACC. All together, it’s a pretty strong first recruiting class for Mack Brown in his return to Chapel Hill.