The biggest recruiting day of the 2021 recruiting cycle is set to take place on Wednesday, as the Tar Heels look to sign one of their top recruiting classes in the modern recruiting era. With just one day left till the one day a year where fax machines are fired up, it’s time to take a look at the top storylines to focus on heading into tomorrow from a Tar Heel perspective.
Every Current Commit is Expected to Sign Early
The Tar Heels currently have eighteen commits in the 2021 class and the expectation heading into the day is that all eighteen will sign their letter of intent on Wednesday. A majority of the guys have already confirmed Instagram Live signing ceremonies for later in the afternoon and evening, although they will likely send their official letter of intent earlier in the day. While not everyone has confirmed their intent to sign, such as DeAndre Boykins, who remains void of social media, there are no signs pointing to anyone deciding to push their singing to February. This is great news for the staff who will look to sign everyone committed to the class at the time of the early signing period for the second straight year.
Is There Any Room Left in the Class?
Many of the rumors would suggest that the answer to this question is yes, but this might be something that will be addressed in the signing day press conference that Mack Brown likes to do each year. The Tar Heels landed in 3✮ WR Corey Palmer’s top five last week, but there doesn’t appear to be a committable offer there for him at this time. The hopes of getting involved in 3✮ DT Victory Vaka’s recruitment seem to have just been a pipe dream at this point, considering there hasn’t been much smoke there since his decommitment from Texas A&M. Even George Wilson II, one of the Tar Heels’ top targets at a time in this class, seems like an extreme longshot to be a part of this class despite them cracking his top three a few weeks ago. The reason this is still an interesting question, though, is because of the rumors that the Tar Heels have been looking in the transfer portal and could look to add some help, maybe in the defensive front later this year. While this question may not be answered directly, there is a chance that Mack Brown could give us an update on whether or not the class is closed after tomorrow.
Who Will Be Set to Early Enroll?
This year, more than maybe any other year, we have pieced together a strong rough draft of who will be enrolling with the team early as we head into early signing day. 5✮ SDE Keeshawn Silver, 4✮ QB Drake Maye, 4✮ SDE Jahvaree Ritzie, 4✮ ILB Power Echols, 4✮ ILB Ranieria Dilworth, 4✮ WR Gavin Blackwell, 4✮ ATH DeAndre Boykins and 3✮ WR Kobe Paysour have all confirmed that they will enroll early, while 4✮ ATH Gabe Stephens, 4✮ RB Kamarro Edmonds, 3✮ CB Tymir Brown and 3✮ ATH Caleb Hood have either confirmed or hinted at the fact that they will return for their senior seasons of high school football in the state of North Carolina which means they would not be able to early enroll. The rest of the class is a mystery, though, and with eleven scholarship players expected to depart in the offseason, there are still a few spots available for early enrollees. The official group should be released sometime tomorrow and it will be interesting to see who will have a chance to come in early and gain a bit of an advantage and potentially compete for reps in the spring.