While the COVID-19 outbreak shut down spring camp, the thing that was supposed to be the headline of the St. Patrick’s Day Wednesday in Chapel Hill, news of another commitment in the 2021 class gives Tar Heel football fans something to rejoice about in this trying time. Shortly after 10:00 PM tonight, 2021 3✮ ATH Tymir Brown committed to Carolina via Twitter, something that came as a bit of a surprise for a prospect who many were expecting to delay his decision until after he was able to take some official visits. Instead, he will now join the eight other commits from the state of North Carolina as part of one of the nation's top overall recruiting classes.
Brown, a soon-to-be senior at Jacksonville High School in Jacksonville, NC, was a two-way star for the Cardinals this past season, starting all eleven games for the season at quarterback, running a strong read-option attack, rushing for 716 yards and 11 touchdowns while throwing for 635 yards and four touchdowns. Unfortunately, his defensive stats were not kept by the school this past season. Prior to last season, Brown spent the bulk of his time on the defensive side of the football, finishing with 83 total tackles, three interceptions and nineteen pass deflections in his first two high school seasons, headlined by a huge sophomore season where he jumped on recruiting radar and helped lead the Cardinals to the 3A state title game. Brown was a 3A All-Coastal Conference first team member in each of the past two seasons.
Brown’s film is scarce, but from the limited that is available there are some aspects of his game that cannot be denied. His speed not only shows up on the offensive side of the ball where he hits open space with ease, but also on the defensive side where he is able to make quick breaks on the football. Brown has the man-coverage ability that the Tar Heels are looking for, something that Tar Heel corners must be affluent in with Jay Bateman’s system. While his is still a little stiff, his speed allows him to recover quickly and with plenty of time to work on his craft in what is currently a loaded group of corners, it seems like corner is a strong fit for him. The other fit would be at wide receiver, but it’s a spot that Brown simply hasn’t seen many reps at in his prep career. Regardless, his return experience and success and his tackling ability will give him a chance to make an impact on special teams early in his career if he has to wait for defensive reps.
The Tar Heels 2021 class just continues to grow stronger, as they now have 10 players committed to class. Brown’s commitment keeps the Tar Heels recruiting class 4th overall and 2nd in the ACC in the Composite team rankings, but does inch them closer to a top three spot in this class. It is still early in the class, but with the other targets in play for the Tar Heels and momentum continuing to grow, it’s hard to imagine this class dropping outside of the top ten anytime soon.