Most of the focus around Tar Heel football is on this weekend's opening game of the 2022 season on Saturday against Florida A&M, but before that, there are two major 2023 targets from the state of Virginia that are set to make their college announcements. The first of the two will be a 3✮ wide receiver that the team hopes will give them a third receiver commit in this class as the team looks to replenish its wide receiver depth.
Paul Billups II will announce his commitment at 3:15 PM EST today at his high school, Western Branch High School in Chesapeake, VA. The decision will be made between a final three of Carolina, Michigan State and Virginia Tech, a trio that he announced back on July 1st following a month of official visits.
The Tar Heels have been the team to beat for him the majority of the way after jumping in and making major progress early to establish that lead. Virginia Tech honestly doesn’t seem to be much of a threat after not receiving an official visit from him back in June, but there were some eyebrows raised by his official visit to East Lansing back in mid-June. His official visit to Chapel Hill the weekend after, though, seems to have eliminated any concerns and has the Tar Heels firmly in the lead heading into the decision.
The experts agree unanimously with this notion. 247Sports has six crystal balls that have been cast so far and all of the favor Mack Brown and company with a confidence level of six or higher. Meanwhile, On3 has a prediction that was cast on Monday in favor of the Tar Heels with a pretty strong confidence level of 70 out of 100. Rivals does not yet have an expert to make a prediction on the announcement.
This is one that the Tar Heels have been in control of for a while and the commitment of Kevin Concepcion to NC State over the weekend all but sealed the deal here. Barring a dramatic change of direction, Billups will kick the day off right for the Tar Heels.
Prediction: North Carolina