Heel Tough Blog: Tar Heels in the Top Six, Set Official Visit with Va. LB

@MathieuKanu9- Twitter

The Tar Heels run of landing on top schools list continued on Sunday night, this time with one of the team’s linebacker targets.

Per a post on his social media earlier this evening, 2026 LB Mathieu Kanu has narrowed his list down to six schools with the Tar Heels being one of the six remaining in play. They are joined by Kentucky, Michigan, Penn State, Rutgers and Virginia Tech as those still fighting for his services.

The Tar Heels also secured an official visit with him for the month of June during this trip. He will officially be in Chapel Hill the weekend of June 6th for what will currently kick off his official visit schedule. The next weekend, he will be at Penn State followed by his official trip to in-state Virginia Tech to close things out.

His top schools list comes after he finished up an unofficial trip to Chapel Hill over the weekend where he met with head coach Bill Belichick and assistant director of player personnel Andrew Blaylock.

Kanu, who is currently an unranked prospect in the 2026 class according to 247Sports Composite Player Rankings, hails from Patriot High School in Nokesville, VA. This past season as a junior, he finished with 137 total tackles, 16.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, and three forced fumbles on his way to being named to the all-region and all-state teams and receiving an honorable mention to the Washington DC All-MET team. The year prior, as a sophomore at Unity Reed High School in Manassas, VA, he finished with 60 total tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

As we exit the month of March, Penn State appears to have a significant lead in the race for him. The hope is that this weekend closed that gap a little bit and gives the Tar Heels a fighting chance come June.