The Heels added their most recent commitment to the 2019 class late on Sunday night when they landed 2019 3✮ S Don Chapman out of the state of California. Inside Carolina was the first to report the commitment just before the turn of the clock on to Monday on the East Coast after Chapman announced his commitment following a football team banquet.
Chapman will head to Chapel Hill from after spending four years at Lincoln High School in San Diego, California. As a senior, Chapman finished with 50 total tackles, led the team with three interceptions and also tallied four pass deflections. His junior season may have been an even all around season for him, as he finished with 84 total tackles and three interceptions. As a senior, Chapman was also an integral part of the Hornets offense, finishing with 782 yards of total offense and seven offensive touchdowns.
Chapman is an intriguing player on tape. While a bulk of the tape shows Chapman playing the corner position this past season, Chapman was effective in the snaps that he did take at safety. He is a downhill safety who will make receivers pay for coming over the middle of the field and he is able to close running quickly his good closing speed. The one universal concern with safeties is their ability in one-on-one coverage with how important running backs have become out of the backfield in the passing game and how athletic tight ends have become. Chapman should not raise much concern in this area for defensive coordinator Jay Bateman with just how effective he was in coverage situations as a corner. Lincoln High used a primarily man-heavy coverage scheme, though, so there will be some adjustments that Chapman will have to make in Bateman’s zone-based defense, but will still have those moments where he’ll be in man coverage when Bateman get aggressive, which will happen more often than Tar Heel fans have seen in the past. One thing that Bateman will really like about Chapman is his ability to tackle in open space. That has been one of the big issues for the Tar Heel defense in recent years, so Chapman will be a breath of fresh air in that department.
With Chapman’s commitment, the Heels 2019 class continues what has been a steady climb up the recruiting rankings since Mack Brown reassumed the head coaching job in Chapel Hill. The Heels class currently sits at 34th nationally, but does remain 6th in the ACC as they head into the final week and a half of the 2019 recruiting cycle. Just how high can the Heels climb?
Comments